Kerala State, backwaters, hillstations and beaches

The last month we have spent in Kerala a state that gives itself the description of gods own country.  It certainly is green and diverse in its ecology.  The men here tend to wear the traditional dress and when we were in Varkala everyone was dressed in yellow for a religious festival being held.

The backwaters are a vast network of rivers streams lakes that stretch across many areas of the state.  The state also has a mountain range named the western Ghats, on this range many hill stations exist where tea, coffee, cardamom and also spices are grown.  The state is famous for its natural medicines aruvedic, with treatments being offered from cold remedies to rejuvenation treatments all with natural plant extracts.  Massage and yoga also feature heavily.

The climate is tropical, so hot all ear round with monsoon season after summer.  The hills offer protection from the heat, by offering a very temperate environment.

Backwater from government ferry to Allipey

Backwater

Festival complete with its own elephant procession at the rear.

Tea plantation being worked

Beautiful rolling hills of the tea tree plantation

Backwater creak

View through the tree onto a reservoir

Cardamom flower

Cardamom Plant

We started our trip in Cochin where we stayed at the port area, spent a great day doing a backwater cruise on a paddled boat and met up with Sandrines parents who spent 1 month with us around Kerala.  After Cochin we headed for the hills and spent several days touring hill stations, with tea tree plantations and cardamom and other spices being grown and cultivated in this rich landscape.

After a rather hectic 10 days hopping from place to place it was nice to head back to the beach and relax for a while do all the festive things and Prunelles 18th Bday!  First stop with Allepey then on to Varcala with its cliffs and beaches where we spent a very chilled pampered 15 days!!

Road between the backwater on the right and sea on the left.

Gypsie girls on the railway station platform

Our view onto the beach from the restaurant of the complex

Dolphins were often in the sea close to the beach.

Plenty of sea eagles, sometimes 30 at a time soaring around the cliffs

View of beach from north Cliff Varcala

Hampi Bellary and Bangalore

Hampi

Historic tower in need of repairs!

We left Goa on a sleeper bus, it was an hour late! The cabin space was great for people under 180 cm tall and the journey was bumpy as hell!! But we arrived safely if a little tired and me my friend Vikram, whom I had never met in person before and did not recognise we he was waving at me, sorry my bad!

We checked into a hotel in Hosped which serves as a trading town near the ancient city of Hampi.  Vikram then took us to Hampi and hired a guide to show us round an ancient and fascinating city with many buildings of significant history scattered around a landscape of boulders that provided the location with a natural defensive barrier.  The town also has a lovely river running through it which seemed to have a spiritual significance to the people with them bathing and giving blessings.

Royal Elephant stables

Queens summer house with air conditioning! System of water pipes.

Each pillar was able to produce a different sound and played like an instrument.

The stone chariot crew, originally pulled by a stone elephant.

The main tower about 500 years old.

Little and large

Hampi is in the state of Karnatika and has elephants, lili first came into contact with an elephant in the temple, he was a kindly soul exchanging blessings for4 cash! Lili was terrified of such a large creature! First time i had seen her scared of an animal, it did not last long, now she loves them. Hampi also has a large dam with plenty of fish.

elephant giving a blessing!

River blessing!

Main temple site

Some of the sites around Hampi were also worth noting with a very rural lifestyle for many people and a very colourful modern temple known as the lotus temple.

After 2 days in Hampi we took to Bellary an hours drive south of Hampi, it is a town surrounded by the mines of iron ore and the surrounding area is very industrial.  The only touristy thing in bellary is the old fort which sites high on the hill surrounding the town affording great views for miles around. Here we spent time with Vikram his family and friends being fed very well by his gran, thanks. Our next stop was Bangalore, unfortuantly the stop was dominated by myself being ill with a fever and severe migraine which meant me being hospitalised for two nights, but released just in time for us to catch our train down to kerala.

Mumbai and Goa

Spider after a night on the beach of Goa!!

Whose a star?

After nearly 3 weeks in Bikaner it was time to leave... but how? Buying a train ticket was pretty difficult and involved several trips to the train station before finally getting a ticket to Mumbai.  Arriving in Mumbai we soon realised it was a big city full of modern buildings mixes with the older Indian slums, a city of contrasts for sure with the worlds most expensive house in one part of the city and one of the worlds biggest slums in the other part.

