Trip to Kerala: Elephant Park in Munnar

We stopped by a roadside elephant park in Munnar for a ride on an elephant. Although I didn't really want to go because it was raining, I'm glad we did because it was so much fun! Our elephant and guide took us up and down and around on the foresty, muddy hills. It was a little scary at times because the hills were pretty steep, but the elephant was huge so it was probably nothing for him! At the end, we got to feed him a treat basket with some fruit, which I also was a little hesitant to do because I had didn't want to get my fingers sucked up in his snotty, hot-breath snout!

Trip to Kerala: Houseboat cruise in Alleppey

We went on a houseboat day cruise in Alleppey. Unfortunately, due to my tiredness, I seem to have lost all of the photos from this part of our trip!

When we stepped onto the houseboat, we were greeted with jasmine leis and coconuts with a straw poked into it. The houseboat was very nice with a little open air living room for us to relax in and soak in the scenery. Our 5-hour cruise took us through the backwaters into tiny little backwater villages completely isolated from the mainland, connected only by the backwater canals- no roads and no cars. We got a close look at village life seeing baths, laundry, fishing, cooking, playing, and just hanging out.

We had three crew members on our ship. The captain was very sweet and told me his name was John. I didn't believe him until he showed me his boat license a while later and his name really was John Vanaynungenbakkam or something like that! The captain let Brian drive the boat for a while while we were int he middle of the lake. The captain's chair wasn't made for Brian's 6-3 body so he looked like a giant!

John spoke OK English, but we still had a little trouble communicating. I have realized that even when were speaking English with some people, we are still worlds apart! John was telling us about the sights we were seeing and the way of life in Kerala. He told us about the different industries in Alleppey- number one industry is rice, number two is fishing and number three is houseboats. Then when we got to the lake, he was proudly telling us all about Ben Bernard Lake. "Ben Bernard Lake?" we asked. Yes! Hmmm...I guess I'll have to look up who Ben Bernard is.

When I consulted my Lonely Planet India guide after the trip, I realized it was Vembenad Lake. If you say Ben Bernard really fast and with a British accent, it does sound surprisingly similar to Vembanad!

We stopped for a traditional Kerala lunch on the boat. We had rice, vegetables, chicken curry, and salad. The best part was the Kerala fish fry- they took a whole freshly caught fish and fried it up for us. This would have been good, but they skipped a few steps that we are used to from back home- gutting it, cutting the head off, taking it off the bone, etc. They served me the fish and it was screaming at me with its mouth open and his tail mid-wag! I quickly his my fish behind the rice bowl so I didn't have to look at it, but Brian tried his. He said the flavor was pretty good, but then on his next bit he got some entrails and just about threw up. Yummm!

Trip to Kerala: Kathakali

From Wikipedia:

Kathakali is a highly stylised classical Indian dance drama noted for its attractive make-up of characters, their elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion. It originated in the country's present day state of Kerala during the 16th century AD, approximately between 1555 and 1605, and has been updated over the years with improved looks, refined gestures and added themes besides more ornate singing and precise drumming.

In actuality, Kathakali was a little creepy and weirded us out! The man dressed as a woman kept making kissy faces at us, which was freaky. I'm glad we experienced this, but it's not something I would want to see every weekend!

Trip to Kerala: Paddleboat

The weather cleared up just barely enough for us to go paddleboating. For 100 rupees, we got to take the boat out for 30 minutes to enjoy the scenery. If we were in the U.S. there would have been a million rules for an activity like this, but we were just told to put on a life jacket and don't go to far. Ok!

Brian's giant feet were too big for the pedals, so he had to take his shoes off to pedal. He would slow down enough for me to help, so I let him do all of the work. We made a few friends out on the water and thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. It started to rain after about 20 minutes and started to get really cold, so we headed back to shore just in time before the heavy rain started up again.

