Conclusion

It was a fabulous trip to a part of India I was the least familiar with.
This is a beautiful area from the sea shore to the mountains and all the innumerable lakes and rivers that contribute to the lush green foliage.

The people here are mostly very nice and helpful and always with a smile on their face. The population is 30% Christians, 60% Hindus and rest Muslims and Jews. There is also some remaining tribal population whose beliefs are similar to those of Native Americans.

Couple of the people worth mentioning are:


Manilal, our driver. He was always on time courteous, vehicle washed and cleaned every day. Well stocked ice cooler with bottled water.
It took him a day to figure out our interest and show us landmarks and other items that he knew would be of interest to us.

Radhika, our local contact from the travel agency. She checked in on us from time to time and promptly took care of any concerns or changes.

Everybody spoke excellent English but sometimes used the wrong words.




Perhaps means that the Non-Veg counter is "Open"?

Ending with a typical decoration signifying blessings.

April 21 - Home!

The flight was long and tedious but very smooth. I was pleasantly surprised that the Life of Pi was one of the movie choices. Some of the shooting was based in Munnar, one of our favorites on this trip.

I am kind of undecided about the movie, I did however like the surprise ending. I probably should watch it under better circumstances and not on a 7" screen.

We got served four times during the flight but based on IST, so the dinner menu was at 5:00 AM Chicago time. I guess better than no food or just peanuts.

We arrived at the gate 45 mins early, got our baggage right away and cleared customs without any problems.

While waiting for Coach USA had good old McDonald's coffee, hit the spot right after the long flight.
The temperature change is huge, came from 80s to 30 but it can only get better. The daffodils are in bloom and that's a good sign.

The power receptacle meant for charging cell phones and laptops didn't work and a kind gentleman showed a duplex receptacle on the wall where he had plugged his in.

Finally home, now comes the dreaded unpacking, laundry, and getting ready for work tomorrow.

April 20, working our way back.

Left at 10:00 am, continuing the saga of mismanagement, had to call 3 times to get a porter for the luggage. Oh well, we can easily forget this one property amongst all the wonderful ones we stayed at.

Long drive until a lunch stop but the roads are excellent and not too much traffic. Stopped for lunch at Regency Arcadia in Alleppey around 2:30 PM.

Rajeesh met us with my watch as promised, not having a watch during the vacation was great. So from now on I will take of my watch when I get to my destination and put it back on the day of my departure.

Airport check in was hassle free as has been our experience on Arrival as well. The flight to Delhi AI 047 is 30 mins late, no problem less waiting at Delhi, besides there is free wifi here.
This is also an AB 320 and coincidentally the same seat numbers 9A and 9B.

Smooth flight and dinner was good. By the time we got to the departure gate, boarding for our Chicago flight AI 127 had started. This is probably the shortest time we ever spent between flights at Delhi. It was nice as long as our luggage makes the transfer.

The flight to Chicago on AB 777-300 ER is very full as always and left on time.

April 19 - Kovalam

View from the breakfast table. Sitting here, drinking coffee and enjoying the view. This was the right decision to forgo the day trip to Kanyakumari.

Ravi, the local tour manager had assured me yesterday that we will be credited whatever charges we incur for the additional boat trip since we decided to forgo the original plan which saves them money.

Reluctantly left the breakfast area after a couple of enjoyable hours and went back to the cottage to get ready to go the beach.
Met the enterprising and very pleasant head Gardner of the property, on the way to the beach.

The beach is beautiful as expected from seeing from our porch. There was active fishing going on by the locals and they weren't very friendly or interested in answering our questions, lack of a common language may have been the culprit.




Interestingly I always get more interest saying I am from Kolkata than the US. Maybe they think I am crazy to come from one seaside fish eating area to visit a similar one.

We watched the fishermen bring in the catch, empty the nets and stretch the net for drying.
Reluctantly left the beach area as it got too hot. Seems like the tide was starting to come in and it was fun to get soaked knees down. Of course Sudip didn't get any where near it and kept telling me to get back.




