"God's Own Country" - Kerala

Kerala is one of India's great gems. Famous for its culture, spices, beaches, and backwaters, it's tucked alongside the Arabian Sea in India's southwest. One of the most prosperous states in the country, there is a green everywhere - some of the most beautiful scenes I've seen in India were in Kerala. Interestingly enough, Kerala is one of the few places in India that was never under British rule. This trip was a quick weekend excursion (like most of them) with some of the Hyderabad folks - John, Mollie, and Julia.

We met up in the Kochin airport and made our way to the beautiful Cherai Beach Resort. Nestled in between the Arabian Sea and backwaters, it was gorgeous. Playing around in the beach and relaxing with a Kingfisher were some of the highlights, along with slowing down the pace of life. The beach was jam packed at sunset and we were splashing around in the water as the sun set over the ocean. The next morning, Mollie, Julia, and I went to get ayurvedic massages - quite the interesting massage. The photo here is what is displayed on the hotel's website to advertise (read: not me), but you get the picture. It's a type of massage that uses a lot of oil and quick movement - I'll spare you the details since, but Kerala is known for it's ayurvedic medicine and massage, especially during the monsoon season apparently. We had decided the night before that we wanted to stay on the a houseboat the second night, so we took to Alleppey to board our houseboat right after our massages.

The houseboat was amazing. Gliding through the canals and lush backdrop was so relaxing, but at the same time energizing. We went towards Kollam and were treated to some great Keralan food and even tiger prawns (which we bought live from some riverside merchant). The houseboat docked for sleeping, but we covered quite a bit of ground and even went for a little swim in the backwaters. One of the houseboat crew kept asking us "You experience?" after I asked if it was safe to swim in the water. Mollie and I took down the lifesaver donuts from the dock and as we took the plunge, he asked John "Umm...are they experience?". I think he thought we were going to drown, but we made it out alright and were treated with our tiger prawns fresh off the grill.

We made our way back to the dock the next morning and took a car to explore Fort Cochin. They still use the tried and trusted Chinese fishing nets there, and it was cool to see 10 men 'reel' in the net, even if there were only three small fish. We made a quick dash to the Kochin airport afterwards to head to Hyderabad. The airport scene turned out to be one of those chaotic situations where the line through security which zig-zagged many times, collapsed in an instant and become a massive crowd of over 100 people trying to wedge themselves through a small door. Despite this small scene, I understand why Kerala refers to itself as "God's own Country".

Blog Photos - Here's a link to my photos of Kerala in Google Photos (also links from the slide show below).