After enjoying the tea estates and hills of Munnar it was time for us to enjoy the different taste of Kerala. We started for Thekkady in our car. We crossed beautiful tea gardens, waterfalls, foggy bends of the hills and deep green forests. It started raining heavily. We enjoyed the green all around and the rains. It took us about 3 hours to reach Thekaddy.
On our way towards Thekkady , distant waterfall hidden inside the fog
On our way towards Thekkady
We entered at our already booked homestay, dumped our luggage in the beautiful big room, had lunch and went straight to the Periyar Information Center to book the next day's Periyar trip. There are several Periyar packages. I already had in my mind that I will buy the full day bamboo rafting and trekking program in Periyar. So I booked this trip for the next day, which was 2000rs per person.
After booking, we went to that place of Thekkady where a lot of cultural events are held like Kathakali Show, Marshal Arts show, Magic Show etc. We booked the Marshal Art show for 200rs per person. Never in my life I saw any Marshal Art performance. So i was excited. We entered a mini amphitheater kind of a place. We were seated at the first row. Few guys all dressed up in Marshal Arts attire lighted up the Diyas (Lamps). The ambiance all in all made me travel to a historic era. A group of young guys started the spectacular show. Half of the time they were flying in the air with swords, shields, sticks, ribbons. We, spectators, enjoyed it a lot. And there was a thrilling fire show where our hearts skipped a bit at their every action. It was a performance full of entertainment and an experience one of a kind for me. The show ended and after having tea we reached hotel at about 8 pm, had a super delicious home-made dinner at our hotel and called it a day.
Moments from the Marshal Arts show
Next day woke up early since we were asked to reach at Periyar Tiger Reserve, within 7:45 am. After having the best idli of my life as the complimentary breakfast of the hotel, we started in our car towards Periyar. We bought the tickets at the entrance and got in. Soon we were surrounded by trees all around. The weather was cloudy. The driver parked our car and we walked down to the lake. We were given cotton gaiters by the Forest Department people. They also spread tobacco on our gaiters so that leeches stay away from us. We were a group of 10 people, we were the only Indian tourists there. We started at about 8:15 am for the forest hiking. We crossed the Periyar lake in the bamboo raft and reached the other side. And then it was only our group at the other side of the forest, far from the maddening crowd, into the wild. We started hiking inside the forest. Surrounded by deep green forest, walking on wet grass which had crawling insects and leeches, chirping of different insects and birds made me feel I am lost somewhere in a wild world. Soon we spotted some wild elephants and sambar deer at a distant hill. We started walked to a beautiful side of the Periyar river. By then I was already bitten by a leech. Here we had had our packed breakfast. The place was so lovely, silent and peaceful. I felt like I can spend here for hours, just gazing at the hills, the river and the forest.
Forest guard who accompanied us for the hiking
Crossing the lake in a bamboo raft to reach the other side of the forest
Forest foliage
Hiking deep inside the forest, only us
When we spotted the elephant
At this beautiful location, far from the maddening crowd, we had our breakfast
We started walking again and reached to another part of the forest beside the river. There were 2 bamboo rafts. We got into the rafts and sat there. We started crossing to the other side by rowing the bamboo raft. That side of the forest had a few forest camps. We got our life jackets from there and started rowing our raft. We spotted several birds and Nilgiri langur. We parked our raft again, got down and rested there lying on the green grass. We spotted wild boar there at the other side. We had our packed lunch and started hiking again in that part of the hill. We spotted the bones of bison and some interesting insects and spiders. We came back to our raft and started moving back to the other side. We got down and started hiking again where we spotted a herd of wild elephants again. It was raining by then and we were hiking in the rains. We reached to the bank finally, from where we got into the raft to sail back to the other side of the world inhabited by human civilization. It was around 5 pm by then. We came back to our hotel and called it a day.