We were fortunate to stay with Sid who we had found through couch surfing his flat was situated on top of the building his family had owned, with the sea in front and the Mumbai test cricket pavilion in the back.  We were only in the city for 18 hours having a train leaving at 5am, in fact we just sat up having a drink with Sid on his roof terrace, during the day we had been able to have lunch in Leopolds and then walk around the Indian gate area.  India gate was full of Indian tourists having their photos taken by professional photographers they almost all wanted to have the girls in the picture as well especially Lili... again you get the sensation of what it must be like for celebrities in their lives, with people stopping, staring and asking for your photo... that's the life of a white tourist in India.

India Gate Mumbai

Mumbai traffic

Leopolds!

Random Indian family!

We then caught a day train to Goa, by leaving at 5 am we were on the beach by around 3pm which gave us plenty of time to find a beach hut and negotiate the best rates. We stayed on the Palolem beach for the first two nights then swapped for a house on the quieter beach of Patnem where we stayed in a compound which was home to three other families with their kids all from Israel.

I managed to rent a scooter and had fun buzzing around the roads avoiding cows and other road users.. it was great to have the freedom of the bike, so we could go to different beaches and to the market once a day to buy fresh products, Lili made friends with the fish wives at the market and did a great job of collecting free fish from many of the ladies.

Lili and the fish wives

Goa did not feel like India, it had a distinct European feel to it...   You could easily stay here, with great weather open beaches and cheap restaurants ... Party for those who wanted it or just relaxed beach life for others..

Bikaner and the Shri Ram heritage hotel.

Hotel decorated for Diwali

Its been an emotional roller-coaster the last few nights!! Sharing a dorm with people who are less than appreciative of your wife and daughter can be stressful but hey that's life suck it up and get on with it, coz round the corner is the next great surprise...

The journey from Kota bagh to our next destination Bikaner was a mixture of bus and train journeys with a stop off on the way at our friends house Rohit who hosted us in his families house in Rudrapor on our way to Haridwar where we caught a train to Bikaner. Thanks Rohit and family we had a blast!!

View of the Ganges

Rohit and family

The bus journey was again rather crazy with drivers who think they are playing play station and play chicken with oncoming traffic...  We sat on the back seats and a few times found our bums around 30 cms off the seat.. so proper roller-coaster stuff..

In Haridwar we saw the Ganges, which if I am honest was rather disappointing as it was a mere trickle.. apparently the whole place had been a flood back in June with lots of people killed.. but not the day we were there..

We arrived in Bikaner which is in the Thar desert and were met by our host Yogendra (Yogi) he took us back to our new home for the next few weeks, where we were volunteering again..  I have been mostly helping with SEO and website improvement... here one more back link for you..lol... www.hotelshriramheritage.co.nf/ 

I recently wrote this guide for his profile, which lists some of the sites of Bikaner...  I have added our 
photos of the relevant places.
Let me tell you what you can see in Bikaner:

An amazing red fort, this fort dominates the city center with its high walls which are beautifully decorated.  The fort has its own museum which you can visit to see historical artifacts and learn more about our history.

In the old town, there are many Havalis which are large houses again typically beautifully decorated with fine carvings.  There is also a spice market which dates back many centuries to when Bikaner was one of the main towns on the spice routes.  Religion is an important part of many peoples lives here and we are not short of some fine temples.

The camel research center is a great place to visit in the afternoon, you can see hundreds of camels in this place, taste camel milk and even enjoy a camel ride.

The rat temple as it is colloquially named offers a quite different experience... this temple which is around 30 km's from the Hotel is filled with rats who are well fed and encouraged to room free within the confines of the temple... You can roam around with them scurrying across your feet!!

Lallgarh Palace, is the royal residence of our royal family, still inhabited by members of the family and also part taken by a hotel and museum which is open to visitors.  The Palace was designed to similar specifications as Buckingham Palace of London England.

Diwali was held on the 3rd of November, its called the festival of lights and basically its a big night for everyone with plenty of fireworks and household parties... Every household tends to clean their house and paint it in preparation for the arrival of a goddess who likes everything neat and tidy...  Shame they don't pick up all the rubbish on the streets as well!!