Lazed around some more on the porch and decided to go in for lunch around 1:00 PM. Wasn't very hungry from the late breakfast, ordered Dal Tadka (lentil with vegetable) over plain rice.

The food was excellent as always and complimented by cardamom tea after the meal.

Really really enjoyed all the open air dinning at all the resorts and sitting on the porch enjoying the weather. A major luxury for me since whatever grows in Racine, kicks in my allergies and makes me miserable to be outside.

The manager came to talk to us expecting us to say everything is perfect and left in a hurry when he got a well deserved earful.

Continuing the saga of mis-managed, the gift shop is supposedly open 9:00 am to 9:00 PM and was closed at around 2:00 with the "open" sign hanging on the outside.

It so very frustrating to such a beautiful property that has such potential and amenities, so mismanaged and in such disarray.

Left to go to the Karaikkattu boat tours that we had booked yesterday. The local tourist agency, Clipper Tours kept their promise and picked up the tab and refunded our deposit from yesterday.

The backwaters boat tour was fantastic, we saw many birds and Sudip got some great pictures. We went through mangroves, and went past floating restaurants, resorts, and rural villages, ending with a gorgeous sunset over the Arabian Sea. What a fabulous finale to a great vacation. It will help us to forget the ineptitude of the resort. The boatsman was young, energetic and with a keen eye.

After we came back, all of a sudden we started getting the service we should have had to begin with including working wifi everywhere and ice cold beer in chilled mugs.

We wondered if our local contact Radhika had pulled some strings, she did call earlier but I had told her not to do anything since we were leaving tomorrow morning anyway.

Will be leaving tomorrow morning to drive to Kochi to catch our flight to Delhi that will connect to the International flight to O'Hare.

April 18 - Kumarakom to kovalam

Went to breakfast around 7:30 and after breakfast went for a walk around the property and in the butterfly garden. Our naturalist guide was a young female named Githu, yet another talented and pleasant young person.

Came back to the cottage freshened up and the resort ferry took us to the mainland. As the ferry pulled away they played the drums, a nice touch.

The restaurant staff was not as friendly as all the other places we have stayed but the property, the food, and the ambience was excellent and inviting.

We left by car towards Kovalam around 10:15 am.

Pretty soon we left the lush green and started driving on a high traffic road passing through mundane small towns]. Hope there will be some open patches or this will be a very long 4 hours.
Fortunately, the road became much wider, less traffic, and lush green reappeared.

We stopped for lunch at Ginger, a favorite hangout of the ITs, s Tiruvanamthpur or Trivandrum, at the capital city of the state of Kerala. The menu was Chinese, inexpensive but quite good.
After a short drive we came to the Palace of the present king of Travancore. It was basically a museum displaying some awe inspiring carvings and artifacts.
These were very impressive and valuable but unfortunately were dusty and not well maintained. Still worth the visit.

Adjacent to the Palace was a temple famous for being the richest in India. It is basically where royalty stashed their gold and precious stones. We decided against going inside the temple and proceeded on towards our hotel.

We had decided earlier that we will skip tomorrow's program of going to Kanyakumari which would have entailed 3 consecutive days of 7 hour drive days a 17 hour flight back home.
We chose to just relax and a take a back water boat tour instead.

We booked the trip for tomorrow starting at 5:30 and it included sunset viewing promises to be good, we are looking forward to it.

We arrived at Travancore Heritage, our beach resort for the next two days.

We were greeted with traditional flowers, blessing, and a fruit drink, then things started to go downhill rapidly.

At check in our identity papers that we have always used on all our vacations in India, were not good enough for them and they insisted on our passport and finally settled on the papers and the expiry date of the passport.

We were then shown to our cottage, it faces the sea and is a short walk to the beach. The cottage was the smallest we have seen and although had a queen size bed, the room was not large enough for two people to walk around without bumping into each other.

The promised wifi was non existent and upon asking the front desk was told that it was under repair and that was that.
Couple of the light bulbs were burnt out and the telephone jack was pulled out. The bathroom was separated from the room by an open passage and very small. The wardrobe cabinet was in this open passage.

The lack of maintenance seem to be the modus operandii here.

