December 30th From Pollethai to Kovalam

Today we drove from the Pollethai to the Taj Green Cove in Kovalam. It was a bit of a rushed journey because a Kerala wide strike (or bundh) had been called from 2pm until 11pm to protest against the hanging of Saddam Hussein. Having experienced strike behaviour in Bangalore we decided that getting to the hotel before we had the chance to discover whether this was a peaceful or a non peaceful strike was a priority. After the Pollethai it was a bit of a disappointment, it felt cramped and we were horrified to find that a bottle of mineral water cost Rs90!

We had a relaxing afternoon - Bethan slept - and ate in the hotel in the evening.

December 28th Paddies and ducks

As we had a driver provided for us we felt we had to use him and, for the first time in four days, left the resort for a couple of hours. We drove past paddies and saw workers in the fields. We passed several duck farms and saw people in canoes herding thousands of ducks along the backwaters. We intended to stop and have lunch in Alleppy but the restaurant we stopped at was full and so we scurried back to The Beach at Pollethai.

Working in the paddies

It's better being in management!

The day after this we concentrated on yet more relaxing!

December 27th More relaxing…..

Today we did more of the same!

The restaurant and pool

December 26th Another relaxing day

We had another excellent breakfast and then decided to have a walk along the beach and have a look at the Marari Beach Resort. Andy had warned us that we would have difficulty getting into the resort and he was not wrong. We were intercepted shortly after we entered the grounds by the life guards. We explained that we lived in Bangalore and wanted to have a look round because we were likely to come back to Kerala in the future and might want to stay there.

Crabs on the beach

In contrast to other hotels we have visited and were warmly welcomed and shown round, the reception at the Marari Beach was decidedly chilly. Initially we were told that we couldn’t walk through the resort to reception but would have to enter via the road. After a phone call to someone in management we were permitted to walk through the resort to reception. Eventually they somewhat reluctantly gave us the Indian resident ratfor the resort! It seemed quite a pleasant resort but with 63 cottages compared to eight at The Beach at Pollethai it felt very cramped and crowded!

Bethan relaxing too!

In the afternoon, after Bethan had wached her VCD of Oliver and John and I had played Scrabble on our porch, we wandered for about a mile south of the resort and watched the fishermen preparing their boats for the night’s fishing.

We ordered the restaurant’s special Keralan dinner which was served on a huge banana leaf and was absolutely delicious. We plan to have at least one more of these before we leave.

December 25th Christmas Day

We were lucky, Santa managed to find the resort, and Bethan woke at about 5.45am to find her stocking full of presents and Santa’s beer glass empty!

John and Bethan on the beach on Christmas morning

John bought me a “Lensbaby” a totally non precision lens to fit on my completely precise digital camera, a Fossil watch, which I’d chosen a few weeks ago and some cosmetics from Lush which are, apparently, the same price (or more) as those in the UK! Sadly, in the final packing rush before we left to go on holiday, I totally forgot to pack John’s presents – whoops!

After the presents had been opened, scrutinised and played with we made our way to the breakfast shack which overlooks the beach. After a delicious breakfast we wandered to the beach but decided that the sea was too rough for Bethan to have a swim. We spent an hour or so in the swimming pool instead.

Christmas lunch began at 1.00pm. There were two other guests, Andy, the owners, Jacob and Rose and, importantly for Bethan, an Indian family with four children. There was a huge buffet and we all ate copious quantities. Bethan and the other children played with boats on the canal, fished using the small scale Chinese fishing net and finally went paddling in the sea under the careful scrutiny of the lifeguard.

Punting on the lake

At about five o’clock I wandered to the beach in order to make some Christmas phone calls home – mobile phone reception at The Beach at\nPollethai is rather limited! As I was talking to Mum and Doug on the beach about five dolphins swam past – not a bad way to spend Christmas!

Sunset taken with the Lensbaby

December 24th Thekkady to The Beach at Pollethai

We set out at 9.00am for the journey back to the coast. Bethan had her third Lemony Snickert story tape to listen to and John and I were more than happy to look out of the window at the passing scenery. The journey passed without incident with only a couple of near death experiences involving overtaking buses on hairpin bends!

More tea plantations on the way back to the coast

As we gradually descended the Western Ghats on our way towards the coast the tea plantations were replaced by rubber and pineapple plantations and then finally coconut groves and backwaters. The Beach at Pollethai is actually about 10 km past Alleppy close to the Mararai Beach Resort. Mr Ravishankar, our travel agent, had informed us although the Mararai Beach Resort was full over Christmas he had found “a suitable alternative” for us. We had seen the website http://www.oldcourtyard.com/ and read a couple of very positive reviews on Tripadvisor but the reality far exceeded all our expectations.

