“God’s own country” Kerala is a place where we find ourselves in the lap of nature. It’s a place to get mesmerized by the natural beauty. The waterfalls, wildlife, mountains and the greenery all around is the best part of Kerala. A trip to Kerala with my husband last year enthralled us by the natural beauty.
Kanyakumari is the place of “Triveni Sangam”. It’s called so because it’s a place where Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal meet. While on the way to Kanyakumari we went to Poover beach. Poovar is one among the natural wonders where the Lake, River, Sea and Beach meet the land. This is a backwater and the beach there is so clean and so pure. This area is mainly for fishing. To reach the beach we hired a boat and the scene while going there was really mesmerizing. On both the side there are trees that add beauty to this place. There in-between was the idol of Jesus Christ we asked our boatman to stop the boat there and then we went there and clicked many pictures. We had our lunch at hotel on the way to Kanyakumari. In lunch they serve only roti chawal and the food is given on banana leaf. Few things in the platter were bit strange. In Kerala people first have rice and then they have roti which is quiet different. While on the way I got fever so didn’t had any food and just took fresh juice.
We reached Kanyakumari by evening and took room from which we can see the sunrise but as it was very cloudy so we missed that chance. The must watch places in Kanyakumari are Kanyakumari temple, Gandhi memorial and the Vivekanand Rock and the other place is Triveni Sangam. At Triveni Sangam we went down the stairs to wet our legs as its considered holy thing. I took out my sleepers and kept it on side to wet my legs at that time high tide came and took my sleeper with it then after few seconds as the tide came back again I got my sleeper back. Next day morning we went to Vivekanand Rock. There are two things to see there, one is the memorial and other is the rock where there is huge idol of Swami Vivekanand. It was raining too heavily and the tides were very high with cool wind. As I was suffering from fever we went only to the memorial and didn’t go to the idol as there was a big queue. On the next day we left for Alleppey.
Alleppey is an important tourist destination in India. Backwater of Alleppey is world famous and is the most popular tourist attraction in Kerala and it is also known as “Venice of the east”. We reached their late night around 10.30. On the way we had dinner at one restaurant the food was really delicious actually I forgot the name of hotel. After reaching we searched for some nice hotels and cottages. That night we stayed at different hotel as is was too late so we were not able to search proper one. We didn’t wanted to stay in houseboat so next morning after having breakfast we went to search a hotel. Our search ended at the beautiful cottage Lemon Dew. Actually they provide rooms only to the foreigners but luckily we got room. Then we went to have a ride to backwaters. We hired a boat and took a two hour ride. We need to bargain for the rates of boat. The view on the way was very much fascinating. There are thousands of houseboats of different sizes i.e. two rooms, three rooms and up to six to seven rooms. In between we saw a place where spectacular snake - boat races take place. Then we had coconut on the dhaba on one side of the water. There was eagle of that dhabawala we placed that eagle on our shoulder and then clicked pics. There were many resorts on both the side. On the next day we left for Thekkady.
On the way to Thekkady the natural beauty was very mesmerizing. There were tea plantation on both the sides of road and the atmosphere was very foggy. As it’s a hilly region the roads were very small and it took a long time to reach there. There were many waterfalls on the way we stopped at every falls and took pictures as the scene was great. Thekkady is one of India's most fascinating natural wildlife sanctuaries, where you can watch wildlife at close range. The vegetation, the flora and fauna and th e birds of Thekkady are uniquely rich, vast and varied that it does not bear semblance to any other wildlife sanctuaries in the world. There we stayed at Hotel Ambadi. We used to have our meals at hotel High Range residency as there we got our Gujarati food after a long time. One day we went to rejuvenate our self at the ayurvedic massage centre. We went to the spice garden and there we had elephant ride. There was plantation of coffee, clove, bananas and many other spices. On the next day we went to Periyar Tiger Reserve. The Periyar forest of Thekkady is one of the finest wildlife reserves in India. The Thekkady sanctuary is one of the best in the country for watching and photographing wild life. We need to go there in cruise. The animals there are the tigers, the majestic Asiatic wild elephants and the distinctive Nilgiri langur. Other animals include the wild boar, wild dog, bison, bear, deer and leopards. By our bad luck we could see only the Sambar Deer that too from a great distance. There on the boat few couples messed up with the management of the cruise as they allocated seats very unevenly. There we have two kinds of cruise one is of govt. and other is private. The govt. one is quiet cheap compared to the private one we came to knew this after we took ticket of private service. At night we went for shopping at the local market. We bought many different kinds of Masala’s and cashew nuts and many other things. It’s the best place to buy spices. Next day we left for Munnar.
