Trip to God's own Country- Kerala

Officially our yearly trip was still four days away but I got in holiday mood November 21 onwards; our anniversary day. We completed two blissful years together and celebrated the day first fighting like maniacs and then patching up over lavish dinner in CP. Good food can make us both forget everything. We were best buddies again by the end of the meal.

2nd Anniversary @ The United Coffee House

 We started the day even before crack of the dawn on November 24. Early morning flights always slaughters sweet morning sleeps and……I HATE IT!! My brain was still in sleep mode but my over notorious heart was popping out in excitement with every beat and for some good strange reason my mind was playing Chennai Express songs in the background.

We had 8 am flight and the journey was via Hyderabad. It was pretty stupid on our part to book 4 hours via flight rather than a 2 hours direct one. We actually did not pay much attention to the journey time/ route while booking. We passed the travel time sleeping, munching and taking lots of pictures.

Busy morning highway

Clicking around

In and around the craft

   

On cloud 9... and going higher

Before we take a plunge into the Kerala blog, I must confess that I intend to make this blog very long and pour my heart over this blog. Thank you for bearing with an over emotional blogger. The links to various Kerala destinations we covered are given below. Skip merrily the places that don’t evoke your interest.

 

Unrivaled Munnar 

 

Alluring Alleppey 

 

Vivacious Kovalam 

 

Scenic Poovar & Gleaming Golden Sand Beach 

 

Charismatic Kanyakumari

 

Kerala, or the land of coconut a.k.a. Kera in Malayalam.

Land of Kera a.k.a. coconut

Kerala. A view from above

Nature is beautiful and its beauty is dynamic. Kerala proves it the best. With Kanyakumari we ended our trip for the year. Trip ends are never so great. This time too, it did not feel good as we were nearing the end of our Kerala trip. But like always we were happy and content and collected thousand memories to look back at and smile over and over again. I am on the sixteenth page of MS word typing this blog (divided in 6 different links). It is just a reflection of our treasured trip reminiscences. It is not the imprint. There is so much more I wish to share but it is rather impossible to pen down every feeling and emotions. 

I was nostalgic de-boarding at the Delhi airport and I knew for next few days my mind would keep wandering back to Kerala. This was kind of a holiday hangover and it was difficult to work in office with this hangover. I extended my leaves for few more days to revive and bounce back to the mechanical metro life.

PS:

An honest trip advice:- If u dread long car travels, do not attempt to cover all Kerala destinations. It is rather impracticable. For a ‘let loose’, relaxing holiday, pick two or at the most three exotic places for a week long travel plan. I like my holidays full of action and hence I tried squeezing in maximum number of destinations. I admit it was exhausting.

A realization:- Kerala is vast. Full of choicest places. Even a month long holiday would not be sufficient to cover all Kerala destinations, or experience all that Kerala has to offer. We made a compromising choice of striking off Periyar Sanctuary from our plan and chose to visit Poovar and Kanyakumari instead. There are other exotic places like Wayanad, Nelliampathi, Ayyappancoil, Vattavada, Pythal Mala… and the list goes on. Make your choices with care :))

Some tips:-

• Wear comfortable clothes and foot wear. Sarees, long duppattas and tight- low waist jeans could play a spoilt sport. Rupam had a tough time during elephant safari because of his tight jeans.

  
  

• Do not miss on Munnar masala tea and coffee flavours add on.

  
  

• Carry basic abdomen pills in first aid kit. There is a fair chance of your stomach getting upset. A big bottle of hajmola will really help.

  
  

• Do not miss out on Kerala Traditional sarees. Inexpensive, and very very vibrant.

  
  

• Booking floating cottages at Poovar Island could cost a bomb. Have a quick bite in the floating restaurants. It is a comparable experience. Go to the upper deck and enjoy the panoramic view ou Estaury, Golden Sand Beach and Poovar Island from there.

  
  

• Reserve a day for Kanyakumari. Enjoy both the sunrise and sunset.

  
  

• At Kovalam, book a beach side resort. None of the fivestars are on the coast line. You are going to enjoy the view from balcony more than the hotel ambience.

  
  

• Pls pls pls do not miss prawns fried rice if you are not a vegan. We had it in Malabar café at Light house beach in Kovalam.

  
  

Trip regret: - I had to miss out on Periyaar Wild life sanctuary. It was a compromising choice. After looking at this picture any adventure lover would not like to miss going to this place.

Bamboo rafting in the Periyar river