Trip to Kerala: Kodanad Elephant Training Center

I read about an elephant training center on a great traveler Web site called IndiaMike.com. Other travelers had mentioned that you could go at 8 a.m. every morning and see the trainers bathe elephants in the river. I am so glad we did this because it was was of the highlights of our trip.

In the U.S., you would never get the chance to experience these animals so up close without fences, rules and for sure a paid ticket! This was not an organized tour or anything, it was just part of the elephants' care that we were able to witness just because we happened to be there. There was one other couple and a family there with us, but that was it so it made it really exciting to be a part of this activity.

The elephant trainers didn't speak any English, so they couldn't talk to us about what they were doing or why they were doing it, but it was awesome just to watch. One elephant got a thorough bath that lasted over an hour. The others just got a dip in the river. We got to see two adult elephants and three adorable babies.

One of the babies had extra chains on his feet and through the apparently universal sign of "crazy" (rotating your pointer finger in a circle on the side of your head) we figured out that he was the wild child. Poor kid!

Kerala

We made a trip to Kerala, which turned out to be the most amazing trip we have ever taken.

Kerala is a state located in southwestern India. One of Brian's co-workers back home is from Kerala and had told us about how beautiful it was and that it is a tropical location with lots of coconuts. Well, he was right!

It is monsoon season so it rained the majority of the time on our trip. We had planned on that, so it didn't put a damper on our plans. We made the best of it, and I think the rains actually added to the beauty of the land.

We spent a night in Kochi, a day on a houseboat in Alleppey, two nights in Munnar and a day in Fort Chochin. We packed in so much during our short trip that when we looked at all of our photos at the airport while waiting for the flight home, we had forgotten some of the things we had done!

The scenery and natural wonder of Kerala kept us awe-struck for the entire trip. It was more beautiful for words and unfortunately since it was raining we don't have many pictures of the scenery. But, we have it in our memories and will surely go back one day to visit again.

Day 18: The Zoo!

I visited the zoo with Randy T. and a new arrival from Brian's company, David. I hadn't heard much about the zoo, except that they had a white tiger that was pretty interesting. So, without anything else to do, we went to the zoo to see the white tiger.

Upon arriving at the zoo, we were greeted with a big King Kong statue and then a Tigger wannabe statue pointing down the walking path. For a few minutes, I was scared all of the animals at the zoo would be carved and painted and not actual animals. You never know in India!

After walking down the shaded path, we did find some animals- a pygmy hippo, a giraffe, a zebra, a hippo, an aquarium, and a few monkeys. There was nothing too exciting, and actually the animals looked quite lonely because there was only one of each.

We finally made it to the white tiger exhibit and were amazed to be up close and personal with a white tiger mom and her two cubs. The two cubs were born this June and the three tigers were so awesome to watch. They play-hunted and stalked each other and roamed around in the surprisingly natural and well-kept habitat. We were mesmerized and watched them for a good 30 minutes. I was so in awe I only snapped a few pictures and didn't get any good ones.

Besides the tigers, the other really cool unofficial exhibits were the termite castles. The zoo was in a forest area and I suppose the termites really like all of the trees because there were so many termite mounds. They ranges in size from little like an ant hill to 5 feet tall castles!

There was one more attraction at the zoo that I didn't expect- us Americans! I'm pretty used to people staring a little, waving, snapping photos and wanting to say hi when we go out. At the zoo, we were the main attraction for lots of the kids who parents would push up to us to say "hi, how are you" to practice their English. At the tiger exhibit, I actually had to move away from a group of ladies who kept touching me because one lady wanted to be really close to me the whole time and I was feeling a little weirded out.

On our way out of the zoo, there was a group of guys in their teens or 20s and I could see a few cell phone cameras aimed in our direction taking photos. One guy got up the nerve to come and ask if we would pose for a photo. We said sure and stood there for the photo and then all of a sudden we were swarmed! There were are least 20 people with cameras surround us taking pictures. Then they all wanted to get in the picture with us. So we stood there for a few more photos and then politely said thank you and started to walk away. It was an odd experience, but I'm glad we made someone happy by taking photos with them!

