South India -- A trip through God’s Own Country

Approximately 100km east of Erunakalam/Kochi, this is a lovely hill station town, nestled in the southern reaches of the western ghats. High in the mountains, it makes a great getaway location.

It is most easily accessible by Jeep/SUV. The mountain roads are narrow and winding, so taking a bus is not advisable, and taking riksha is absolutely dangerous! Once there, resorts and hotels are numerous, and they span all price ranges.

Club Mahindra is a top of the line, five-star resort. Cost for one bedroom with a queen bed and pull-out sofa bed is Rs. 5000 per night. This place was very family-friendly—they had a game room with table tennis, caram, billiards, and other activities. Nightly family events included, bingo and bonfires. Their food is of average quality, and pricey, about Rs. 200 for each dinner/lunch dish. Standard Indian vegetarian and non-vegetarian is available. A meal plan is available as well, most people opt for buffet (on the meal plan). The rooms, however, are equipped with full kitchens and there is a small, quaint grocery store with supplies located nearby.

**Note: you must be a member and pay annual dues to stay there.**

A tour of the Kolukumalai Tea Factory is a must!! Only accessible by jeep, which must be hired the day of the trip (or one day prior). You can sign up for the tour at your hotel/resort (pay per person), but there are private jeep drivers who wait outside the hotels every morning, and their rates are a fraction of what the hotels charge for their tour. The hotel also offers numerous other full-day and half-day trips.

**Note: The ride up the mountain is very steep and bumpy, not advisable for the elderly, or anyone with a bad back!**

The tea factory is at 8,500 feet above sea level. Informal tours of the actual tea factory are provided, where you can see the process of cutting the tea leaves off the plant, bringing them into the factory, sifting them through machines, crushing them, packaging them, etc. Green, Darjeeling, and many other varieties are available. The factory still operates in the same way as it did when it was first established by the British in the 1800s.

**Late afternoon tours are not advisable because it will be dark during the return trip down the mountain, the jeep driver may not be able to see very well.**

All in all, a very lovely mountain hill station stop.

This town is located approximately 100km south of Munnar, and was our next stop. It is very popular among European tourists; the majority are German, Italian, French, and British. The main attraction is Periyar Wild Life Reserve.

The most popular part of the reserve is the 2-hour boat ride along the lake that offers views of many different animals. **Note: Your best chances of seeing an elephant or tiger are early in the morning. The first morning boat is a must! In January, this is 7am, but times vary by season. On the single-decker boat and double-decker boat, the top level is the best. On the double-decker boat, the bottom level is slightly cheaper, but some views are partially restricted depending on where you sit on the boat. Pay a little more and sit on the top deck. Wild boar, black monkey (larger than typical monkey, more like an ape), elk, gazelle, and tropical lizards are all commonly seen. Elephants and tigers are more rare. The most ideal situation is a clear, dry day, and catch the first boat (6 or 7am). If it is the summer time or a time of drought, you will be more likely to see elephants (and other wildlife) come to the lake for water (as opposed to the rainy season).

Thekkady is also famous for Aurvedic massages. These have been featured in Lonely Planet Guide Books and are very popular, so you will have to sign up for an appointment in advance. They are usually available seven days a week. Ask at the main desk of your hotel, and they will give you details. The rates are Rs500 for full body massage (not including head massage), Rs600 for full body including head, and Rs700 for full body and head and a more expensive oil. The massage lasts about 60 minutes, followed by a relaxing 15-minute steam bath. The whole thing is extremely soothing and well worth the price, which equates to about $15 US for the full body massage with head massage, which is also the most popular choice.

Not a bad destination for animal watching and affordable ayurvedic relaxation!!

This town is located on the west coast, approximately 100km south and west of Thekkady. Its main attraction is taking a houseboat along the Kerala backwaters. Just like Thekkady, it is very popular among European tourists. The boarding time is in the morning, at about 10 or 11am, and the boat leaves the dock and drifts down the serene backwaters, with fascinating views of surrounding villages. Communities here live on narrow strips of marsh land, surrounded on all sides by water.