There was room for only one chair for sitting. This was such a let down from all the beautiful and practical properties we had stayed so far including the Windflower Resort which was inside the Bandipur forest and had limitation on what resources they had available and could provide.

We called our local contact in Kochi and she told us that she will take of everything in the next 10 mins. As promised within 10 mins someone from the resort came and showed a much bigger cottage also facing the sea.
We went for dinner shortly after and ordered a Kingfisher Gold, the beer was chilled but they poured it into hot mugs and ruined the reason for having a chilled beer.

Oh well atleast the staff is nice and the dinner tasty.

We had a fish curry with rice which was excellent as has all food been through this trip.
We plan to sleep in tomorrow and have a leisurely day.

April 17 - Munnar to Kumarakom

All packed and ready to have breakfast before leaving from Kumarakom. I am somewhat sad to leave Munnar with its beautiful scenery and temperate weather. People from Kochi escape from the heat in Summer and come here. Our cottage is PLB - which stands for Plantation B

I will have to admit that I am glad, I won't have to do another trek to the dinning room in the dark and tackling many uneven stone steps. I enjoyed this trek during breakfast and lunch of course.
We met the owner of the property Dr. Simon yesterday, he is a semi retired ophthalmic surgeon from Kochi, a very pleasant person. He sure has a beautiful and well maintained property.

We started a little late around 8:15 or so. We will be staying at the Coconut Lagoon tonight, which supposedly is only accessible by boat, sounds interesting, looking forward to it.




Looks like the first couple hours of the road is the same as we took to Thettekad yesterday.

We arrived around 11:45 and took the resort ferry to the Coconut Lagoon. We were received with usual hospitality, warmth, and smiles as has been our experience on this trip.

The property is between the Kavamar river and the Lake, after check in we were escorted to our houseboat for the day cruise on Lake Vembanadu, which is the largest inland lake in Kerala with a maximum depth of 45 ft.

The houseboat itself is a 2 bedroom, aptly furnished with lunch and afternoon tea and snacks served on board.
The lunch was very tasty and plentiful, starting with fresh grilled fish from the river and finished off with pineapple for desert.




We are lazily floating on the river, the breeze is nice. It's so peaceful and calming.

At around 3:30 or so the staff came around and took our tea or coffee. We both asked for the cardamom tea.

It was served with a type of fried banana and like everything else was quite delicious.

The last part of the trip was through a channel past villages, house, beautiful greenery and many water birds.

Arrived back at the Coconut Lagoon, beautiful afternoon spent on the boat.

The resort itself is beautiful and sprawling with individual "huts" set amongst coconut trees.



Sitting outside enjoying the beautiful breeze and scenery and waiting for the sunset.

Went in to dinner around 7:30 ordered a kingfisher gold and settled on a Kuttanadan Tharavu (duck) roast, which is duck cooked Kerala style in coconut gravy with organic rice grown on the property. This was a large portion so we shared between us. It was delicious as has been all food throughout our trip. The food is typically cooked in or with coconut milk, a concept not used in Bengali cooking and this very different for me.

There is live violin performance with tabla during dinner which adds to the ambience of of open air dinning.

We will be leaving for Kovalam via Trivandrum tomorrow, our last stop and I feel sad even thinking about this trip being over.

We decided to take a tour of the premises tomorrow morning after breakfast. So it's another early night for us.

April 16 - Thattekad Bird Sanctuary

Having a leisurely breakfast this morning, sitting outside enjoying the views and the weather.
Munnar apparently is the popular location for shooting movies, many used this location including the Life of Pi.

Saw a huge moth on the bushes on the way to breakfast.




After breakfast we went to visit the Kanan Devan Tea company formerly Tata Tea. It had a museum and an outlet store as well. The tea processing was quite interesting and we could see the manufacturing process in operation.

There was an accompanying video, which although interesting was too full of propaganda for the company.

This afternoon we will be going to the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, also known Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary.




Although the map says 1 hr 46 min, the locals say it is between 2.5 to 3.00 hours. The map has been wrong just about every time on this trip so I will bet on the 3 hours.