Day 15: Trip to Pondicherry

I had heard about a French colonial town in South India called Pondicherry and was planning to take a weekend trip there for great hotels, great restaurants and fun. My bubble was burst when I was telling some of Brian's coworkers about my plans. After hearing it from a few people, I decided it would be better for me to take a day trip there instead of Brian and I doing a weekend trip. Thank goodness! Kevin and Randy Y. made the trip with me so at least I didn't suffer along!

It was about a 2.5 hour drive to Pondicherry, but it could have been a town right next door to Chennai, because it seemed just the same. Sure, the street names were a little more French and there was a park in the center of town that you could tell had some European influence, but other than that it was a typical South Indian town. I soon realized that the only reason people go to Pondicherry is for meditation and booze.

Just outside Pondicherry is a hippie colony called Auroville, where 2000 residents become one with nature and the truth. They have a visitor's center where we had to watch a video to become idoctrinated before we could get a ticket to see the matrimindir, the center of Auroville. After the video, we were funneled into some shops with handmade crafts and items by the residents of Auroville. I bought a few little trinkets, but mostly things were overpriced and similar to items found in every other Indian store.

The walk to the matrimindir was about a mile and although we were shaded by trees, it was hot! I am so glad I had my sweat rag on this trip! Along the path to the matrimindir, we stopped at the 100+ year old banyan tree, which is the geographical center of Auroville. It was a beautiful tree and probably the most interesting part of the trip.

Once we got to the matrimindir, I was underwhelmed. It's basically a gold Epcot ball sitting in a field. And we looked at. And took a picture with it. And that was it. Fun.

You have to make an appointment to actually go in the ball, but from the movie we had to watch, it is basically a temple inside for meditation that has a hole in the top for sunlight to penetrate. So after looking at the ball for a few minutes, we walked the mile back to the car. I was drenched by the time we got there and was hoping that this wasn't the highlight of the trip.


Once in Pondicherry, we saw the beach, which was nothing to write home about. Then we took an autorickshaw to the bazaar, which was fun because it was my first time on one. It cost us 25 rupees (about 50 cents). After getting in one, I am amazed at how many people they cram in there. Randy and Kevin are big guys and there was no way three us us could fit on the bench so Kevin ended up sharing a seat with the driver and hanging half of his body out.

At the bazaar, we saw a million shops that look exactly like any other Indian shops selling saris, bangles, spices, etc. I did ended up buying a few packets of bindis to wear on my forehead.


The coolest thing we did was go into the markets. They had several specialized markets- fish, bananas, fruit & vegetables, textiles, chickens and flowers. I took a photo of the fish market, but the smell kept me out. The fruit and veggie market was pretty cool because they have such different foods here. In the textile market, we saw lots of old men sewing on what we would consider antique sewing machines. My favorite was the flower market. It smelled wonderful and there were so many colors and beautiful flowers. Most of the stalls didn't sell loose flowers, they sell flower garlands, so we got to watch them crafting huge garlands of jasmine, roses, ranaculous, celiosa, mums, marigolds, and more. Garlands like this would cost hundreds of dollar is the US and they sell them for under a dollar!

I also saw a maternity hospital and got a glimpse of some newborn Indian babies. Seeing a pregnant woman or baby are rare here. I don't think people start bringing their babies out until they are about 2 or 3 years old. From what I have seen, people in the villages don't use diapers, strollers and walk everywhere so it makes sense why babies would stay home for a few years. There was a line at the hospital with women and their new babies wrapped in towels or sheets, I could just barely see a few tiny little heads poking out.

On the way home from Pondicherry, we stopped at a great beach resort called GRT Temple Bay for a late lunch. We had some jalapeno poppers and fish and it was delicious! They have a really neat pool lagoon their and beach front cabanas. I need to take Brian there for sure!