There are many great photo opportunities! The boat stops for lunch (provided on the boat), tea/coffee, and a snack, are provided as well. The boat docks at around 8pm, followed by dinner (again, on the boat). All meals provide the choice of Indian or Western food. When the boat leaves the next morning, breakfast is provided, and returns to the dock at 10am. The meals are excellent, Indian cuisine is recommended (fresh and tasty vegetable preparations, shallow fried fish, idli sambar, etc.). Western breakfast option is usually an egg omelet.

Downsides: Lots of mosquito's, so don’t forget to put the net around your bed before you sleep, or you will get eaten alive! Also, there are some cockroaches on the boat and they climb up the walls. But, overall, the boats are very clean. Prices range depending on air-conditioning or no air-conditioning. From November-March, air-conditioning is not necessary. A two-bedroom boat (queen bed in each room,) is approximately Rs. 10,000 for the one day excursion, about Rs. 30,000 and if you want air conditioning.

This town is located on the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent, approximately 250km south of Alapuzha. It is located in Tamil nadu. It takes a looooong time to get here, but is well worth the trip. It makes a great final destination for any vacation!

There are not as many white tourists as Thekkady or Alapuzha, most of the people tend to be Indian. Follow the crowds down to the shore, and stand in the water where the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and Arabian Sea all meet.

Street vendors are numerous, more so than at the other tourist spots, and will hassle you to no end, so if you’re not interested in what they’re selling just walk away and don’t even look at them . The second you make eye contact with them, they’ll come over to you, and won’t leave you alone for the next 10 minutes.

Kunya Kumari Temple is located off of the main street, you can’t miss it. It is a very old, historic Hindu temple and always has masses of people going in and out. It is quite an experience. Men must remove their shirt before entering.

The Gandhi Memorial is also a nice site. It features highlights of Ghandi’s visit to Kunya Kumari decades ago. There is no admission fee.

Another main attraction is Vivekananda Rock and Thiruwaluwar Statue, which is accessible by ferry boat. Tickets are available for sale, and include admission to both sites. Boats depart the shore every hour or so to go to Vivekananda rock, which is a 5-minute boat ride. From there, boats leave sporadically, going to the Thiruwaluwar Statue (a 2-minute boat ride from Vivekananda rock), and then back to shore. There are great attractions, with lots of history behind them. Memorials on each island pay homage to their respective subject.

Sunrise and sunset are also among the notable sites of this small town. Due to the fact that you are right at sea level, and on the tip of the continent, you can see perfectly as the sun rises to the east and sets to the west. Many hotels allow you to go up to their roof deck to view sunrise/sunset. It was overcast when we went to the roof early in the morning to catch a glimpse of the sunrise, so we didn’t get an ideal view, but it was still amazing. You have a great view of the entire town, including, the Gandhi memorial, and the Vivekananda Rock/Thiruwaluwar Statue.

We weren’t there for this, but if you plan the trip on a full moon night (or close to the full moon), you can even watch the sun set in the west while simultaneously getting a catch of the moon rising in the east. Sounds spectacular!

We boarded the train in Mangalore for a trip down south, through Kerala and Tamil Nadu! It’s spectacular, and it’s no wonder why it is quickly becoming the new tourist hot-spot.

Our overnight train journey dropped us off in Ernakulam (very close to Cochin). We toured Cochin and went to a museum of Ravi Varma’s old palace. After a few hours in Cochin, we made our way to the town of Munnar, a hill station, high in the Western Ghats. The resort was beautiful and overlooked the mountains, and mountains, of tea plantations. We took a jeep safari ride through the mountains, and went to the highest tea factory in the world (at 8500 feet!), where they still process the tea leaves in exactly the same way as they did in the 1800s, when the factory was first built by the British. Sufficed to say, my father definitely closed his eyes a few times on the way up, around those hairpin turns! We saw the highest mountain in South India, and were able to look across the mountains from Munnar to Kodaikanal (in the neighboring state)! At the resort, Club Mahindra, we relaxed, played carem, sipped tea, and enjoyed the cool climate (we even had to turn the heater on at night!). But we soon had to be on our way.

