Kerala...I Like It Here

Kerala; I like it here, from the moment we crossed into this communist state, I could feel the ease and contentment emanating from it’s inhabitants, the truck drivers wave you past, the school kids say hello and everyone has a big grin on their face as you pass whether on 2 wheels or 2 feet, I like it here. Our first stop was up in the cool hills surrounding Munnar, a laid back town with river running through and the usual bazaar serving up delicious poori (puffed up bread accompanied with masala) dosas (similar to crepes served with masala) and omelette (packed with chilli and served with paratha) and that’s just for breakfast, plus th e famous Kerala fish curry, a tad bony but worth the picking.   The following day we headed for Fo rt Cochin through a manicured hillside garden of tea plantations, it was so immaculate that Pete thought it was box hedge topiary. Somehow there are no words for the sheer prettiness of it all, we started off with the greenest of trimmed hedges with a kaleidoscope of colourful saris dotted amongst them and mature trees poking out above, then the true jungle started with oversize leaves, cheeky monkeys sat about and cascading waterfalls crashing under stone bridges.   Fort Cochin is quite a touristy place with surprisingly few white faces compared with the domestic Indian sightseers. Within a few kilometres there are Chinese fishing nets, a Jewish quarter including synagogue, mosques, churches, Dutch palaces and huge antique shops containing everything from 40 foot canoes complete with paddles to carved stone columns and giant garish rocking horses sold to “John, USA”, well, that’s what the label said.

There’s really only the minor problem of getting served beer in atmospheric or picturesque settings (generally the only places without a beer licence), the way they get round this is to serve it in teapots and mugs or cups, cunning. Strangely, it was considered ok to charge almost 3 times the going rate for this privilege, so we generally ended up in the only hotel serving up reasonable value cold Kingfisher, surrounded by other western beer swilling folk, not really our bag on the whole as they’re pretty navy n’ beige.Moving on after 3 nights we decided, unfortunately, to go to Alleppey, the backwater hawker capital of Kerala. Riding in wasn’t so bad, we had a beautiful backdrop for our breakfast picnic   until we got to the Boat Jetty that involved men standing in the road thrusting their arms out for you to stop and listen to their spiel. After parking up and fobbing them off with “need tea”, we decided to find a gaf nearer the beach away from the mahem and ended up in a heritage home dating back to the 1860s courtesy of Phillip. This homestay was packed full of curios and history along with framed slips of paper, professing to be the deeds, dating back to when the land was sold and building built over 140 years ago, though it wasn’t exactly Victorian, it had a certain English air to it hinting of steamy colonial days gone by. Next stop Kumily, back to the jungle and tea and ridiculously friendly smiley folk mixed with view upon view of long distance hills and winding rivers. We did our usual roadside reccie, armed with the LP and excuses, only to be approached by a young man dressed in the pale brown uniform reminiscent of the tuktuk tout. We were pleasantly proved wrong on this occasion and he was actually an animal sanctuary worker who’s sister owned a homestay in one of the quieter suburbs of town. Off-road parking, brand new build and wonderful hosts, all for the grand total of £5.30 a night, yippee. An invite to dinner and a couple of beers later we were happily fed, watered and put to bed in the most affordable comfort for months, sigh…