India – Wander With Stella

I had such a good experience with my one day tour that I booked through Nicy Charly at Sight City Tours & Travels, that I decided to go all in with them and book my full itinerary with them. I don’t usually do this, because I am avoiding commercialising my Blog, but this company was outstanding both in their prices and their organisational skills and of course I was lucky and got their star driver again. If you visit Kerala I would highly recommend Nicey. She can be found on Facebook

So Srihari and I set out for Munnar, not too early, and arrived four hours later, but not without several stops.

My Fearless Driver Srihari KS after Lord Vishnu, Lion of Prosperity, Divine Krishna

Being a lover of colour…India fits the bill

Along the way to Munnar there are several suggested stops in the guide books including these two waterfalls, Cheeyapara and Valera one of which is waiting for the Monsoon season to return to glory and the other one that is just hanging in there.

I expressed an interest in Ayurvedics and Srihari suggested we stop at one of many Ayurvedic Farms along the way. I paid for a tour with a practitioner and he ushered me about the garden naming all the plants and their medicinal purposes. Very interesting but a great deal of information to absorb in a short time. Of course there was a retail outlet attached to the farm and I purchased some herbs and spices used for various health related purposes.

Ayurvedic Medicine for Skin Disorders – Type of Burrweed

The higher we got into the Ghats the more beautiful the scenery became with the contours of the slopes planted with tea and of course many road side attractions and Srihari humoured me with many stops for exclaiming and photographing the alluring landscapes.

Terraced Tea Plantations following the steps of the Western Ghats

This is Why I Came for the Beauty and the Colour

I’m sorry but you don’t know green until you’ve
been to the hills of Kerala

Finally at 1880 meters, we arrived at top station and of course the views were never ending, much like India itself,

Kerala is known in India as “God’s own country” for a reason

At one point I saw a sign for a botanical garden and I’m sorry but I had to stop and of course photograph madly and chat up the other garden fans. One family I met were from my home town Calgary and lived not far from the neighbourhood that I grew up in. The cheeky grandson told me his grandfather was single, hint, hint, until he was caught out as the man’s wife rounded the corner.

A garden feels like home to me, so many flowers are the same the world over and the sense of familiarity when seeing them outside of your own back yard, reminds me of the commonalities in this world. (I warned you I took a few pictures.)

Green goes with so many other colours…especially if you stop at a Botanical Garden

The trip to Munnar was so wonderful just when you thought it couldn’t get any prettier it would. The hotel that Nicy had booked for me had a definite alpine feeling and I instantly felt at home and was told that I had been upgraded to a chalet room all of my own. Lovely balcony with views over the garden and the valley, pool and great food, mostly vegetarian and delicious.

In the hotel dining room people were very friendly and I met a young foursome from Pune, Chtrapati Shivaji Nagar near Mumbai. Each couple had been married one year and were super into taking their picture with me and even came one morning to knock on my door so we could take one from my balcony. Following the selfie stage they moved on to the FaceTime stage with their families back home and I was introduced to parents and siblings and grandmothers who were all very happy to meet me. Young and sweet and definitely enjoying their vacation.

Laxmi & Anand Kade and Arti & Shubham Shinde

Likewise in the cabin next door the young couple asked to come over to meet me and I said of course. Selfies and calls home to meet the families ensued and I began to feel like somewhat of a celebrity.

Anika’s Wedding Photo Now Screensaver! Stunning or what!

Three nights in Munnar allowed lots of time for road tripping and visiting the Matupetti Dam and Lake, very scenic and surrounded by Shola Forest. According to Mr. Goggle the Shola Forest are rolling grasslands adorned with evergreen vegetations and stunted trees and spectacularly are now part of an ecosystem that is older than humanThe only disappointment was not being able to visit Eruvikulam National Park said to be home to 26 species of mammals. Leopards and tigers being the main predators with seasonal visits from elephants. But it had been closed as it was breeding time for the deer in the park.

Four Doctors and a Chef – More selfie requests

After spending several days exploring the spectacular growth patterns of the tea plant I wondered how I could have gone on so long drinking the stuff and yet knowing so slittle about it. Well that ignorance is gone following my tour of a tea museum and a processing plant.

The history of the Western Ghats is written in tea leaves. The cool temperature, the soil conditions and the local labour force were the exact right conditions for the British Empire to reap the benefits. When India gained its independence local coops took ownership of many of the factories but today many are owned by multinational corporations based in India such as Tata one of the biggest Indian conglomerates.

The tea museum run by the Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company showcases the history of tea cultivation in Munnar since 1876 when tea was first planted in here. On display are several rare artefacts and curios as well as evocative photographs from an era of settlement and isolation and a rail engine wheel of the Kundaly Valley Light Railway, that transported men and material between Munnar and Top Station during the early part of the last century, before then everything was carried by humans or livestock.

Then at the Nullatanni tea processing plant we were walked through the process of harvesting and processing the leaves until the final stage where they are sorted into three levels of quality. Interesting tour and of course I bought some White Tea which I look forward to trying when I get home.

