Beat the Heat… with a few pics…

It’s only mid – April but the peak summer heat has already descended upon Mumbai, making it quite an unbearable city.  The temperatures have started touching upwards of 30 degrees Centigrade and we still have 2.5 more months of such summer to get through.

Hence its no surprise that I am at present sitting in office and dreaming of a holiday that includes a nice long dip in the cool waters of a beautiful beach. Since I can’t be on a beach at present (my friends from Mumbai please don’t even bother talking about beaches here in Mumbai) I am posting about other beaches. 

Ever eaten a pineapple like this?

Kerala has some very unusual and beautiful things to see, do and eat. However amongst all of these, there are loads of other smaller unsual sights that go quite un-noticed. I have one such small sight in the pic below.

We were served this unusually cut pineapple on a house boat in Alleppey; and while I have seen pineapples served in numerous ways, I have never seen anything like this. But the best part of this beautiful presentation was that you can just pick up the pieces and directly eat. 🙂

Kerala Continued – Route 5 – Trivandrum – Kanyakumari, Kovalam, Poovar, Varkala, Ponmudi

In continuation of my earlier post – Kerala Solved http://wp.me/p29z7S-4h , I am now writing on my personal experiences and recommendations for the region 5 – Trivandrum – Kanyakumari, Kovalam, Poovar, Varkala, Ponmudi.

Alleppey to Trivandrum was the last leg of our journey on this holiday and we decided to take a train for the same, but if you want you can drive down as well (the travel time is about 2 – 3 hours).

Trivandrum is the capital city of Kerala and the feel of this place is like that of any other city. When we reached Trivandrum, we had been in Kerala for 5 – 6 days already and had gotten used to the beautiful lush green landscapes. Trivandrum, in a way, kind of prepared us for our return back home. 😦

Kerala Continued – Route 4 – Cochin – Alleppey (Alappuzha)- Kumarakom

In continuation to my earlier post – Kerala Solved http://wp.me/p29z7S-4h , I am now writing on my personal experiences and recommendations for the region route 4 i.e. Cochin (Kochi) –Alleppey (Alappuzha) – Kumarakom.

Alleppey and Kumarakom are 2 places which are pretty much alike and just separated by a huge lake (one is on the eastern side and one is on the western side of the lake). You can visit either of the places and don’t necessarily need to visit both of them. For our trip, we decided to take a one night tour on the houseboat from Alleppey and then booked a one night home-stay in a traditional Kerala farm-house by the lake  (over looking Kumarakom bird sanctuary).

Alleppey Backwaters

Kerala Solved…Guide to planning a trip to Kerala

Kerala is a small state at the southern most part of India, where one is spoilt for choices in everything – in terms diverse places to see, numerous unique things to do and unusual places to stay. Hence planning a trip here can be quite confusing and challenging.

To make this easy for all my fellow travellers, I am listing down various options and combinations (w.r.t to personal interests and comfort) that you can use to customise your own trip to Kerala. Please note that based on your comments, feedback and questions I will keep updating this post. Hence this post is called Kerala Solved… 🙂