The way to Cochin was very long. While on the way we had lunch at the hotel coming on the way there we had Chana Masala and Appam it was really mouth-watering. The day we reached Cochin in evening we went to see Chinese Fishing Nets, Jewish Synagogue and while on the way we saw a board of Jain temple. And we went there. The temple was very big and spread in vast area. It was really nice to visit there as we went to our Mandir after a long time of 11 days. Then at night we went to local market and went to have dinner at the nearby restaurant. Next day after having breakfast we packed our bags to return back to Ahmedabad. We left for airport around 11 am as the route was quiet long. Our flight had few min stop at Bombay airport but due to heavy air traffic we need to wait there for around 45 minute and then finally around 6.30 we reached Ahmedabad airport.
Our train tickets were not confirmed. At that moment we got our one ticket confirmed and then we waited to get other ticket confirm for that night. We had to pay some extra charge for it. But for next night we got other seat in different compartment so that night we had to sleep on one seat only. There was one South Indian family opposite our seat and at lunch time we saw that they were eating some non-vegetarian food as I saw bones of some sea food. Smell at that moment was pathetic and we used to close our curtains and spray the air freshener. And the other family in cross of our seat were really very interesting at each and every stop they use to get down and have some food and use to take food and tea from each chaiwala and other people coming to sale food. They guys were really amazing and we did our time pass by watching them eating all the time and making fun of them. The view from the train was also great. There were many tunnels coming in the way. Though it was 36 hour long journey we enjoyed it a lot.
We got off at Trivandrum station and our taxi driver cum guide was waiting there and took us to Kovalam, the place of beaches. It took around an hour to reach there. After seeing the warm sandy beach with crashing waves our all fatigue of 36 hours long train journey was gone. We stayed at Neelkantha hotel. The view from the balcony of the room was simply great. After relaxing, hunger crept in and we started hunting for vegetarian food. So we went to Trivandrum to have lunch as there we get vegetarian food. That day we went to the nearby beach it was the private beach of Leela Hotel. In evening at beach we got relaxed in sand and water. At night we went to the local market there. The ambience of shops was not very good it had low light and small shops. Outside of each and every hotel there were the crabs and prawns and other sea food displayed in the glass box. The smell that was coming on that way was terrible as we are not habituated to that smell. Next day morning we saw fisherman catching fish in the big net that was really the best thing to watch as we haven’t seen that before. Next day we booked two chairs on beach and did lot of Masti in water and sand. That were really a wonderful moments. Small crabs and snails were coming on the edge of the beach. We collected many shells of different sizes. The view of the beach was very much fascinating. There were activities such as speed boating which was very thrilling experience. We had been there for around two n half days but we felt that also less as its very nice place. It’s really the best place to relax and rejuvenate our self. On the next day morning after having breakfast we left for Kanyakumari.
Kanyakumari is the place of “Triveni Sangam”. It’s called so because it’s a place where Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal meet. While on the way to Kanyakumari we went to Poover beach. Poovar is one among the natural wonders where the Lake, River, Sea and Beach meet the land. This is a backwater and the beach there is so clean and so pure. This area is mainly for fishing. To reach the beach we hired a boat and the scene while going there was really mesmerizing. On both the side there are trees that add beauty to this place. There in-between was the idol of Jesus Christ we asked our boatman to stop the boat there and then we went there and clicked many pictures. We had our lunch at hotel on the way to Kanyakumari. In lunch they serve only roti chawal and the food is given on banana leaf. Few things in the platter were bit strange. In Kerala people first have rice and then they have roti which is quiet different. While on the way I got fever so didn’t had any food and just took fresh juice. 
We reached Kanyakumari by evening and took room from which we can see the sunrise but as it was very cloudy so we missed that chance. The must watch places in Kanyakumari are Kanyakumari temple, Gandhi memorial and the Vivekanand Rock and the other place is Triveni Sangam. At Triveni Sangam we went down the stairs to wet our legs as its considered holy thing. I took out my sleepers and kept it on side to wet my legs at that time high tide came and took my sleeper with it then after few seconds as the tide came back again I got my sleeper back. Next day morning we went to Vivekanand Rock. There are two things to see there, one is the memorial and other is the rock where there is huge idol of Swami Vivekanand. It was raining too heavily and the tides were very high with cool wind. As I was suffering from fever we went only to the memorial and didn’t go to the idol as there was a big queue. On the next day we left for Alleppey. 
