The Malabar Coast Adventure

The first place we covered was at Holloway Road, sea side park with a watch tower and is a great place to view the sunset.

7 KM drive from Thalasherry toward Kannur and you will reach Muzhappilangad Beach, tongue twisting name but this beach is special, its longest Drive-In Beach in India (5.5 km). Here beach is wide and the sand is firm enough to support smooth driving.

Next destination was Thalassery Fort. The British East India Company built the fort in 1708 to establish a stronghold on the Malabar Coast. Dont forget to explore secret tunnel there.

Our next destination was Mahe, one of the four districts of the Union teritory of Pondicherry (though its completely unconnected to Pondicherry and surrounded on all sides by the State of Kerala. Formerly part of French India . Though the French left Mahe nearly 60 years ago, the French culture can still be felt there. As its union territory Mahe attracted many booze lover where alcohol is said to cost only a third of what it does in Kerala. The town faces a peculiar challenge as ever-increasing crowds come to drink at its bars and buy booze from its liquor stores. The town is now gaining reputation as a booze destination and the number of outstation drinkers has shot up in the past few years. The main attraction in Mahe is Riverside Walkway, built alongside the banks of the river from the Water Sports Complex at Manjakkal, Mahe, till the breakwater of the Fishing Harbour at Mahe built by the government of Puducherry.

Malabar coast adventure continues. Day two early morning, after checking out from hotel, we decided to visit Kannur to see famous Theyyam.

Theyyam is popular ritual form of worship of North Malabar in Kerala, India, predominant in the Kasargod, Kannur Districts, Wayanad and Kozhikode of Kerala, as a living cult with several thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs. Theyyam glorifies Goddess Kali. Theyyam or Theyyatam is derived from two Malayalam words “Deyvam” ( god ) and “Aattam” ( dance). The performers of Theyyam belong to the lower caste community, and have an important position in Theyyam. People of these districts consider Theyyam itself as a God and they seek blessings from this Theyyam.

Theyyam dances are usually performed in the months of October to June. You can browse this site to know more about timing and place http://www.theyyamcalendar.com/

We were not sure, where we can see this, internet helped us and we got to know one place where Theyyam was getting performed. There was contact number as well, we called and the person told us timing and the direction of temple. We reached there exactly on time.

It was small temple but decorated beautifully. So many food stalls there and off course place was crowded. There was one open courtyard, for performance.The whole locality had gathered in and around the courtyard to watch the Theyyam. For many local its a time for coming together as family. We somehow managed to get inside the courtyard and took the blessing from Theyyam performers. All the performer adorn colourful costumes and heavy makeup and within 15 minutes Theyyam started.

After watching Theyyam, we decided to go back to Thalasherry and cover one beautiful Island we saw when we were going to Kannur. Dharmadom

Dharmadom is an island, en route Thalassery and Kannur. located 4 km from the town of Thalasherry. It is surrounded by the Anjarakandy river on three sides and by the Arabian sea on the fourth side.This place was simply brilliant and you will love the scenery there. It was not crowded and we felt so relaxing and calming.