Our next stop was Thekkady and the Periyar Tiger Reserve! We arrived and prepared for what Thekkady is known for, ayurvedic body massages! We also took a boat ride through the reserve, hoping to spot some tigers or elephants! (elephants are very common there—one lady I spoke with had seen three just one month prior!) But unfortunately, there had been a lot of rain in the past month, so the elephants didn’t need to come to the lake for water. We didn’t see any elephants or tigers, but we saw a huge monitor lizard, wild boar, monkeys, and an elk. Periyar was just the beginning of our boat rides...

We left Thekkady well-rested and massaged, and drove to Alleppey. We stopped briefly in Kovalam for lunch—a beautiful and famous beach! In Alleppey (formerly known as Alluppuzha), we boarded a houseboat and set sail on the tranquil backwaters. We enjoyed lunch and dinner, Kerala-style, complete with fish, paripoo (dal), and rice. For breakfast, we had idlis! The waters were beautiful and very serene. People live all along the banks of the waters, but to travel from one side to the other, a boat or water taxi is needed! At night, the men tied the boat to the bank and we chatted and played cards by moonlight. We drifted to sleep by the sounds of the crickets and the water lapping against the side of the boat. We arose at sunrise and watched as not only the people, but the river, awoke. People were taking their morning baths, washing their clothes, gathering water for cooking, and children were on their way to school. We cruised a little more and then headed back to the town of Alleppey. What a marvelous experience to see how these people lived, and to see their world for one night.

From Alleppey, we continued farther south... until we couldn’t go any farther! We had arrived in Kanya Kumari—the tip of the Indian subcontinent. That evening, we watched the sun set over the coast, where the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean all converge. It was an awe-inspiring evening. Directly south of that point, there is no land until Antarctica! (Technically Sri Lanka is to the south east of India, in the Indian Ocean)

There is a Gandhi museum, dedicated to the life of Mahatma Gandhi and it is a very interesting building made to have characteristics of a church, a temple, and a mosque and represent peace and understanding between all of the religions. There is also a tsunami memorial built for the people that lost their lives on December 26, 2004, when the tsunami killed about 1000 people from Kanya Kumari. It was a sobering experience to imagine that I was standing in the same place that was covered in water only one year ago on that fateful day.

We also went to the Vivekananda Memorial where there is a temple and a building built in the memory of Swami Vivekananda, who walked all through India in the 1800s and then decided to walk to the tip of the country. When he couldn’t walk anymore, he stopped. But he saw a rock off the coast and said, "I am not to the end yet, there is more!" So he swam from Kanya Kumari to the rock. And there he meditated for 3 days and nights with no food and water. He later went on to be a world-renowned swami and traveled to Chicago in the early 1900s to spread the principles of Hinduism to the western world. Presently, there is a meditation room in the memorial, where you can sit and meditate for as long as you like. Being there on that rock really invokes a sense of spirituality and introspection.

Recently built was also a statue of Thiruvaluvar, a famous Tamilian poet (Kanya Kumari is actually in Tamil Nadu). The statue is huge and stands more than 100 feet high. We were told that the tsunami (which came from the Indian Ocean side), in fact created a wave that went over the statue and stranded some 1500 people on the Vivekananda rock. These 1500 people were later evacuated to safety via helicopter.

We drove from Kanya Kumari to Trivandrum and went to two final museums, one of Ravi Varma’s art work (a famous Keralan artist, one of the few recognized by the western world during his time, in the late 1800s/early 1900s whose palace we visited in Cochin upon arrival in Kerala), and one with historic sculptures and artifacts, some over 1500 years old (the Napier Museum).

The train ride home led to stories recounting the past 5 days with treasure and glee, until we dozed off with fatigue. The sunlight awakened us and we arrived in Mangalore around 9am.

And so, it was quite appropriate that our trip concluded in Kanya Kumari—we simply could not go any farther south. It began with a stop in the mountains, to the highest tea factory in the world, and even viewing the highest point in South India; it ended with our feet in the confluence of three major bodies of water at one of the lowest points in India.

They call Kerala "God’s Own Country" and after our trip, we realized why. It truly is beautiful and has so much to offer. The people are friendly, the food is delicious, and the views are unrivaled. It will always remain a serene memory ingrained in our hearts and minds.