Wednesday 28 December 2016

Information about Kerala for FIRST TIME VISIT INDIA & KERALA PART

GLOBAL INDIA PASSAGES introduce Kerala, a state on the Malabar coast in southern India is almost one of the most popular Foreigner & Indian destinations. It has been popular among tourists like Backwater, Hills, Mountains, Tea Estates- SUDDEN because geographically it is the complete tour package - It has everything from serene beaches to scenic hills surrounding, from tea estates & spice plantations to dense forests & backwaters. Apart from scenic beauty, it is popular for classical dances, Ayurvedic treatments,  - Kathakali & Mohiniattam, & of course, its delicious cuisine.

HERE IS THE SOME TIPS FOR KERALA FOR FIRST TIME VISITORS BY GLOBAL INDIA PASSAGES.. FOR MORE DETAILS LOG ON TO www.globalindiapassages.com

The legendary tea gardens estate of Munnar...

Planning your trip

Planning a trip to kerala can get overwhelming, from narrowing down to the place to selecting what to see & do, to all the bookings. Having received mixed reviews from friends & acquaintances, 
You will have Kerala on your bucket list for the longest time, Not wanting to miss out on anything, you can plan  a tight 9 days trip covering Kochi, Munnar, Thekkady, Allepy & Poovar, planning to stay in each place 2 days & in Poovar for a day

Kerala itinerary for couples
Kerala travel itinerary

TripAdvisor became my planing bible & you will book throw www.globalindiapassages.com online  ended up booking hotels & flights from a combination of the sites.

In the first of the two series guide, we will be sharing our experiences from two major tourist attractions - Kochi and Munnar. 

Kochi / Cochin

Kochi, the largest city in Kerala, has historically been an important port city right from the 14th century - colonised by the Portuguese, Dutch & British at different times in history, Ernakulam is the citys  cosmopolitan part where as Fort Kochi is the tourist hub.. The city still preserves an intriguing mix of architecture from its varying colonial past. 

fort kochi kerala map
Checking out the map at Fort...
fort kochi elephants
Elephants on Kochi streets

You can chose to stay in fort Kochi area which is almost 40 Kms from the airport, luckily there are hourly AC buses from airport to fort Kochi.

We chose to discover this area on foot since all the places we wanted to see were close to each other.The fort Kochi area has it own quaint charm, It is buzzing with tourists, but each at their own pace - this part of the city has a homestay in every corner! 

You will first walked to the Chinese fishing nets - Iconic to Kochi, these cantilevered fishing nets are said to be in use since 500 years! these are fixed land installations & each of them is about 10M high operated by a team of 5-6 fishermen. If you wait around, you might get to watch them in use!

fort kochi chinese fishing nets
Chinese Fishing nets
You can visit the folklore museum but being shut on Sunday, instead we walked on; stopping from time to time taking pictures of interesting street art - you can also visited David hall & OED galleries on the way. Do stop by if you are an art lover, I had an interesting conversation with Mr. Dilip, who spent time with us & showed us the gallerys diverse contemporary art collection, you can also check the gallery website if the current exhibition is of interest to you before going there.

Mattancherry is known for spice markets, you can visit a local spice store called All spices market & were in awe of the variety of spices,oils,teas & coffees & felt like a kid in a candy store! I even bought chocolate tea! (which I dont recommend!). Some of the street stores also sell spices, herbs, soaps & oils.The Mattancherry (Dutch) palace museum is definitely worth a visit. The museum captures a small part of Kochis Traditional, Portuguese & Dutch history.It is said to cover an episode from the epic in 48 paintings. Another part of the museum documents the portraits & lifestyles of the rajas of Cochin.
The Murals in the bedchamber part of the palace depict scenes from the Ramayana.  One can also find a few items of furniture gifted to the rajas from the Portuguese. 
fort kochi old house
An interesting building on the way to Mattancherry
fort kochi all spices market
All Spices market
fort kochi antique shop mattancherry
Antique Store at Mattancherry

Jew street has some very interesting antiques & gifting items, once can find painted cow heads, little house boats & hand made soaps everywhere. Many antiques sold here are not traditionally from Kerala though, I was surprised to find many shops selling handicrafts from Kashmir & Rajasthan not just here but at most tourist attractions in Kerala. The Jewish or Pardesi synagogue is a highlight of this area. This entire area preserves parts of its Jewish heritage. One can also purchase lace & needle work pieces like table runners & matts locally made by the residents of the area.

fort kochi pardesi synagogue
The Pardesi Synagogue from outside
fort kochi jew street
Shops at Jew Street

