Coconuts, Tea gardens & Backwaters-Kerela

Whenever I think of kerela, the first image that comes to my  mind is coconut trees, back waters and tea gardens. We arrived in kochi via flight, while landing I could see those coconut trees I was visualizing, all around from top view. Once we landed took a ride from the airport and we started moving to our first destination Munnar. For lunch we stopped at a pure veg hotel called Rasa, where we took authentic kerela food thali, I always make sure I try the local food it gives you the complete sense of travelling to another place. Munnar I just thought it was over rated until I experienced the heaven. Throughout our journey we could see those beautiful bluish hills covered with clouds, amazing tea plantations & lush green forests. While on our way we took a stop at Cheeyapara waterfalls, its always lovely to hear the sound of cascading waters & had ice cream by the falls☺️ we reached our place to stay after a long journey almost 4 hours and were extremely tired. The climate was cold, chilly , the place was quiet & peaceful. We had some hot soup and dinner night and called it a day.

We got up early as today we would start with are tour in Munnar. We filled our tummies with lovely breakfast spread, and left on our journey. The climate was so beautiful..it was cool and we could feel a little warmth from the sunlight. First stop was at Munnar flower garden. It was an absolutely delightful & Charming sight. I had never seen so many different flowers and beautiful plants & especially a place layered with it. You can buy the plants here too. After clicking a lot of pictures here, we made a stop at the tea gardens😍, something I have been wanting to see...tea plantations. Its a different feeling altogether to be so close to them and look at that beautiful sight. We saw some local women picking up tea leaves with a basket around their head, there were some stalls selling bhajiyas,Maggi, local chocolates, tea leaves & wine. Its always a great idea to have some chai in this weather, thats what we did and also bought some chilli bhajiyas, enjoyed it with the amazing view of tea garden. Next stop was the tea estate & visited the KDHP Tea house to buy local tea leaves, different flavours, you can also buy some freshly brewed tea here. After this we visited the Mattupetty dam, it was surreal & also an echo point. The fresh air, chilly weather , we could see the clouds floating above the dam water, even though there were alot of people around it still felt peaceful. You can spend  time here just gazing at the waters, boating was available too, alot of snacks & can buy some essential oils if you like.  After this we went to have lunch and Tried some local cuisine Appams & Chettinad Chicken. It was already quite late, we spent some time shopping in the shops nearby & headed back before it was dark and a beautiful day ended with dinner and  lots of rest.

Day 3 we left for Periyar( Thekkady), I must say a memorable journey, on the way the roads were foggy as we could seee it all around us like clouds, & forest. We saw many churches on the way while we were passing. It was a long journey, we stopped for some refreshments & just near it was a beautiful church, so we went to take a look at it too. Our next stop was directly at the spice garden, as kerela is famous for that, we took a trip through the garden with a guide, and got a whole lot of knowledge & information on these spices, saw the plantations, could smell it all around. Here you can shop for it too. After this we had lunch & headed to our Periyar national park which you need to see through the lake, in a boat and you will notice rare & different wild animals if its your luck. Though it was a great ride, lake was beautiful , we weren't lucky to spot tigers, but we spotted wolves, a wild boar,sambar deers, Antelopes, wild elephants & Indian Bisons. After this we reached Thekkady Kalari Centre, here there are alot of different activities you can buy tickets for, we went for cultural dance ( kathakali) It was absolutely amazing show, so many different expressions. Another show was kalariyapattu, its a form of indian martial art. Our day ended at an amazing, with great food not local though but tasty at summit Hampton restaurant.

On our 4th day, we left to see one of the most beautiful place with houseboats & backwaters everywhere ( Alleypey). Our stay for the day was on houseboat. One more experience for life, floating on the backwaters, in this fully equipped houseboat, it was quite fancy and had neon lights too for party at night, ice cream seller coming on small boats to sell icecreams, to the market near the backwaters from where we bought fish and the cook made it for us, we also took a stop near Ayurvedic massage centre, and had a relaxing massage, some coconut water post that & just peacefully floating on the back waters. Most beautiful part was the sunset we could witness from the deck, against this amazing backdrop. At night the boat was stopped by the village, we took a long walk around the village at night and ended our day back on boat.

After an amazing experience of a stay on the houseboat, we bid goodbye to Alleppey and started our journey towards Kochi our last day, we reached here around 12 and left to check out some famous things around. We went to see the kochi Fort and the market around it, it's just along the Arabian sea, beautiful locations, it's famous of its Chinese fishing nets. It was really something new to see. We also Visited St. Francis Church one of the oldest churches in Kochi, with it's old world charm. We also had a plan to visit the Jews Synagogue, however it was closed on that day so we missed it. There are a lot of stalls near the beachside where you will get fresh fish, you can select the size and fish and ask them to cook a preparation of you choice, it was one of the best experiences to have fish by the bay, while hearing the sea waves and feeling the breeze.  Later in the evening we also visited one of the biggest mall Lulu mall, and another uniquely beautiful and vast church that I have seen in my life, St George's old church Edapally.  The statues and the work inside the church will keep you spellbound, it's a must visit in kochi. So this was the end of our last night in kochi and next day it was time to leave this amazing place, it was a great experience to get to know keralas culture, mouth watering local cuisine, the warm and helpful people over there and not forgetting the many experiences that will last with me forever. I forgot to mention it was my first flight ever.