The entrance to the property, a stone and whitewashed wall with an arched door, gives little indication of what lies beyond. There is a very spacious open plan reception area behind the wall and then via a small wooden footbridge over a canal, a few minute’s walk away through sandy lawns and palm trees, are the cottages. The resort is still being developed and only about four of the planned eight cottages are currently in operation. We were met by Andy, the English/Cypriot manager who showed us around and made us feel very welcome.

Our cottage

Our cottage is probably the nicest place we have ever stayed. It’s a converted fisherman’s cottage and I’m sure a great deal more luxurious now than it ever was in the past. We have a small entrance room or hall which has doors to both the front door and the door to our terrace. The hall leads to the main room which is large with a lovely high ceiling. This has two beds, a huge wooden wardrobe and a beautiful writing desk. The main room leads to a smaller dressing room and then on to the bathroom.

The bathroom

The Bedroom

From our balcony we overlook a canal and beyond that, through the trees, we can just see the sea. Bethan’s bed was originally in the main room but she decided that she’d rather have to her own room so we moved her bed though to the entrance hall.

December 23rd An Ayurvedic massage and yet more culture….

Tea plantations

As we were staying in the heart of tea plantation country in the morning we visited a tea factory to see how the green tea leaves were processed to become the tea we know and love. On the way back we saw a seven day old baby elephant which was, apparently, one of the first to be born in captivity in Kerala. bethan was very impressed.

Baby Elephant

In the afternoon John and I treated ourselves to a 90 minute Ayervedic massage which was, apparently, designed to cleanse our systems of toxins, restore energy and vigour and increase our sexual function!

I was surprised by the sheer amount of oil used – within about five minutes I felt like a deep fried mars bar. The masseuse was non too gentle either – was it really necessary for her to dig her knuckles quite that deeply into my calves? The treatment concluded with a ten minute session in a steamer, a large cabinet in which you sit with just your head poking out. I had a mild panic as I realised that there wasn’t an emergency release catch inside the box and if I was to be left, in the event of any emergency, I would probably be well cooked within an hour. Fortunately I was let out without incident and Bethan and I treated ourselves to a drink and cake at a small hotel called the “Wildernest” on our way back to the Taj Garden Retreat.

The Wildernest was an interesting building, quite rustic in style, and made of local stone. When we had finished our snacks I had a look at one of the rooms. It was spacious, beautifully designed and spotlessly clean and less than half the price of the Taj. I made a mental not to stay there if we ever returned to Thekkady. Two days later I discovered that it belongs to a cousin of the owner of “The Beach at Pollethai” of which I will write more later.

Fighting with no weapons

In the evening we went to a performance of the Keralan martial art form called Kalarippayattu. This seems to be an athletic form of judo or karate that includes the use of swords, spears, daggers and staves and involves quite a bit of athleticism. The grand finale consisted of someone throwing himself through two burning hoops. We had a tasty Italian style dinner at a hotel called Chrissies. Bethan ate a huge plate of tomato pasta – we have obviously deprived her of European food for too long.

Jumping through hoops

December 22nd Thekkady

In the morning we met with our guide who took us on a tour around a spice plantation. In addition to seeing all the usual spices, pepper, cardamom, ginger, cloves, coffee etc we also learned all about how rubber is collected and processed. Following the tour we had an elephant ride on “Meera” around the plantation and Bethan later fed her pineapples, pumpkins and papaya. We had a brief lunch in a coffee shop and returned to our hotel for Bethan to have a well earned holiday sleep.

Feeding the elephant

Periyar Lake

At 3.30pm we left for our boat trip on Periyar lake. About five or six boats of varying sizes all set off down the lake together in a convoy and I was sure that any wildlife in the vicinity would be keen to make a hasty retreat in the face of such a flotilla. We had been told that the chances of seeing a tiger were very low, apparently there have only been one or two sightings this year so we were not overly disappointed when none materialised for us.

A snakebird...

and a wild boar

December 21st Alleppy to Thekkady

Last view of our houseboat

It was our final morning on the boat. We woke to a beautiful sunrise, had another traditional Keralan breakfast and said goodbye to the crew.

Sunrise

It’s difficult to believe that it’s only four days to Christmas and England will be well and truly swept up in yuletide frenzy. There are quite a few large paper stars being sold in stationery and ‘fancy goods’ shops and we have decided to buy some and put them up in our hotel room in Allepy. We made a quick stop at a government liquor store (apparently the only places that you can buy alcohol in Kerala) to purchase a few bottles of Kingfisher at a mere 44 rupees per bottle in anticipation of exorbitant mark ups at the hotel!