Alleppey is an important tourist destination in India. Backwater of Alleppey is world famous and is the most popular tourist attraction in Kerala and it is also known as “Venice of the east”. We reached their late night around 10.30. On the way we had dinner at one restaurant the food was really delicious actually I forgot the name of hotel. After reaching we searched for some nice hotels and cottages. That night we stayed at different hotel as is was too late so we were not able to search proper one. We didn’t wanted to stay in houseboat so next morning after having breakfast we went to search a hotel. Our search ended at the beautiful cottage Lemon Dew. Actually they provide rooms only to the foreigners but luckily we got room. Then we went to have a ride to backwaters. We hired a boat and took a two hour ride. We need to bargain for the rates of boat. The view on the way was very much fascinating. There are thousands of houseboats of different sizes i.e. two rooms, three rooms and up to six to seven rooms. In between we saw a place where spectacular snake - boat races take place. Then we had coconut on the dhaba on one side of the water. There was eagle of that dhabawala we placed that eagle on our shoulder and then clicked pics. There were many resorts on both the side. On the next day we left for Thekkady.
On the way to Thekkady the natural beauty was very mesmerizing. There were tea plantation on both the sides of road and the atmosphere was very foggy. As it’s a hilly region the roads were very small and it took a long time to reach there. There were many waterfalls on the way we stopped at every falls and took pictures as the scene was great. Thekkady is one of India's most fascinating natural wildlife sanctuaries, where you can watch wildlife at close range. The vegetation, the flora and fauna and th e birds of Thekkady are uniquely rich, vast and varied that it does not bear semblance to any other wildlife sanctuaries in the world. There we stayed at Hotel Ambadi. We used to have our meals at hotel High Range residency as there we got our Gujarati food after a long time. One day we went to rejuvenate our self at the ayurvedic massage centre. We went to the spice garden and there we had elephant ride. There was plantation of coffee, clove, bananas and many other spices. On the next day we went to Periyar Tiger Reserve. The Periyar forest of Thekkady is one of the finest wildlife reserves in India. The Thekkady sanctuary is one of the best in the country for watching and photographing wild life. We need to go there in cruise. The animals there are the tigers, the majestic Asiatic wild elephants and the distinctive Nilgiri langur. Other animals include the wild boar, wild dog, bison, bear, deer and leopards. By our bad luck we could see only the Sambar Deer that too from a great distance. There on the boat few couples messed up with the management of the cruise as they allocated seats very unevenly. There we have two kinds of cruise one is of govt. and other is private. The govt. one is quiet cheap compared to the private one we came to knew this after we took ticket of private service. At night we went for shopping at the local market. We bought many different kinds of Masala’s and cashew nuts and many other things. It’s the best place to buy spices. Next day we left for Munnar.
Munnar is a hill Station and is greatly known for its splendid green mountains, Valleys and streams. Munnar boasts of unending tea estates covering the hill station. At Munnar we stayed at Hotel Bell Mount Resort near CSI Christ Church, it is the most famous church there. We can see the church from our balcony. The day we arrived there we went to see the dam, the echo point and then we went for speed boating. Speed boating was of around 15 to 20 minutes and was a thrilling experience. This all places were really great. On the next day we went to the Eravikulam National Park it’s located on a great height. We need to go there by the govt. bus. The ticket rates were different for Indians and foreigners. On its way many waterfalls are there. The road to the top was very narrow. This park sprawling over an area of 97 sq. km is home to an amazing number of Nilgiri Thars. We need to walk a lot to see the Thars. We walked a lot but were unable to see Thars at last while leaving we saw but that too from a great distance. On the next day we left for Cochin.
The way to Cochin was very long. While on the way we had lunch at the hotel coming on the way there we had Chana Masala and Appam it was really mouth-watering. The day we reached Cochin in evening we went to see Chinese Fishing Nets, Jewish Synagogue and while on the way we saw a board of Jain temple. And we went there. The temple was very big and spread in vast area. It was really nice to visit there as we went to our Mandir after a long time of 11 days. Then at night we went to local market and went to have dinner at the nearby restaurant. Next day after having breakfast we packed our bags to return back to Ahmedabad. We left for airport around 11 am as the route was quiet long. Our flight had few min stop at Bombay airport but due to heavy air traffic we need to wait there for around 45 minute and then finally around 6.30 we reached Ahmedabad airport. This 12 days trip was really a great experience and had a good time there. Kerala is really a nice place to visit. It’s really called God’s own country. We had many hurdles in our trip but we managed it. The main hurdle was the food. If we are vegetarian then we need to carry some food along with us as there we find problem to get vegetarian food. One thing we noticed was the people there are quiet weird as they use to stare in such a way that we feel very odd. If you want to relax and rejuvenate yourself then I would suggest going Kerala. It’s the “land of beauty”. At last it was really a great experience and enjoyed the whole trip.
