Travelling is all about passion, dreams and desires and I have a dream to travel the whole world. But before I do so, I have decided that first I shall start with my own motherland, India. India is a storehouse of some magical places, it has all from beaches to plains, deserts, enchanting forests, flaura and fauna, hills, mountains, beautiful valleys, mesmerizing rivers and what not. So here I begin my first  post in this blog about my latest Kerala tour with my husband. Since I am a full time teacher I am blessed with one month summer vacation every July (I have a lot of answer scripts to check during that time of the year so even if its a vacation, I remain quite busy ) but still I somehow manage to get around a fortnight to plan this vacation and my husband took a short leave. It took around six days and five nights to complete the entire journey. I shall be sharing with you guys all about our trip in two parts so that I can do justice to each place we visited.

My Ultimate Travel Itinerary to God’s Own Country, Kerala- PART 1

On 9^th july we started from Guwahati, we took a direct flight to Chennai and reached there at 10.30pm and then we boarded a direct flight to Kochi at 6am in the morning (Please don’t ask how we spent these long hours in the airport!! It was really tough but still we tried to take some rest in the lounge ). It was just one and half an journey to Kochi from Chennai. One can also reach Kerala from Assam by train  The Tiruvanathapuram express. We had pre-booked a travel agent ( we had good reviews about them).  Sharing the link HERE. They also have a facebook page check HERE. Mr Anoop the person who arranged our whole trip was very kind and considerate. He arranged the best hotels/resorts for us. The whole package included Rs 30,000 approx but adventure activities are extra, not included in the package. To know more about them you can contact us. They planned the whole trip. The package included pick up from airport then two days and one night at Munnar, one day and one night at Thekkedy, one night in the famous houseboat in Allepy/Allapuza, then one night in Kovalam. In this part I shall cover our stay in Munnar and Thekkedy and in the next part Allepy and Kovalam.

Things to do and see in Munnar

Munnar is a small hill station, it is also famous for its tea gardens. It was raining all the way to Munnar, it was cold cloudy and foggy and trust me we felt we are in paradise. Don’t forget to pack light warm clothes to Munnar coz you will need them once you step out of the car and also umbrella specially in the month of July, it was raining incessantly. On way to Munnar we visited Valara and Cheyapara Waterfalls,  the spice gardens another thing Kerala is famous for, we purchased herbal shampoos, oils , handmade chocolates since cocoa production is also an important factor there.  Do buy some chocolates they tastes really good. After that we had this elephant shower.That was is the most exciting thing I have ever done till date. We sat on the elephant’s back and then they took us in a pool of water, we sat there steady and the elephant showered us water with its trunk. I was scared in the beginning but later on I enjoyed every bit of it. Do take spare clothes with you , we were lucky because we were on our way to the hotel from the airport. At Munnar we stayed for 2 nights in GREAT ESCAPE RESORTS.

Then we proceeded to the hotel, the view was mesmerizing, I took photos wherever I can. Then next day we went for some local sight –seeing. We visited Matupetty Dam, Kundale Lake and Dam, Eco Point, Rose park. There was an option to visit Eravikulam National Park but we skipped it since the officials told us it would be useless to visit a sno animals would be visible since it was raining cats and dogs. Our stay at Munnar ended, next morning we headed towards Thekkedy. We reached at around 1pm and directly went for the Boating in Periyar Lake across the Periyar Tiger Reserve, we didn’t spot any tigers as quite ovious but spotted some deer, wild buffaloes, elephants, birds, that was quite enough, isn’t it? There is also option for jeep safari and elephant ride but we skipped. While in Thekkedy, we stayed one night in SANDRA PALACE hotel. In the evening we booked tickets for Kalaripayatty and Kathaki Dance show. We visited Mudra Art Centre and watched some thrilling Martial arts or Kalaripayatty ( I saw it once in Mtv Roadies where the contestants were given a task of performing this kind of martial arts). Earlier I had watched Kathakali dance forms only on Doordarshan, it was so good to see them perform on stage. Tickets are also quite reasonable- per person Rs200 for each show, so total we paid Rs800 for two shows. The way they preserve their culture and showcase it in front of thousands of tourists visiting them every year is really praise worthy. In the evening we also hung around the town, the area near our hotel, the market was flooded with spices and handmade chocolates. It is a paradise for Chocolate lovers and yes definitely for Childrens.

About Food and Drinks!

Regarding food you get almost everything in Kerala from tandoori chicken to normal dal and chawal but I suggest to go for normal south Indian dishes because most of their north Indian items are prepared in coconut oil and they use coconut in anything and everything, even the tandoori chicken we had was coated with grated coconut. Also when in Kerala don’t forget to taste the locally brewed Coconut beer!

Keep your luggage light because you need to travel a lot, take warm clothes for Munnar and in Thekkedy we found the evenings chilly. All the hotel rooms were warm and clean. It included free elaborate breakfast. That’s all  for today hope you found this article helpful, for any further query you can contact us, write to us. Thanks for giving your time and patience. Have a great day ahead.

Posted By – Ishani Nath