The resort had lunch consisting of puri bhaji and 3 types of fruit, packed for us which we ate in the car at Adimali.

We left at exactly 12:30 pm and arrived around 3:15 our guide was Eldhose who met us with a jeep and driver.

At first we drove to a couple of known birding areas to look for grey jungle fowl. No luck, so we got on a boat to look for birds on the river Periyar. We saw many water bird in the two hours that we spent on the boat.

The following are worth mentioning:
Whiskered tern
Small egret sitting on a Lilly pad.
Grey cormorants
Flock of whistling ducks
Huge flock of common black cormorants maybe a 1000
Snake darter bird
White breasted kingfisher
Purple Heron
Black lored yellow tit.




Even though morning would have been better, it was a very successful trip under the circumstances.

Left around 5:45 to drive back Munnar arriving at almost 8:00, apparently took less time possibly due to the reduced traffic. The driving was rather treacherous along the winding mountain roads in the dark with patches of fog and mist reducing the visibility further.

Another excellent 5 course meal starting with lentil carrot soup and ending with a scrumptious dessert.

Need to get an early start tomorrow to get to Kumarakom in time for the boat cruise, so it's early to bed tonight after packing.

April 15 - Munnar

Went to bed real early last night, slept but couldn't sleep past 6:15 or so.

The morning is beautiful with the birds chirping and the mountains covered in mist.

Enjoyed admiring the scenery from the verandah doing nothing. Finally got ready and went to the restaurant. The walk to the restaurant is very beautiful as I expected and more in day light.




All around us the birds were chirping and flowers abound. Sudip got some beautiful photographs.

Breakfast was served at the table as well. I had pineapple juice, toast, eggs made to order, coffee and fresh cut mango. Everything was well prepared and served with a smile by the ever attentive staff.

There are so many flowers in bloom, none of whose names I know of course. The only two I remember are Jacarandas and
Honeysuckle.

We left the hotel around 10:00 AM and Manilal drove us into town where we picked up our local guide Jonas. He seemed very young but well versed, soft spoken and with a keen eye for birds.




Jonas informed us that there is a old Munnar and a new Munnar with a combined population of 70,000.

Our first stop was Madupatty Dam which produces 2mw of hydroelectric power mostly for the surrounding plantations. The dam was commissioned in 1953.

The State of Kerala has 60% hydro and the rest a combination of wind, thermal, and coal.
Our next stop was the Kundala Dam, this is a dam to control flood and does not produce electricity. It was built in 1940.
Remnants of old stone buildings submerged in the floods prior to building the dam can be seen when the water is low like now.

Our next and final stop waa Top station - 7180 ft. This is the top most station for the cable car started in 1900 but no longer in use after the roads were completely.

It was all misty but the it was easy to imagine how gorgeous the view would be.




Back to the Resort, to freshen up and have lunch. It is all misty here as well, looks mysterious but inviting.

We have a choice of sandwiches or Kerala lunch. We chose the Kerala lunch of course which consists of sambar (lentil soup with vegetables), papad, rice, 2 types of Vegetables okra and long beans with shredded coconut, and fried chicken all cooked Kerala style.

The rice was very different with fat kernels and nowhere as tasty as the cashew rice from yesterday.

The sambar was the best tasting of all the dishes.

Dessert was mixed cut fruit accompanied by coffee.

We have plans to go on the bird watching and a tour of the property but it is drizzling so not sure if it will happen. Apparently there are only two other guests today and we are the only ones going on the walk. I think I counted 8 guests including us at dinner last night.

Al right the rain stopped just in time for our walk. Our guide for the walk was Ranjit Hadlee, yet another knowledgeable youngster with a keen eye. We saw many flowers and heard many beautiful bird songs, one in particular the Malabar Whistling Thrush. It is locally called the "whistling schoolboy", which is very much what it sounds like really.

This area is full off cardamom plantations and saw plenty of them and some with seeds still on them, the season is almost over. Interestingly the cardamom flower is at the bottom of the plant and the cardamom is picked individually by hand, probably why it is typically more expensive than other spices.

