Kerala...EPIC! So we (group of 7 people) took a train to Ernakulam, and reached like super early. We traveled in the sleeper class (non-ac) and it was the most comfortable mode of transport so far (compared to Bus Sleeper and Bus Semi-sleeper --> very uncomfortable)
The main point of the trip was to get on the houseboat and go along the backwater, but check-in was at noon. So we went to check out some fort, which as it turns out, was just the name of the area, and there were no actual forts
What was cool though, was the fishing nets in that area. Apparently the idea was brought by the Chinese some time ago, and it's been there ever since. Pretty neat eh? The entire structure flips over and is then submerged in the water. Later on, the fishermen then just pull it back and get the fishes out! Simple and easy.
A couple of the people in our group then decided to buy some fishes and eat for breakfast. Very adventurous...since I could barely stand the smell and the sight of live fishes wiggling around lol. But well, the pictures above depicts a local Kerala version of Fish and chips! They cooked and cleaned the fish really well, and yeah it was good =)
We then headed over to the houseboat, making a stopover at some church (seriously, it's not me wanting to see churches and temples and museums, etc. I prefer the nature!) Next to the church, there were a bunch of kids playing cricket, so my friend and I decided to join them. Lol, these kids started trying to do fancy stuff and impress us with their bowling, but it was a big time fail (wide balls, no balls, super high bouncers, etc.) Anyway, when I started batting, I think I annoyed them big time by hitting the ball too far (and they had to go fetch it). I hit it like 3 times, and then all the kids suddenly went away and started playing football instead. Hahah, we got the hint and left.
The houseboat was huge! It reminded be a bit of the barge trip we took in school, and as far as the backwaters go, it was very serene and beautiful. Makes me wonder what Bangkok khlongs looked like before it became a city made of concrete. We were greeted with a welcome drink of coconut water and they served some awesome meals. One question I have though...why is it that when I buy coconut water in Thailand, from the roadside (hence out in the hot sun), it's always cool...yet the ones here are not???? so frustrating!
Here are a few pictures of the houseboat and some of our meals.
The boat, according to government laws, wasn't allowed to continue sailing after 6 pm, so around 5pm we anchored at some village. We then went out to explore the village, which was very small, although there were some houses under construction which seemed to be big and expensive. One of the guys with us is a fruit-lover (basically buys fruits almost wherever we go), and well, when we're at the "market", he sees this thing that looked like a watermelon from the outside. No one in the village can speak Hindi, let alone English, so there was an interesting haggling period before they got the idea to start writing down numbers instead =P
Anyway, it turns out what he bought was NOT a fruit. It looks like มะเขือ, the bitter kind you put in different Thai curries. LOL! We couldn't stop laughing. Big fail. Anyway, the houseboat staff then used it to whip up another dinner dish.
In the evening, one of the local village boys also came to us and asked us if we wanted to go on a boat ride (the rowing kind). He could speak really good english, and as we find out later, he was a 2nd year engineering student at a pretty good university. He did these boating trips since he was around 14, taking tourists around the backwater, to some nice places, and since the houseboat can't operate and people have nothing to do, it was a good part-time business for him. That was when we got to see the areas around the backwater better, the trees (banana and mango), and he even told us about how it used to be rice plantations like in the early 90s. That was relaxing.
We had been discussing what to do on Sunday, when we're done with the boat at around 9 am, and have our train at 5 pm. We were at Alleypey, and we had two options: some elephant training center thing and athirapally falls. The majority wanted to go to elephant thing, which was a major disappointment. (all 3 places and the train station were in different cities....so traveling time had to be taken into account).
Anyway, the elephant place literally had 4 elephants, and the elephant which tourists ride was sick (and the main reason the people from the group wanted to go was to ride the elephant). Luckily entrance was only 2 rupees. But hey! We did see an elephant in a trance state. There was one dude that just kept shaking it's head and dancing....definitely a new experience.
Since we had plenty of time left, we made our way to Athirapally falls, and that my friends, was the highlight of the trip. I don't even mind going back again just to see the falls. It was huge, and very very beautiful. I honestly did not expect such a big fall. When we hiked down to the bottom of the fall, guess what? It "rained". And by that, I mean the fall was so big, and the water fell so hard that it splashed around the area as if it was raining. It was also fun because there were alot of local tourists in that area, and they wanted to take a lot of pictures with our group. I feel kind of bad for the girls though...they could barely walk around without someone grabbing them and saying "photo photo!" There were some really good pictures and that was an epic fall. It made me realize that I really really enjoy nature, and not too much of museums and palaces....
Well, that was about it. We had lunch at some restaurant in front of the train station. Oh wait, I forgot one more thing.....the train actually reached Bangalore BEFORE TIME! I felt like I should have checked the skies to see if there were pigs flying. It was scheduled to reach at 4.30 am, and at about 3.50 am I woke up to find us at a station in Bangalore. 10 minutes later, we're at the main Bangalore station. Amazing eh?
