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