A car from the resort picked us up for our return, we stopped for tea before going in to our cottage. I had the cardamom tea of course, which is their specialty. I am not a tea drinker but I really enjoyed this tea.

Thought of skipping dinner but didn't want to miss the great food here.

We are the only guests here tonight. Two other sets of guests will be coming in around 1:00 am.
After another 5 course dinner and dessert, I am ready to fall asleep at the table. The walk back to our cottage was nice, specially in this cool weather.

Now it's goodnight time for today

April 14- Coimbatore - Munnar

It was a luxury sleeping in until 7:30 this morning and also having strong cell connection and free wifi every where in the hotel.
The hotel had every modern amenity but seemed like the staff lacked warmth and training. Our driver told us that they have too many turnovers because of not paying their staff well.

Today is a big festival day in South India, the hotel and its staff were dressed in tradition.



The drive from Coimbatore to Munnar was somewhat boring and crowded for the first couple of hours but pretty soon we were in the Nilgiri mountains and the scenery changed.

Since there wasn't any good place to stop on the way we drove straight to Munnar through some gorgeous mountainous roads whose sides were covered with tea plantations. Somehow the tea plants looked different than those in Assam, perhaps the color or the way they were trimmed. Not quite sure.

Most of the way was through reserve forest with no cell connection but it came back after we reached the town of Munnar.
Stopped and ate a light lunch at a good local restaurant and proceeded on to Windermere Estate where we will be staying for the next three nights. While we were eating lunch we heard thunder, if it does rain it will be the first rain on this trip.

The place is up the hill from the town and with scant cell reception although I was assured that there is wifi in the restaurant, lobby, and in the reading room above the restaurant.

The cottage we are in is quite large and sparsely but definitely adequately furnished. We have to go down two flights of rather steep steps and I am not looking forward to doing this at night. It is also drizzling and the wet stones are slippery.

The view out of the windows and the balcony of cottage is absolutely gorgeous and makes up for all other shortcomings, not there is any other than the steps.



There is a bit of a mixup about our trip to Thekaddy a bird sanctuary a couple hours away but our tour operator is diligently working on it. I wouldn't mind just staying here and relaxing for the next two days.

The mixup got sorted out. We will be going to the bird sanctuary day after tomorrow and sight seeing around town. Apparently there is much to see including plantations, lakes etc.

Went in for dinner at around 7:30. It is nice walk from our cottage to the restaurant. I wish it was light outside, I am sure the scenery is beautiful along the walk, I am looking forward to seeing it in the morning.

The dinner is a fixed menu served at the table. The staff is very pleasant and helpful, truly service with a smile and as a bonus there is strong wifi available at the restaurant as promised at check in.

We started with Chinese sweet corn soup then a honey tomato salad followed by a duck dish, a beef dish, a paneer (home made cheese), and a mixed vegetable dish. All served with cashew rice and bread. I never had cashew rice before and it was so delicious. This is more like a banquet, I don't think we can do justice to it.

Everything tasted delicious. They said they cooked with most of their own spices from the plantation which probably is a major factor in how tasty the meal is.

For dessert, a bread pudding yet another delicious preparation.
No 5 star restaurant can match true home cooking with the freshest of ingredients.
Between the scenery, the ambiance, the personable ever helpful staff, and of course the great food, I could just stay here for the rest of the vacation.

April 13 - Bandipur - Coimbatore.

Bandipur - Ooty - Conoor - Coimbatore.

Got up at 5:00 am for a morning game drive at 6:15. We will be leaving right after we come back and have breakfast.

We saw a tiger this morning, walking majestically across the road and then vanishing into the bushes. The driver tried to look for it to come out and various strategic places but no luck. It looked like its belly was full and so probably had laid down somewhere in the bushes.

We also saw Sambar and some very large herds of spotted deer and various bird life. It was much more vibrant this morning than last evening.

Came back and had breakfast, coffee has been good all through the trip but this place has the best coffee to date.

Finished packing and checked out.

The road to Ooty is beautiful mountainous roads most of the way, rather slow going but very enjoyable.