Bamboo rafting at Periyar
Where we had lunch
Somewhere in the forest
Bison bones
Spider somewhere inside the forest
Grasshopper inside the forest
Next day we woke up and was ready for our journey to Kumarakom. It was a long journey from Thekkady. We started at about 11am. The hotel owner was so sweet that he chalked us a travel plan and made our driver understand it and asked him to show the beautiful places on our way towards Kumarakom. It was not the usual route we took. First we went to a place somewhere in a village. And the view there mesmerized us. It was a 180 degree view infront of us, where we saw the hills merged in clouds. It was not a usual tourist spot. There was none there other than us. We secretly thanked the hotel owner to make us visit this heavenly place.
Hills merged in clouds
We then started moving again and reached another point called Kalvari Mount. It was quite a climb by our car uphill. We got down from the car and walked all around. Whatta beautiful and serene place it was. There were only locals there. The place had cottages where one can stay. One can also trek to several spots from there. I felt like spending a full day there. But had to leave the place.
Kalvari Mount
We then started moving towards Vagamon Tea Garden. We were amazed by the beauty of the tea gardens of Kerala again. After stopping at a few points, we started heading towards Kumarakom.
A stop somewhere on our way
Soon we were in the plains and was surrounded by paddy fields. Finally at about 4 pm we reached Kumarakom.
We checked in to the resort by the Vembanad lake. We loved our cozy cottage by the backwater. The resort was beautiful by the lake, After a lot of adventure and travelling, I could ask nothing more than the luxury and relaxation by the lake. We saw the houseboats moving around in the lake.
Relaxing by the lake, at the resort on a cloudy day
Relaxing by the lake, at the resort
Relaxing by the lake, at the resort
We spent some lazy moments at the resort and then next day it was time to go back to Cochin. It was a sunny Monday and by the infinity pool of the resort I felt that Monday morning blues have never been so beautiful. After a sumptuous buffet breakfast we checked out of the hotel and asked our driver to take us to Marari beach.
Monday morning blues have never been so beautiful
Soon we reached the beach. It was a sunny beautiful morning. The beach was beautiful with white sand against the deep blue sea and sky. The beach was almost empty with few locals. I felt like spending a full day here. But we did not have much time.
The beautiful Marari Beach
The beautiful Marari Beach
We started for Cochin to catch our flight for home. With some wonderful memories and experiences, we came back home with a promise to myself that I will visit the beautiful God's own country again.
On our way towards Thekkady , distant waterfall hidden inside the fog
On our way towards Thekkady
We entered at our already booked homestay, dumped our luggage in the beautiful big room, had lunch and went straight to the Periyar Information Center to book the next day's Periyar trip. There are several Periyar packages. I already had in my mind that I will buy the full day bamboo rafting and trekking program in Periyar. So I booked this trip for the next day, which was 2000rs per person.
After booking, we went to that place of Thekkady where a lot of cultural events are held like Kathakali Show, Marshal Arts show, Magic Show etc. We booked the Marshal Art show for 200rs per person. Never in my life I saw any Marshal Art performance. So i was excited. We entered a mini amphitheater kind of a place. We were seated at the first row. Few guys all dressed up in Marshal Arts attire lighted up the Diyas (Lamps). The ambiance all in all made me travel to a historic era. A group of young guys started the spectacular show. Half of the time they were flying in the air with swords, shields, sticks, ribbons. We, spectators, enjoyed it a lot. And there was a thrilling fire show where our hearts skipped a bit at their every action. It was a performance full of entertainment and an experience one of a kind for me. The show ended and after having tea we reached hotel at about 8 pm, had a super delicious home-made dinner at our hotel and called it a day.
