Kerala - truely heaven on earth

I am on an India tour it seems, In my past years I have traveled some of places in India. Always wanted to visit kerala but never got a chance. Atlast, the tour was planned and was finally on my way to kerala. the fastest way to reach kerala from mumbai is ofcourse by air, so we flew to cochin and then on starting the kerala tour. The Journey, read on......

Cochin -
Well that was the place I landed,had one day at the hotel, Amisha and me went out for some sightseeing, but unfortunately couldnt find any place, except for a couple of malls shown by chandran (Our driver).

Munnar -
Its truly awesome, We went there from cochin and the road trip itself was very good. we stayed at T&N which is a good hotel. Here, are places that we visit and a must see ...

• Blossom Garden - This garden has so many varieties of flowers that I was just trilled. one of the rep's told me that they have collected plants from all over the world. Def. worth a visit if you are interested in gardening. I mean it had some 10-15 varieties of cactus plants.

• Echo point - great place, where poeple come and shout all kind of stupid things like (Hello...,Ohh....Can you hear me...etc etc) There were some couples over there too...one guy was going to shout his wife's name BUT she didnt let me shout. she was too embarresed I guess!

• Mattupetti Dam - Great place, the view of the lake in the backdrop of mountains is too good, it is a popular picnic spot and people come there with thier family to enjoy the boat rides, horse rides. We, ofcourse had a good speed boat ride, they charge around 250INR and tour it around the lake for 30 mins. Quite good...we also had a good horse ride, the most important thing that you should try out is the elephat ride, its just awesome...That road is uphill and it hardly can has two lanes for the vehicles, imagine having a elephant ride on such roads!!!
• Kundala Lake - This lake is very beautiful amidst lush jungles. Hiring a pedal boat and exploring the lake and its surroundings is an awesome experience. Except at the place you hired the boat, don't expect to find humans around the lake as it is surrounded by scenic jungles and hills.
• Atukkad Waterfalls - A scenic waterfalls amidst hills and jungles. You can find a road leading to Atukkad Waterfalls on Kochi road (just about 5 km from Munnar). This road is very narrow and needs a lot of experience to drive on

Thekaddy -
Thekkady is enchanting as the road winds through tranquill countryside, rich plantations & thick jungles. The sanctuary, 60 km from Idukki, 190 km from Cochin and 114 km away from Kottayam is open throughout the year , but the best season for a visit is from September to March. The sanctuary is centered around the large (24 sq km) artificial lake formed by a dam across the Periyar river. We stayed in forest resort which we good....

Allepy -
It is famous for its houseboats, the place is full of houseboats and you will find a lot of them in all shapes and sizes, cost ranging from INR 6000 to INR 20,000 for a night. You have an option to take the backwater tour in a boat or stay overnight in an houseboat. Poeple prefer the latter as it is an experience. They serve authentic keral food in all courses (rice, dal, papad,vegetable) which are good. Once you get in an houseboat and start exploring backwaters, you will be amazed....people actually use boats as a means to commuting, just as we use rickshaws and trains. some of the views along the journey are breathtaking. not to mention you will have the company of lots of houseboats around you along throughout......a typical overnight houseboat journey will start in the afternoon,they would tour the lake and halt in the evening at a village, its typically the village where the houseboat staff belong, that ensures that there are no mishapes happening at night. In the evening you have to make sure that you close all the curtains and seal the houseboat against any insects, coz you are at the bank of a lake and the chances of them getting in cant be rules out...leaving that aside its an experience to cherish. Next morning after breakfast, they drop you at the port.

Kovalam -
Kovalam is famous for its beaches, among the most pristine in India. it has some 4 - 5 beaches alongside. amounst them kovalam beach and Uday samudra are the beaches that you must def see.
we went to uday samundra where we could hardly find any Indians, the beach had a lot of foriegn tourists. the water in the beach was clear and if you want to take a dip...please do it.
other places to see in kovalam is Neyyar dam, it is just a water reservoir. it has a restaurant and facilities like boating and lion safary. lion safary is closed on monday, unfortunately thats the day we had for kovalam so couldnt explore that tour, but we have a good speed boat ride (again!!)

so, these are the places you should def look out for while planning your kerala tour. ofcourse there are a lot many places in kerala itself but dont miss out these places......

I had an awesome tour and would recommend everyone to visit kerala atleast once, because it has a nice mix of hill stations, backwater, wildlife and beaches. I can hardly remember a place which has so many things to explore in the same tour......

I have made up my mind to visit kerala atleast once a year, what about you?


- J