Arrived in Ooty around 11:30 and had coffee and then lunch and proceeded on to the train station to catch the "toy train" to Conoor.
The train was totally full but well organized and left on time. Very much enjoyed the ride and the gorgeous scenery of course. We arrived around 2:15 and Manilal met us on the platform. He had driven the car and our luggage from Ooty to Conoor.



The drive from Conoor to Coimbatore had the same mountainous roads first of the way and then flattened out as we neared Coimbatore.

Checked in at the Residency, I am pretty sure I stayed at this hotel when I traveled on business but that was a long time back and nothing looked familiar.

Rested and had dinner at Chin Chin the in-house Chinese restaurant, the food was fabulous as I remember Indianized Chinese food was growing up.

Retired for the night around 10;00 PM, looking forward to sleeping in late (7:30).

April 12 - Kabini - Bandipur

Slept in this morning and had a leisurely breakfast.

Checked out around 9:30 am. The resort. staff was wonderful as they have been all through. The resort itself was one of the best I have ever stayed in any place in the world. The attention to detail even in the smallest of items is worth mentioning. Every one believes in service with a smile and quirky replies to possible tiger sightings - yes ma'am, I sent an SMS to the tiger this morning to be available for photographs and many more such replies.
Wish we stayed here few more days, next time.

The distance from Kabini to Bandipur is only 100 km but due the terrible condition of the most direct route we had to take the road to Mysore and go South from there. A long detour it took us around 3.5 - 4.00 hours.
Checked into the Windflower Resort, a beautiful but rustic place with limited amenities . The Manager on duty was very pleasant and helpful as was his staff.

There is no cell reception here and limited wifi in the conference room. Other than having to save this blog locally for now, I think I can survive 12-15 hours without.
After lunch, left at 3:30 PM for the 4:00 PM safari. This was a larger vehicle but without the visibility that the other ones had.

The forest itself was beautiful but the animals were scarce. It had some very scenic water holes but not much animal activity.




This coupled with the fact that the vehicle was noisy, hardly ever stopped for picture taking, and the spotter didn't make much effort it was a somewhat of a non productive trip.

The roads were very bad, I kept thinking of how nice everything was in Nagarhole.

Came back to the resort for coffee and snacks followed by dinner. We need to be packed for tomorrow since we will leaving right after the safari and breakfast.

April 11 - Kabini

Got up at 4:30 am to get ready for the morning safari at 5:15 am.
A very pleasant surprise in the form of a Happy Birthday text send at midnight local time. I think I totally confused and worried him by acknowledging that early.

Left for the safari with a smaller group of 10 and a much more friendly and personable guide Puran.

The highlight of the morning for me was two male gaurs showing of by much bellowing and taking fighting positions.

We saw a herd of elephants from really close along with others that were a little further away.

A peacock with it's tail feathers displayed in its full glory showed of for us or atleast that's what we would like to think.

Came back for a full breakfast and then lunch around 2:00 PM.

We saw less animals in the afternoon safari but more birds. Amazingly the birds were on lower branches and close enough for for me to see them clearly.

My highlight on the evening safari was a pair of woodpeckers building a nest. One was doing all the work and pecking at its mate if it came close.

Came back had tea and snacks and then dinner and to bed tired and happy.

April 10 - Kozicode to Kabini.

This is about 5.5 hours of drive. Roads are very good except for the last hour or so.

Some of the view as it passes the Ghats is truly spectacular. For the last stretch, the car route is around 55 km of bad road going around the dam. The Lodge makes provisions for the guests to cross the river by boat which takes less than 15 mins.

We checked into our resort. Orange County around 1:30 PM, the staff was very helpful and informative. We had a jacuzzi hut and spacious bedroom, sitting room and bathroom.

April 9 - Kochi - Kazicode

Checked out of the hotel at 9:00 am. Misplaced my watch and was convinced it had fallen somewhere in the luggage. I let the hotel staff know about it and half way to Kazicode they called to let us know that the watch has been found and they will bring it to the airport on our departure day. I am curious as to where it was, since both looked everywhere.