You will find the churches of St Francis & Santa cruz basilica particularly interesting.Kochi also has some interesting Churches, here one finds a unique blend of European architecture (introduced by the Portuguese, Dutch & British respectively) & Kerala architecture in terms of motifs, mural painting or wood carving & there isnt a standard layout for these churches either. 

fort kochi our lady of hope church
Our Lady of Hope Church
You can eat Kashi cafe (& art gallery - another recommendation if you are an art buff like us!) Every cafe we visited in the city had great cold coffee & homemade cake.At night  we ventured out to princess street - it is a great place to shop & eat! It rained that evening & being unprepared, we were drenched (it often rains in Kochi, be sure to carry your umbrella when you visit!) One can see pretty houses with flowers on their windowsills & more street art across this area. 

fort kochi rain in night
It rains often in Kochi...
Kashi cafe (Art & food) & Oceanos (seafood) If you like Art & Seafood - I bet youll like Kochi as much as I did! If you enjoy seafood, Kochi has some pretty great restaurants & cafes - My favourites are Fort house restaurant without a doubt as it  had the best food we had in the entire trip; evenings are the best time to visit since it has a great view as well. 

Here's another article to know more about Fort Kochi: India. Fort Cochin, Kerala

fort house restaurant fort kochi
Fort House Restaurant
fort house restaurant food thali
Lunch at Fort House restaurant

Munnar

Munnar is a Hill-station on the foothills of the western ghats, One of the most sought after tourist spots of Kerala owing to its scenic beauty - lush carpeted plantations of tea & spices around its hills. It is also the largest tea growing region of the south.

munnar kerala tea gardens
Tea Gardens at Munnar
We took only AC KSRTC  volvo bus from Kochi to Munnar, Starting from Ernakulam bus depot at 9AM. The journey was scenic but nearly 5 hours long! and all through the way, our bus driver played 90s Bollywood music! So our playlist comprised of - songs from Raja Hindustani, Ashiquie, Darr & other nineties hits! quite a nostalgic journey if you ask me!

munnar kerala tea gardens
View from the bus
I found taxis quite expensive in Munnar & realised the need to bargain (luckily, I had Vikram for this!) Kerala is hot during February, & as I found out much later, its not the best time to visit Munnar - the waterfalls start to dry up & the wildlife sanctuaries are shut due to breeding season (Eravikulam national park was shut) so we werent able to do any wildlife activities! 

munnar rope bridge
An old rope bridge

One of the things I enjoyed most in Munnar, was stopping on the way & walking through tea gardens, there are many many scenic places to discover by chance & If you are lucky, youll get to see tea pickers in action!
Though Scenic, with large properties, resorts in Munnar are far away from the market & tourist spots, we had to plan our entire day well before leaving the hotel. While we were not able to make it to all the places on our list - My favourite was the Kanan Devan Tea factory & museum. Vikram & I have become green tea converts with this trip & ended up buying a lot of tea from the factory store (make sure you carry a big bag here ;) ) 


munnar kerala tea gardens
A rock and tea plantations
munnar kerala tea gardens
Walking through tea gardens
munnar kerala tea gardens vikran tej
Vikram picking tea :)
munnar kerala tea gardens
Tea picker Jothy...

On the way back, our cab driver stopped by many places, claiming that these were Shooting points or points where some Bollywood film shooting has taken place. although truth be told all of it was equally scenic!
The Mattupetty dam was extremely scenic! beautiful, calm & serene. Though it was quite sunny around 4pm, (the Kerala sun is quite harsh, during the day & it gets hot by 9 am! dont leave your hotel without a hat & sunglasses & carry appropriate sunscreen). Boating at Mattupetty dam is one of the main attractions here.This whole stretch is scenic, one can walk around, boat or even shop for home made chocolates in the stretch of stalls by the lake. A completely commercialised tourist spot now - it has all the street food one would expect corn, coconut water,peanuts, snack stalls & even Passion fruit vendors! One can club visiting Mattupetty dam with Top station as both these are only a few kilometres apart. 

munnar kerala mattupetty dam lake
Mattupetty Dam
elephant ride in munnar kerala
Elephant ride at Munnar

I didnt enjoy the food in Munnar all that much. I also surprisingly found the coffee & tea very mild & milky here. Munnar was not my favourite of the Kerala trip for sure, but I do plan to come again in the monsoon or winter to visit all the places Ive missed out on!
I found the elephant ride in Munnar to be short & over rated & would recommend the one in Thekkady since its in the forest! We also chose to visit spice plantations in Thekkady Instead of Munnar.

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