That's it from me folks! This coming weekend we're headed for Hampi...this time a pretty big group (28 people and counting!) Hopefully it'll be fun =)
Oh, and a special note to those who think I'm here just for fun and traveling...and get annoyed at me for not calling....I just want you to know that I actually WORK on week days. And when I do get off work, there isn't really time to go make house visits and stuff. So chill out. The only way I'm able to fund these trips is by working. Good, now I'm glad we're on the same page.
The main point of the trip was to get on the houseboat and go along the backwater, but check-in was at noon. So we went to check out some fort, which as it turns out, was just the name of the area, and there were no actual forts
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| The fishing nets! |
We then headed over to the houseboat, making a stopover at some church (seriously, it's not me wanting to see churches and temples and museums, etc. I prefer the nature!) Next to the church, there were a bunch of kids playing cricket, so my friend and I decided to join them. Lol, these kids started trying to do fancy stuff and impress us with their bowling, but it was a big time fail (wide balls, no balls, super high bouncers, etc.) Anyway, when I started batting, I think I annoyed them big time by hitting the ball too far (and they had to go fetch it). I hit it like 3 times, and then all the kids suddenly went away and started playing football instead. Hahah, we got the hint and left.
The houseboat was huge! It reminded be a bit of the barge trip we took in school, and as far as the backwaters go, it was very serene and beautiful. Makes me wonder what Bangkok khlongs looked like before it became a city made of concrete. We were greeted with a welcome drink of coconut water and they served some awesome meals. One question I have though...why is it that when I buy coconut water in Thailand, from the roadside (hence out in the hot sun), it's always cool...yet the ones here are not???? so frustrating!
Here are a few pictures of the houseboat and some of our meals.
The boat, according to government laws, wasn't allowed to continue sailing after 6 pm, so around 5pm we anchored at some village. We then went out to explore the village, which was very small, although there were some houses under construction which seemed to be big and expensive. One of the guys with us is a fruit-lover (basically buys fruits almost wherever we go), and well, when we're at the "market", he sees this thing that looked like a watermelon from the outside. No one in the village can speak Hindi, let alone English, so there was an interesting haggling period before they got the idea to start writing down numbers instead =P
Anyway, it turns out what he bought was NOT a fruit. It looks like มะเขือ, the bitter kind you put in different Thai curries. LOL! We couldn't stop laughing. Big fail. Anyway, the houseboat staff then used it to whip up another dinner dish.
In the evening, one of the local village boys also came to us and asked us if we wanted to go on a boat ride (the rowing kind). He could speak really good english, and as we find out later, he was a 2nd year engineering student at a pretty good university. He did these boating trips since he was around 14, taking tourists around the backwater, to some nice places, and since the houseboat can't operate and people have nothing to do, it was a good part-time business for him. That was when we got to see the areas around the backwater better, the trees (banana and mango), and he even told us about how it used to be rice plantations like in the early 90s. That was relaxing.
We had been discussing what to do on Sunday, when we're done with the boat at around 9 am, and have our train at 5 pm. We were at Alleypey, and we had two options: some elephant training center thing and athirapally falls. The majority wanted to go to elephant thing, which was a major disappointment. (all 3 places and the train station were in different cities....so traveling time had to be taken into account).
Anyway, the elephant place literally had 4 elephants, and the elephant which tourists ride was sick (and the main reason the people from the group wanted to go was to ride the elephant). Luckily entrance was only 2 rupees. But hey! We did see an elephant in a trance state. There was one dude that just kept shaking it's head and dancing....definitely a new experience.
Since we had plenty of time left, we made our way to Athirapally falls, and that my friends, was the highlight of the trip. I don't even mind going back again just to see the falls. It was huge, and very very beautiful. I honestly did not expect such a big fall. When we hiked down to the bottom of the fall, guess what? It "rained". And by that, I mean the fall was so big, and the water fell so hard that it splashed around the area as if it was raining. It was also fun because there were alot of local tourists in that area, and they wanted to take a lot of pictures with our group. I feel kind of bad for the girls though...they could barely walk around without someone grabbing them and saying "photo photo!" There were some really good pictures and that was an epic fall. It made me realize that I really really enjoy nature, and not too much of museums and palaces....
Well, that was about it. We had lunch at some restaurant in front of the train station. Oh wait, I forgot one more thing.....the train actually reached Bangalore BEFORE TIME! I felt like I should have checked the skies to see if there were pigs flying. It was scheduled to reach at 4.30 am, and at about 3.50 am I woke up to find us at a station in Bangalore. 10 minutes later, we're at the main Bangalore station. Amazing eh?
Again, photos credit goes to my friend, not me, except for this next one...just for my friends at Tech!
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| This was the name of a food court in the Bangalore train station |
That's it from me folks! This coming weekend we're headed for Hampi...this time a pretty big group (28 people and counting!) Hopefully it'll be fun =)
Oh, and a special note to those who think I'm here just for fun and traveling...and get annoyed at me for not calling....I just want you to know that I actually WORK on week days. And when I do get off work, there isn't really time to go make house visits and stuff. So chill out. The only way I'm able to fund these trips is by working. Good, now I'm glad we're on the same page.
Don't 4get visiting falls was my idea. ;) gud u did else as u know u wud hv missed Niagara fall of east.
ReplyDeletePapa
And here you get dissed by kids. haha... what to do with you?!
ReplyDelete