From what I could see education is highly regarded in Kerala, apparently having one of the highest rates of literacy in the country. Large schools, often resembling hotels are government run, church run and private and are frequent sights even out in the countryside, resulting in a 93.9% literacy rate.

Three nights at Arbour Resort Srihari and I say goodbye to Munnar and venture on our way to Thekaddy a town about two hours by car.

In case you’re wondering exactly where I am at the moment…

Find the State of Kerala…look down, way down

Then find the city of Kochi on the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea

This being my last day of two whole days in Kochi I have been busy squeezing in as much as possible. I hired a diver with an AC car (it being only 35 C) to take me to the must see sights in Kochi. It was well worth the 2300 Indian Rupees (40 CAD) to be taken through the crazy busy streets from my hotel to the Fort Kochi area where much of the history of the Malabar coast was unfurled.

Amazingly good driver in some very robust traffic.

So many layers of influence converged on this slice of the planet mainly in the name of spice and as all food lovers will tell you that is not a minor consideration. First came the Portuguese, then the Dutch, then the British and finally, after many squabbles, they all went away. Fortunately, they did not abscond with all the spices. They did however leave their mark and Fort Kochi is the place to see it.

As a nod to its precolonial past, Kochi was a princely state ruled by the Maharaja. A surprise to me, “Kochi” includes a group of islands and towns, including Ernakulam, Mantancherry, Fort Cochin, Willingdon Island, Vypin Island, and Gundu Island. The urban mainland areas included the neighbourhoods of Trikkakara, Eloor, Kalamassery, and Trippunithura. That’s a mouthful right? The islands can be reached from the mainland where I stayed by both frequent ferries or several bridges, or better yet if you don’t mind very close quarters there are several hotels on Fort Kochi.

Kochi was a fishing village until, in the 14th century, water erosion caused it to be separated from the mainland but created a safe inside harbour. The Portuguese came and settled in the late 15th C and founded the first European settlement on Indian soil at Kochi in 1500. Fort Kochi remained a Portuguese possession until it was conquered by the Dutch in 1663.

Cantilever Nets Based on Ancient Chinese Method

Under Dutch rule (1663–1795) Kochi had its greatest prosperity, shipping pepper, cardamom and other spices and drugs as well as coir (coconut shell fibre – think doormats), coconut, and copra (dried coconut seeds used for oil and animal feed).

Locked up Tight but some interesting looking very old graves.

According to the museum in the old Mattancherry Palace, the city’s ethnic and religious groups, including its Hindu majority and the Muslim, Syrian Christian, and Jewish minorities, shared in the city’s prosperity.

Interestingly I sat beside a man on the plane from London whose heritage was Jewish. His people left Europe in one of the pogroms to settle in Kochi as spice farmers and merchants but have assimilated and become Catholic over the generations. I also read that the Jewish community in Kochi was the oldest in India, claiming to date from the 4th century. They trickled in over the centuries and lived peacefully until the Portuguese imported the ideas of the Inquisition.

At Fort Cochin is St. Francis Church, built by the Portuguese in 1510 and reputedly the first European church on Indian soil. It was for a time the burial place of Vasco da Gama before his remains were taken to Portugal. Other churches as well as Hindu temples, mosques, and the historic synagogue at Mattancherry all stand in the area.

St. Francis Church History – I don’t expect you to read it but if you do well good on you!

British rule over Kochi lasted from 1795 until 1947, when India became independent. (Watch the movie Gandhi)

A system of inland waterways running parallel to the coast provides Kochi with cheap transportation, and picturesque lagoons and backwaters that attract tourists.

Backwaters as they are known surround the islands
in front of the mainland.

The mainland part of Kochi is one endless jumble of noisy streets, buildings, commerce, life being lived, people constantly on the move using every conveyance possible to get to their jobs, homes, schools, whatever the case may be. In one single block on the main streets you pass a multitude of businesses, homes and schools. Scooters dart between Tuk Tuks darting between cars darting between trucks, daring between buses. You get the drift. (Nothing to my Mexican friends)

My Uber Tuk Tuk Ride

Street scenes always of interest, can present some forms of urban irony wherever you go and I took the opportunity to snap this one. If you know that the woman on the right in the photo is a beggar with a severe limp, you will get my drift.

The good the bad and the ugly all in one moment

Just when I was beginning to recover from jet lag and get the hang of things it was time to leave Kochi but not before I visited the Lulu Mall a temple of consumerism at its best. If this mall was in Vancouver I would not be able to afford to shop there. It has every shop knows to man the world over and is very expensive by Indian standards. My driver/now friend Sreehari told me that the average person does not shop there. That includes me! It is huge and shiny and even has a Starbucks! Of course.

And so Kochi until I pass through on my way to Sri Lanka in a few weeks time, thank you for a lovely stay and special shout out to the Ginger Kochi Hotel! I highly recommend it should you find yourself able to visit Kerala.

Category: India

The Road to Munnar and the Kerala Ghats

Kochi the city, Kerala the state and India…well you know, the country

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