The 150km journey took about four and a half hours, just as Sreelish had predicted. The main road to Thekkady is narrow and winding with precipitous cliffs and hairpin bends. There seemed to be hundreds of small buses festooned with flowers and packed with (exclusively) male pilgrims careering down in the\nopposite direction. They had been visiting the Shri Ayappa temple which is only open for about 41 days a year. We often passed parked buses and saw their\noccupants squatting in a line at the side of the road having a communal pee. Sadly I did not manage to get a photograph as we were driving too fast!

The Taj Garden Retreat consists of about 40 individual “cottages” in a jungle type garden. Bethan was especially thrilled to discover that it had a proper bath and had her first bubbly soak since we arrived in India. John and I were thrilled to discover that the bottles of Kingfisher that had cost us 225 rupees in the Taj Malabar were only 100 rupees at the Taj Garden Retreat.

December 20th – Backwater lives

Apparently there are over 900km of backwater ranging from broad river highways to tiny sleepy little channels where the palm trees from either side meet in the middle. The area is full of little villages or hamlets some of which have no roads near them and the only form of transport is by water and by far the most common boat is the traditional canoe.

Boatmen collecting sand from the bed of the canal in the early morning

For me, the defining sound of the backwaters is that of washing being slapped across a stone. Wherever we went there were women doing their laundry, washing children, themselves and pots and pans in the water immediately in front of their houses.

This morning we were moored up near a path that was enroute to a local school. We had a stream of children peering into the boat, saying hello and then asking for, “Just one pen?” Fortunately we had a packet of pencils and together with a ruler, a couple of pencil sharpeners and a complimentary bottle of shampoo taken from the Taj Malabar. I think we kept most people happy!

Some of our many visitors!

In the morning we took a brief walk to the see the sea at Thottappally and watched the fishermen at work but the rest of the day was spent idling in the boat as we meandered through the backwaters.

The school bus

December 19th – Food and more food……

The trip is fully catered – we get breakfast, lunch and dinner. For every meal we have three vegetable side dishes, a main stew or dahl, rice and either papads or chapattis. It’s all absolutely delicious Keralan food made with loads of coconut. For dessert we either have something sweet or a plateful of pineapple slices and orange segments that melt in the mouth. I think this is some of the best food I have ever tasted. If we were to spend much longer than three days here I’ll be the size of a house(boat)!

Lunchtime spread - dinner is even larger!

We had a bad buggy experience on the first evening. The electric light in the living area seemed to attract a most exciting and diverse swarm of insect life. I had to abandon my beer because of the sheer number of suicidal creatures that had decided to end their lives swimming themselves into an alcoholic stupor. We were pleased to discover that there are probably ten or more lizards living in the ceiling which were having a veritable feast day! On the second day there were far fewer little beasties and we were able to enjoy our dinner without the additional crunchy topping!

Lizard on the ceilingFishermen on the canalsJoseph driving the boat in the afternoon sun

December 18th – Backwater cruising

After a second excellent breakfast buffet Bethan had a swim in the hotel’s infinity pool. She was a bit disappointed to realise that the photographs showing the pool flow seamlessly into the ocean were optical illusions and the pool did have a proper end to it after all.

John and Bethan sitting on water

At about 11.00am we set off for Alleppy to join our houseboat for our three day backwater cruise. After stopping in a very colourful and incredibly noisy street for essential colouring supplies for Bethan we were taken to a pretty ramshackle looking small ferry – our hearts sank for a moment as we imagined that this was to be our boat for the duration – which took us out to our rice barge or kettuvallum.

Festival day (or maybe week) in Alleppy

It has a comfortable outdoor sitting eating area and an air conditioned double bedroom with an en-suite shower room. It also comes with three exceedingly polite and helpful staff, Deebu the cook, Joseph the driver and George the engineer and general odd job man who also helps with the driving.

Rice boats leaving Alleppy and heading for the canals

Backwater cruising is possibly one of the most relaxing things to do in the world. We sit on a sofa and slowly watch the world go by.

Backwater washing!

December 17th – Kochi

Our day started at 9.30am with a tour of the old city. We were met by Shagzil Khan, our guide, who later revealed that he had been in Folkestone the previous week on a Saga training course. Apparently India is the new and exciting destination for over 55s! Kochi is a very different city from Bangalore, it’s small, quiet and, in some places particularly picturesque!

A snake charmer - probably highly ethically unsound but Bethan loved it!

Bethan holding a baby python

We saw (and photographed) the signature Chinese fishing nets, saw a snake charmer and took a walk through the historic Jewish Quarter and visited a synagogue. We had a sweet lime soda in a small tea shop and then visited the Dutch Palace. For lunch we ate, in the a/c room, of a local restaurant recommended by our guide. The bill for five delicious thali meals together with a bottle of mineral water came to an impressive 151 rupees. We got the impression that the Taj Malabar, charging 225 rupees (without tax) for a bottle of Kingfisher, was a serious rip off!