We had to make a small change in plans. The Arthripally Falls are pretty dry due to a dry winter so we decided to skip it and go to the elephant sanctuary instead.
Took the car ferry across the mouth of the inlet, a very smooth and quick process.

The drive was through villages and small communities the scenery was quite pretty but it stil was long and tiring.

We arrived at Guruvayoor and went into the elephant sanctuary. A very interesting place, there are about 40-50 elephants which people have donated to the temple. The temple itself is rather famous but we decided to skip it due to the long lines.

Manilal took us to Krishna Inn for lunch. It was an excellent vegetarian restaurant, with generous portions and we shared a very tasty Chettinad style mixed vegetable curry. Sudip was concerned that it would be too hot for him but turned it was not.

After lunch we drove on and
reached The Gateway Hotel at around 3:00 pm Interestingly the local pronunciation of Kozkcode sounds very closed to its anglicized version Calicut.
Another beautiful hotel with typical Taj hospitality.

Freshened up a bit and went down for tea with pakoras and cookies and then for a short walk in the well kept grounds.

As usual Sudip found a Bengali server and manager and tea and snacks became complimentary.




Back to the room and after a short rest went downstairs for dinner around 7:30 PM.

I kept changing my mind every time the server brought up a new dish much to his merriment. The restaurant staff were fore warned about my shellfish allergy and they keep making wonderful suggestions for me.

Finally settled on calamari pan roasted with Kerala spices and Sudip ordered the prawns cooked in Kerala spices
Split a Kingfisher, a popular Indian beer, while waiting for our meal.

The dinner was truly delicious but way more than I could eat so regretfully I had to quite a bit untouched.

A wonderful day but l long and another tomorrow, so retiring early for tonight.

April 8 - Kochi

Slept very well but couldn't sleep past 5:00 AM. Not bad for the and out of sync by 10.5 hours.
We got ready for the day and went down to breakfast at 7:00 AM.

The breakfast staff was very attentive and helpful. It was a buffet with standard items and also included made to order items.

I had a cheese omelette and ofcourse a plain dosa, how could I not being in the land whose speciality is dosa. Both items excellent and so was the three cups of coffee that I had with it.

Left the hotel at around 9:00 am with our guide for the day Koshy and Manilal our driver.

We walked a short distance to the St. Francis Church. This is the oldest European Church in India. Inside the Church was the origin burial place of Vasco De Gama and also burials of the Dutch, Portuguese, and English on different walls.




We then walked to see the furst Jewish Synagogue at Mattancherry. The Jewish population has dwindled to 8 and the oldest living lady still runs a handicraft store.

We then walked to the water's edge to see the Chinese fishing nets in action.




Came back and had an excellent lunch at the Lodge - lamb curry Kerala style with Uppam.

Had the WiFi going in both my phone and tablet while waiting for lunch to be served, so now I am all set at least until to drive to Calicut tomorrow.

After a short rest, Koshy came with Manilal at around 5:00 PM to drive us to Harbor Cruise to watch the sunset over the Arabian Sea.

I had surprised to realize this was a private tour just for us. The two person crew were very helpful and pointed out various sites. The sunset was beautiful but difficult to capture on camera.

It was dinner time by the time we got back to the hotel and we in to the restaurant where I had an excellent chicken biriyani Kerala Style.

The staff at the hotel was ever attentive and very helpful keeping in mind my shellfish allergy and creating specialty dishes to suit our needs.

Retired for the night shortly after but for some strange reason had a very hard time falling asleep and kept waking up almost every hour.

April 6 -7 - Racine to Cochin.

Left the house at 7:45 AM to catch the 8:30 AM Coach USA shuttle to O'Hare.

All checked in and waiting at the gate by 10:40 AM - 24a and 24b.
Shared a snack pack consisting of ham & swiss sandwich, potato chips and a bottle of water.




Boarded our flight AI 126, Boeing 777-300ER and pushed back on time.

Flight was smooth but cabin crew out did themselves to do the bare minimum, including ignoring any requests for a second cup of coffee after a meal.

The food was tasty but the flight long and tedious.

