Thinking Spring!

In the spirit of spring I have updated my blog template. India doesn't really have much of a spring feel to it, but it is time to take on a lighter feel to the blog. Everyone that I talk to in Cincinnati and South Dakota is thankful to see the grass turning green and the flowers blooming, while we really just see the signs of more drought. We are patiently awaiting the rainy season when the dust settles so I feel as though I'm really missing out on spring. The grass is green year round here and I don't notice much difference in the flowers and trees. Not having four distinct seasons is strange and really difficult to get a feel for the time of year. India has four seasons I'm sure, but they consist of Nov.-Jan. Haze/Smog, Feb.-June Blazing Heat, July-August Rain & Humidity, and September-Oct. Beautiful San Diego Weather. I'm so excited to visit Germany and the U.S. in June & July to really feel summer and not just the crazy heat of India.

Kochi-Ernakulum & Fort Kochi

We departed Alappuzha (Alleppey) via train for a one hour ride north along the coast to the town of Kochi-Ernakulum. A former Portuguese and Dutch settlement, Fort Kochi, was a delightful surprise as the narrow streets, small shops, and fresh seafood were a treat. We visited the oldest European church in India, St. Francis's Church, built in 1506. Toured Matancherry Palace (Dutch Palace) that was built by the Portuguese and reparied by the Dutch and enjoyed a local tour of spice warehouses by our auto rickshaw driver. Greenix Village features a wonderful arts appreciation center where we took in one hour of traditional Kerala dance and drums. Shopped in Jew Town, an old jewish settlement, and enjoyed seeing the Chinese fishing nets lift fish out of the Arabian Sea in the early morning. An absolutely wonderful trip that started in Chennai and ended with us flying out of Kochi. We love the lush, green, uncrowded, tropical, fresh air of the south!

Alappuzha (Alleppey)

We left Kumily bus station early in the morning to head west to Kottayam, change buses, and then reach Alappuzha by noon. Thankfully we were on the road by 6:30 am, so we beat the heat, and had seats on the bus for our 4 hour trip west. Bus tickets went up to 69 rupees per person ($1.50) for the 150 km trip that would take us to paradise. We reached Alappuzha at 11:30 am and then went straight to Lakes & Lagoons to check in for our houseboat tour of the backwaters of Kerala. We boarded our houseboat at 11:59 am and set sail with three crew members for the most relaxing part of our adventure. We stopped and bought fresh jumbo sea prawns for dinner, enjoyed fresh fish for lunch, toured a 5 AD Christian church mid day, and then docked the boat around 5:30 pm for the night to enjoy sunset. The next morning we pulled away from the two palm trees and the local scenary to finish our backwater tour and return back to Alappuzha at 9 am. A backwater houseboat trip is an absolute must see and do activity if you are visiting or living in India!

Kumily & Thekkadi

The real adventure in our trip began as we left Madurai on public bus and headed west. We road 140 km for 45 rupees per person ($1) over the course of 4.5 hours to reach the mountain top of Kumily. The landscape changed drastically over those 140 km as we went from the state of Tamil Nadu and crossed into Kerala. We stayed in the small village/town of Thekkadi at a neat placed called Chrissie's Hotel & Cafe. A small hotel run by a British woman that helped us with all our adventure plans while in Thekkadi. We rode an elephant named Lucky, toured a spice plantation, experienced the wonderful Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary & saw 7 wild elephants, enjoyed an 8 km (3 hr) jungle hike, and couldn't get enough of the tea plantations and fresh mountain air. We stayed two nights in Thekkadi before hopping on another public bus to continue over the Cardamom Hills to the southwest coast of India and the beautiful state of Kerala.

Madurai

We reached Madurai via night train from Chennai and really enjoyed the Minakshi Sundaresvara Temple. Dedicated to the goddess, and consort of Siva, this is said to be the biggest temple in the country. We found the nine towers of the temple to be very refreshing with their bright colors. Seeing them in the early morning was beautiful and still quite cool outside. For the first time in my life I saw a cow eat a banana for breakfast.

Chennai (Madras)

On the southeast coast, Chennai (Madras) is the 4th largest city in India with 6.4 million inhabitants. Chennai has a large Christian population. The British occupation from the 17th century left an Anglo-Indian population.

Pictures include Marina Beach and San Thome Cathedral. Marina Beach is almost 8 miles long and was a wide sandy beach prior to the 2004 tsunami that killed over 200 people and swept most of the beach away. San Thome Cathedral is associated with the apostle St. Thomas.

Video of Elephant Ride