Bethan and John lending a helping hand to the fishermenChinese Fishing Nets

We went on a sunset cruise that evening and took more photographs of the Chinese fishing nets as the sub went down. Another disappointing aspect of the Taj Malabar in addition to its hugely inflated prices, is its lack of restaurants serving vegetarian food. There’s a seafood restaurant, an outside barbeque and a rather charmless Thai restaurant and a coffee shop. We ended up eating a veggie burger at the coffee shop! Otherwise, it’s a very nice comfortable hotel although a bit aggressive, like most Indian hotels, with the a/c.

Sunset through the fishing nets

16th December – To Kerala

Bethan broke up from school on Friday and we flew with Indian Airways to Kochi on Saturday. The flight took less than an hour but despite the time constraints they managed to serve us a delicious hot lunch! I must remember to book an Indian veg, as opposed to a European veg meal on our BA trip home in the summer. With a bit of luck it will be significantly more palatable.

Sree Krishna in the make-up room

On our arrival we were met by our driver and the tour company representative who took us to our hotel, the Taj Malabar, on Willingdon Island. We had a couple of hours to settle in, then we were whisked off to see a Kathekali demonstration. Kathekali is traditional and highly stylised dance form practised only in Kerala. We saw the dancers applying their make up (a rather lurid green in the case of the person playing Lord Krishna) and were then treated to a 45 minute dance demonstration.

Sree Krishna resisting the charms of the demoness

We returned to the hotel at about eight o’clock and with Bethan tired after a hectic end of term and the travelling, opted to avoid formal eating, and had two excellent pizzas delivered to our room.

Christmas in Kerala

After all the disruption of the last year we decided to treat ourselves to Christmas on the beach! As we had only been in India for four months we decided not, as many ex-pats do, to return to the UK and spend a couple of hectic weeks visiting family and friends and braving the British winter, but to spend at least a fortnight in Kerala.

We had no internet access for the first couple of months in India and therefore no way to book our holiday independently. Jeremy, from John’s office, recommended we use Ravishankar from Orchid Travels to plan our trip for us. He was probably more extravagant than we might have been, rejecting anything below a four star hotel as, “not suitable for madam.”

In a couple of weeks he had put together a comprehensive sixteen day, four centre holiday, which included sightseeing tours, a safari, backwater cruising and the services of a driver throughout. It was rather more than we had planned to spend but part of the reason we’ve come to India is to see as much as we possibly can and, this time, we’d do it in style!

And here's a European I met....

Family group at Shravanabelagola

As a fair-skinned child in India, Bethan is something of an rarity and attracts a huge amount of interest. We're usually OK in Bangalore - there are enough Europeans around us not to appear such an oddity. However, the moment we leave the city she's the centre of attention.

At Belur Temple

The opening approach is usually a pinch on the cheek accompanied by, "Hello Baby!" After this she is often dragged into the centre of a family group and asked to smile for the camera. We have explained to her that she doesn't have to have her photograph taken if she doesn't want to. She complains that it can get a bit boring but she really doesn't want to disappoint anyone. We are a little concerned that, when she returns to England she will be rushing around asking family groups if they'd like her in their picture!

With the children

Posing for serious photographers!

Household staff (1)

As Europeans in India we are expected to have staff. We have a driver and a maid. Our maid is a local girl called Kadeeja - I'm not sure of the exact spelling in English, but neither is she. She works for us for four hours a day, six days a week. She sweeps and mops the floors daily, cleans the bathrooms, does the ironing and prepares our evening meal.

Kadeeja is an excellent cook and I can't really see the point of taking up cooking in a big way ever again. She obviously feels my house is too bare and not filled with appropriate ornamentation because whenever she has money over from buying food for the week which costs about £2.30 I get presented with something new for the house. I am now the proud owner of a neon green vase full of artificial flowers, a blue glass dessert bowl with matching dishes, dolphin wind chimes and today I received a pair of peacock feather fans. I am still wondering how to dispose of them all tactfully.

Having read a number of books about the household pecking order and how the driver is essentially the top dog in the household and how we should never allow the maid to ask the driver to do anything, we were initially very careful about creating and maintaining the hierarchy.

Such advice is completely lost on my staff. The driver seems happy to do exactly as he is told by Kadeeja, runs errands, gets called back to give her a lift home and last week I found him sitting in the car shelling peas for her. So much for the staus quo!

Take out sweaters from shelves.....

The Bangalore edition of the Times of India warned today about the dangers of cold weather. Apparently dotors "caution that the change in the weather and the sudden dip in temperature will lead to cough and fever." The temperature is now as low as 16 degrees at night. The paper advises readers to, "Avoid going out in cool weather without warm clothes as you might catch cold and have a running nose" and, "Cover your ears to avoid infections."

I am sitting here at 8.30pm in shorts and a T-shirt. Perhaps I should run and get my thermals!