Visit To Kerala : God's Own Country

Hello Everyone,I have written this review on my mobile on the trip as and when I used to get time.Just copying the same to this blog...


"Today is 24th jan 2010.. 


Yesterday night we started from thiruvanmiyur,chennai..
We took MTC city bus from thiruvanmiyur.. It took around 1hr to reach central railway
stn. I was so irritated with the people of south at the time when I was sitting on last
seat in the bus.. I was feeling like leaving chennai right then and never return to
south india for my lifetime.. I had same feelings and irritation until we had worst
IRCTC dinner.. After that somehow I managed to sleep..


We got down on Ernakulam town railway station around 6:30 am..
We took an ordinary bus from KSRTC bus stand to Vikom that is 35 km away.. 
Vikom,the place where I got too see what one aspire to earn in life.. We stayed at one Homestay,The Vembanad Lake Villas.. 

Villa that we booked ------------------>

Kerala is very famous for three things,first is Backwaters , second Houseboats and third Homestays.. We booked a villa on the lake side.. We didn't even imagine what we are getting in return of the money we spent.. It costed us as much as we spend in buying a
shirt,just 1500/-. I was so impressed that I started thinking that the life that I have always aspired is actually nothing in front of this.. The city life,shopping malls,costly restaurants,bikes,stylish cars,sophisticated bunglow or flat,everything..

After freshin'up, i rested on the wooden comfortable chair.. In front of my eyes was
the Vembanad Lake,as much big as a sea,as much tranquil as water in well,as
pleasent n silent as temple,just 100ft away from me..

<--- Vembanad Lake view from our villa


Vembanad Lake or Vembanad Kol is the longest lake in India and one of the largest lakes in India. It is 14 km wide at its widest end.This lake with few rivers (names of which are impossible to remember) forms the Backwaters and the Wetlands of area around 1500 sq.km.
The environment was so calm and pleasent that I could hear sounds of chirping of
birds and some pet animals.. Not a single horn blow or shouting.. The place was
like the world is still 1000 years behind..


Now the time of breakfast,typical keralian style.. Appam (idli that bends like roti,you
can say),mutter curry (best mutter item I have ever eaten in south india), toast,
jam, tea and most different sweet dish in breakfast named Banana Karamas (Banana pieces prepared by appying special type of sauce and sugar)..
Then we went for boating with paddle boat that they provided (for free). Special
water tracks were designed like Formula One!!!
Few coconut trees were there in front of villa and hammocks were tied to them.. Some
trees bent on the lake and swings were tied to branches. Resting in that,we
enjoyed lake view,hanging above the lake..

Kayakas ------>


It was around 12:30 pm by now,some fishermen with their kayakas and some motor
boats started wondering in the lake.. Kayakas are long narrow boats that are mainly
used for fishing purpose. Kayakas are driven by a long stick like bambu which
extends upto lake's bottom.. In the lunch,we made up our mind to eat keralian food like rice and some curry but
we were wrong. In homestays,mostly we get homely food and you will not have menu card to choose from.They served Unpolished rice,ladies figer,one more veg curry,fruit
salad,papad,curd, and a fried fish. Fish was a malyalam speciality Poomeen. After
that we were served with kheer..Everything was so perfect..
Food was so awesome that we couldn't resist a nap but we didn't want to waste our
time in sleeping on such a lovely place. We planned to have experience of
countryside boating but lake tides were increasing so they adviced us not to go for it.

<---- Sunset


So postponing that we spent the later part of the day on the lakeside and also
enjoyed the sunset.. After having dinner we went to sleep.


In that wooden world,we were so fast asleep that alarm also took around an hour to
wake us up. We started our day with countryside Lake Safari on Kayakam. Water
was so calm again and level was also increased. Fishermen started on their way to
earn bread n butter. We also grabbed a view of large boat carrying few people and
couple of vans. The wallpapers,screesavers that we used on computer screens
were in front of our eyes. After picturing them on our mobile,we returned to our
villas after an hour. 

Lake View Grabbed on morning safari

Another View of fishing net in the lake


It was the time to say good bye to that lovely place. After
checking out from hotel,we reached to Viakom bus stand to catch bus to our next
destination,Kumarakom..We faced the common problem of south india there also,Language. All the buses were named in mallyalam with few exceptions.
I got a little headache so I was little down. Useless waiting of about an hour was the
added disadvantage. But a very wonderful hearted person helped us to catch a
direct bus instead of the connecting one on which we almost started. That was a
little booster to my mood. After 45min of boring journey,we got down at Kumarakom
with little expectations.
Kumarakom bird sanctuary is the prime attraction over there. But that turned out to
be a big bubble. We got to see the most famous bird of india,Crows.. Moderately
cool atmosphere and shelter from the burning sunshine were the only plus points.
We were happy that we spent only Rs.5/- for wandering in sanctuary..

Kettuvallams --------->


We had to catch return train at 8 pm from Kottatam,15 km away from there. We
thought to try Houseboating on Kettuvallams. Kettuvallam is a large kayakam with a little 
house on the boat. But the deal was quite costly and time consuming.
Rs.1000/- per hour and minimum 5 hours. So we had distant view of houseboat and
few pictures.


Around 6 pm, we started to Kottayam. Tourism and transport is very admirable in
south india. Well spread road networks,availability of buses,cheaper tickets and
skilled driving,these can be hilighted. We reached in time and started on the return
journey.
This is 10 pm now and I am converting my experiences on the mobile notepad..


One thing is there that I strictly want to mention,people of south india. People in
kerala are very good,simple,helpful and almost 98% people were able to speak
hindi. After living in Coimbatore and Chennai, I was totally in oppose to the
statement that "Hindi is our national language and it is spoken in all parts of india". I
used to think that South India is different country with their own language. But now
onwards,I will limit this statement upto Tamilnadu only..
Date 26-01-2010 13:37:56"