Moments from the Marshal Arts show
Next day woke up early since we were asked to reach at Periyar Tiger Reserve, within 7:45 am. After having the best idli of my life as the complimentary breakfast of the hotel, we started in our car towards Periyar. We bought the tickets at the entrance and got in. Soon we were surrounded by trees all around. The weather was cloudy. The driver parked our car and we walked down to the lake. We were given cotton gaiters by the Forest Department people. They also spread tobacco on our gaiters so that leeches stay away from us. We were a group of 10 people, we were the only Indian tourists there. We started at about 8:15 am for the forest hiking. We crossed the Periyar lake in the bamboo raft and reached the other side. And then it was only our group at the other side of the forest, far from the maddening crowd, into the wild. We started hiking inside the forest. Surrounded by deep green forest, walking on wet grass which had crawling insects and leeches, chirping of different insects and birds made me feel I am lost somewhere in a wild world. Soon we spotted some wild elephants and sambar deer at a distant hill. We started walked to a beautiful side of the Periyar river. By then I was already bitten by a leech. Here we had had our packed breakfast. The place was so lovely, silent and peaceful. I felt like I can spend here for hours, just gazing at the hills, the river and the forest.
Forest guard who accompanied us for the hiking
Crossing the lake in a bamboo raft to reach the other side of the forest
Forest foliage
Hiking deep inside the forest, only us
When we spotted the elephant
At this beautiful location, far from the maddening crowd, we had our breakfast
We started walking again and reached to another part of the forest beside the river. There were 2 bamboo rafts. We got into the rafts and sat there. We started crossing to the other side by rowing the bamboo raft. That side of the forest had a few forest camps. We got our life jackets from there and started rowing our raft. We spotted several birds and Nilgiri langur. We parked our raft again, got down and rested there lying on the green grass. We spotted wild boar there at the other side. We had our packed lunch and started hiking again in that part of the hill. We spotted the bones of bison and some interesting insects and spiders. We came back to our raft and started moving back to the other side. We got down and started hiking again where we spotted a herd of wild elephants again. It was raining by then and we were hiking in the rains. We reached to the bank finally, from where we got into the raft to sail back to the other side of the world inhabited by human civilization. It was around 5 pm by then. We came back to our hotel and called it a day.
Bamboo rafting at Periyar
Where we had lunch
Somewhere in the forest
Bison bones
Spider somewhere inside the forest
Grasshopper inside the forest
Next day we woke up and was ready for our journey to Kumarakom. It was a long journey from Thekkady. We started at about 11am. The hotel owner was so sweet that he chalked us a travel plan and made our driver understand it and asked him to show the beautiful places on our way towards Kumarakom. It was not the usual route we took. First we went to a place somewhere in a village. And the view there mesmerized us. It was a 180 degree view infront of us, where we saw the hills merged in clouds. It was not a usual tourist spot. There was none there other than us. We secretly thanked the hotel owner to make us visit this heavenly place.
Hills merged in clouds
Kalvari Mount
We then started moving towards Vagamon Tea Garden. We were amazed by the beauty of the tea gardens of Kerala again. After stopping at a few points, we started heading towards Kumarakom.
A stop somewhere on our way
Soon we were in the plains and was surrounded by paddy fields. Finally at about 4 pm we reached Kumarakom.
We checked in to the resort by the Vembanad lake. We loved our cozy cottage by the backwater. The resort was beautiful by the lake, After a lot of adventure and travelling, I could ask nothing more than the luxury and relaxation by the lake. We saw the houseboats moving around in the lake.
Relaxing by the lake, at the resort on a cloudy day
Relaxing by the lake, at the resort
Relaxing by the lake, at the resort
We spent some lazy moments at the resort and then next day it was time to go back to Cochin. It was a sunny Monday and by the infinity pool of the resort I felt that Monday morning blues have never been so beautiful. After a sumptuous buffet breakfast we checked out of the hotel and asked our driver to take us to Marari beach.
Monday morning blues have never been so beautiful
Soon we reached the beach. It was a sunny beautiful morning. The beach was beautiful with white sand against the deep blue sea and sky. The beach was almost empty with few locals. I felt like spending a full day here. But we did not have much time.
The beautiful Marari Beach
The beautiful Marari Beach
We started for Cochin to catch our flight for home. With some wonderful memories and experiences, we came back home with a promise to myself that I will visit the beautiful God's own country again.