We landed in Delhi at 2:30 pm on April 7 about 30 mins ahead of schedule, went through security to wait in the transit lounge for our flight to Cochin.

The flight AI 046 to Cochin on AB 320 seats 9A and 9B, was smooth also and the food good, in fact to me it was better than the international flight.

Customs and immigration through Kochi airport was quick and efficient.

Rajeesh from the local office came to meet us together with the driver Manilal and his Innova. Manilal will be our driver for the entire trip.




We checked at the Hotel Malabar House at around 10:00 PM. The hotel was beautifully converted from an old building. The hotel staff was courteous and very helpful. They had specially left the restaurant open for us just in case we wanted dinner.

All in all a very good start for our vacation through South West India.

Introduction

After much discussion and changes we finally have the following great itinerary.


Day 01: 07th April 2013 - Sunday
Arrive in Cochin
Overnight at Cochin.


Day 02: 08th April 2013 - Monday
AM visit of Mattancherry - Jew Town, Synagogue, and a Harbour Cruise.
Post Lunch visit Fort Kochi - the Heritage Square, Fishing Nets, St. Francis Church etc. followed by a Kalaripayattu & dance program - 1600 to 1730 Hrs
Overnight at Cochin.


Day 03: 09th April 2013 - Tuesday
Cochin – Athirapally – Calicut
Visit of Athirapally waterfalls. Go for a short trek right down to the base of the mighty Athirapally falls.
Continue on to Calicut enroute lunch at Trissur by about 1230 Hrs
Overnight at Calicut.


Day 04: 10th April 2013 - Wednesday
Calicut – Kabini:
In the evening visit Nagarhole Sanctuary to enjoy a Jeep Safari followed by a programme on jungle awareness.
Overnight at Kabini.


Day 05: 11th April 2013 - Thursday
Kabini:
Morning Safari at Nagarhole Sanctuary.
If there is enough water, then there is possibility of boat ride.
After lunch proceed to the Sanctuary again for Safari.
Overnight at Kabini.


Day 06: 12th April 2013 - Friday
Kabini – Bandipur:
After lunch proceed to Mudumalai Sanctuary.
Overnight at Bandipur.


Day 07: 13th April 2013 - Saturday
Bandipur – Coimbatore:
Proceed for a Jungle Safari at 0530 Hrs
Return to the hotel for breakfast.
Post breakfast drive to Coimbatore crossing Ooty.
(The drive is 2.5 Hrs to Ooty and then another 2.5 Hrs to Coimbatore)
This would be a full day journey with a brief visit of Ooty, lunch at Ooty, perhaps a toy train ride from Ooty to Coonoor.
Overnight at Coimbatore.


Day 08: 14th April 2013 - Sunday
Coimbatore – Munnar:
Drive to Munnar and reach by afternoon.
In the evening proceed for a visit of Munnar Town.
Overnight at Munnar.


Day 09: 15th April 2013 – Monday
Munnar:
Proceed for a full day sightseeing of Munnar.
The visits at Munnar are a Tea Plantation walk, the Tata Tea Museum, Top Station, The Matupetty Dam and a number of view -points around the town of Munnar.
Overnight at Munnar.


Day 10: 16th April 2013 - Tuesday
Munnar:
Visit the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary and enjoy a boat ride there.
Overnight at Munnar.


Day 11: 17th April 2013 - Wednesday
Munnar – Kumarakom:
Drive to Kumarakom early 0700 Hrs - Board boat for day-cruise by noon.
Lunch, Tea & Snacks will be on the boat.
After day-cruise check out of the boat by 1700 Hrs.
Overnight at Kumarakom.


Day 12: 18th April 2013 - Thursday
Kumarakom – Kovalam:
Drive to Kovalam - en-route lunch at Trivandrum followed by Trivandrum City Tour.
Overnight at Kovalam.


Day 13: 19th April 2013 - Friday
Kovalam – Excursion to Kanyakumari
Overnight at Kovalam.


Day 14: 20th April 2013 - Saturday
Kovalam – Cochin – Departure:
Drive to Cochin Airport to take flight to O'Hare with connection in New Delhi.

Location:Racine, WI