Kerala part 1
Mieux vaut tard que jamais - les photos du Kerala!
Our first impressions of Kochi on december 22d were that of a quaint little town with lovely houses, trees, churches, nice restaurants, and chinese fishing nets... but it was also hot, way too hot, the mosquitoes were voracious, and Ruben barely slept at night, so we did not enjoy it as much as we might have had.
The Kochi art biennale was taking place right at that time. It was huge! And some pieces were actually quite nice. And/ or fun for Ruben.
The Jewish quarter is quite famous in Kochi, and the synaguoge was really a nice building. The 'dutch palace' in the area was also impressive, with very refined hindu frescoes on the walls.
Here the clock tower to the synagogue.
And another church.
From Kochi, we moved on Kerala's highlight: the backwaters! The boatride was beautiful and peaceful.
Coconut stop/ shop.
And sunset over the lake.
Next: the tea plantations! The road was long but really nice, as we climbed higher and higher in the hills with beautiful jungle around us.
First stop, our hotel on the hillside, where we had a beautiful room with a beautiful view.
Et en avant! We went for a lovely walk in a tea plantation. Thanks to a good tip, we found a way which was not barred - most of the pathways having 'no entry signs' in the area - and we wandered around happily. Lush and green tea bushes, lovely hills around us, nice weather, a purity and freshness in the air. What else? A moment in perfection.
Ruben enjoyed climbing around - yeah for a future rock climber!
The next day we decided to visit the local national park, Eravikulam.. a weird and disappointing experience..
At the entrance to the park, we discovered a huge line. Huge, like 2hours long. People have to take a shuttle from there to actually reach the national park. The ranger finally told us that as foreigners we could skip the line (after we bought a calendar from him, hum, hum), so we 'only' had to wait for 20 min. It was then a lovely 4km drive to the entrance of the park, accross beautiful tea plantations and hills.. On ne s'en lasse pas.
Then, we started hiking. Everywhere, signs said 'teasing or disturbing wildlife is a punishable offence'; yet there were auto rickshaws zooming by, transporting the locals.
And after about 15 min, a guard told us we could go no further. Beyond is private property and the national park stopped there.
Yep.
And I'm not even explaining how we got back to the entrance of the park.
Visiting the Tata tea museum.
In the evening we went to see a demonstration of the local martial art. Kalarippayattu, "the mother of martial arts". And it was quite impressive indeed.
Our first impressions of Kochi on december 22d were that of a quaint little town with lovely houses, trees, churches, nice restaurants, and chinese fishing nets... but it was also hot, way too hot, the mosquitoes were voracious, and Ruben barely slept at night, so we did not enjoy it as much as we might have had.
Here the clock tower to the synagogue.
And sunset over the lake.
First stop, our hotel on the hillside, where we had a beautiful room with a beautiful view.
Ruben enjoyed climbing around - yeah for a future rock climber!
At the entrance to the park, we discovered a huge line. Huge, like 2hours long. People have to take a shuttle from there to actually reach the national park. The ranger finally told us that as foreigners we could skip the line (after we bought a calendar from him, hum, hum), so we 'only' had to wait for 20 min. It was then a lovely 4km drive to the entrance of the park, accross beautiful tea plantations and hills.. On ne s'en lasse pas.
Then, we started hiking. Everywhere, signs said 'teasing or disturbing wildlife is a punishable offence'; yet there were auto rickshaws zooming by, transporting the locals.
And after about 15 min, a guard told us we could go no further. Beyond is private property and the national park stopped there.
Yep.
And I'm not even explaining how we got back to the entrance of the park.
Visiting the Tata tea museum.
In the evening we went to see a demonstration of the local martial art. Kalarippayattu, "the mother of martial arts". And it was quite impressive indeed.
