A visit to God's own country !! Kerala
A visit to God's own country !! Kerala
Last week I had the most memorable time of my life while I had been to my best Friend Varun's native, a place called Kotakal ( Beach Road ). I must say that the whole trip was filled with the best of my time and as told by my Friend Chandan, I really enjoyed the place rather than just liking it, (as both make a difference, enjoying a place is more of an experience while liking is just natural.). I had been planning to go to Kerala for quite sometime and every time varun called me I had something or the other in my way, but this time thanks to his continuous pestering and also as a part of my resolution to travel as much as possible I decided to go to kerala at any cost and i must say it was a worth while experience and realised what I had missed previously and wat I was gonna miss if I hadn't taken the trip. No wonder they call it the God's own country. The beauty is just impeccable.
The journey to the place was really great and the best i've ever had, we took the only bus to the place Vatakara the closest town to kotakal on KSRTC Bus ( its Kerala Road T.C), considering that its the only bus for the place the crowd was relatively less so we were able to occupy the last 2 rows for ourself :). I was cursing Varun as he suggested not to wear 3/4ths for the journey due to the hot sun, but once we hot Kasargod it started raining but lasted only for a few kms but wud resume again after a few kms again. it appeared as though the rain was playing hide n seek :). We finally hit the beeautiful terrains of Wayanad and thanks to the rain whihc added to the beauty of the place,we were just amazed at the pleasant scenery of the vayanad forest the lush growth of trees and bamboo shoots and the road neatly paved and washed by the rain was a wondrous sight. We were lucky enough to spot a herd of elephants amidst the forest and a couple of bears and of course monkeys through out the journey, but the driver was in no mood to stop for us and rushed passed the jungle and me and varun were performing circus antics in the bus to take a few snaps from the moving bus. And whilst we were in the Ghat sections, thanks to the rains the climate was damm cold and i realised wat my plight wud have been if i had opted for a 3/4th. We reached vadakara by 9.30 pm and were stranded in the heavy rain near the bus stand and found that there was no sight of any one in the roads nor any shops open that was a reality check that i am no longer in bangalore and i decied to make a last call to my home and then wud switch off the mobile. As i had decided to keep my self away from any tech for the entire week. We finally managed to get an auto and reached his native place Kotakkal Beach Road by 10 Pm.
The next entire week was the best time I had in my life. From the typical kerala cuisines to the life style of the people and of course the beaches.... could never forget these days ever. The major activity every day for the next week was eat , roam , sleep. Right from hunting for fresh mangoes and tender coconuts from trees to extracting cashews & catching crabs and oysters to pigeons and turtles etc etc I did all those things that I think I would have never done any where else. It happens that there is a Turtle conservation unit at this place and here I had a chance to get close with baby turtles and the rare star back turtles, it was 1 heck of an experience. the food there was my favourite giving a chance to relish on all coastal cuisines this was a part of my daily dosage of protein enriched food and of course the mangoes, thats the 1 thing I observed apart from the coconut trees is that every house has a minimum of at least 4-5 mango tress of different varities, so much so that mango trees grow in the road very much like the parthenium in bangalore :) and the same with pineapples and jack fruits tooo :) :).
Stranger more is that there are no street dogs in the place instead I could find mongooses running around streets and every house owning at least a family of cats :). At first it was like .. Wow ! there's a mongoose but by day three it was pretty common, unfortunately I couldn't get 1 of them on my camera,, feisty buggers !! :). The humidity there is horrifying, I couldn't stay fresh with out taking bath at least 5 times a day. I wud have just finished my bath and wiped myself clean and I would find sweat dripping from my forehead. by the end of the week I was so much so attached to the place and the people there that I extended my leave for another couple of days and reached Bangalore by Tuesday. Fortunate enough, i had a chance to witness the 1 of the Kerala form of art called the muthappa similar to our muneshwara..
Finally the entire trip was on of the best time I had in my life and would cherish the same for ever, these memories are the best souvenirs
I could have.
A few things in specific are
Tea is like bear here.. gr8 @ any time of the day and ppl have like a pint of it every time.
The beautiful back waters and its wild life where I got to see, rays, flying fishes, turtles, crabs etc..
The scenic beauty of the greenery surrounding all around you which is a combination of ghats on one side and sea coast on the other.
There is this one huge rock which ppl are breaking for construction since 15 years but still stands tall
The turtle conservation unit
and obviously the food !! :)
With heart felt nostalgic moments.. I definitely hope to visit the place again...
Last week I had the most memorable time of my life while I had been to my best Friend Varun's native, a place called Kotakal ( Beach Road ). I must say that the whole trip was filled with the best of my time and as told by my Friend Chandan, I really enjoyed the place rather than just liking it, (as both make a difference, enjoying a place is more of an experience while liking is just natural.). I had been planning to go to Kerala for quite sometime and every time varun called me I had something or the other in my way, but this time thanks to his continuous pestering and also as a part of my resolution to travel as much as possible I decided to go to kerala at any cost and i must say it was a worth while experience and realised what I had missed previously and wat I was gonna miss if I hadn't taken the trip. No wonder they call it the God's own country. The beauty is just impeccable.
The journey to the place was really great and the best i've ever had, we took the only bus to the place Vatakara the closest town to kotakal on KSRTC Bus ( its Kerala Road T.C), considering that its the only bus for the place the crowd was relatively less so we were able to occupy the last 2 rows for ourself :). I was cursing Varun as he suggested not to wear 3/4ths for the journey due to the hot sun, but once we hot Kasargod it started raining but lasted only for a few kms but wud resume again after a few kms again. it appeared as though the rain was playing hide n seek :). We finally hit the beeautiful terrains of Wayanad and thanks to the rain whihc added to the beauty of the place,we were just amazed at the pleasant scenery of the vayanad forest the lush growth of trees and bamboo shoots and the road neatly paved and washed by the rain was a wondrous sight. We were lucky enough to spot a herd of elephants amidst the forest and a couple of bears and of course monkeys through out the journey, but the driver was in no mood to stop for us and rushed passed the jungle and me and varun were performing circus antics in the bus to take a few snaps from the moving bus. And whilst we were in the Ghat sections, thanks to the rains the climate was damm cold and i realised wat my plight wud have been if i had opted for a 3/4th. We reached vadakara by 9.30 pm and were stranded in the heavy rain near the bus stand and found that there was no sight of any one in the roads nor any shops open that was a reality check that i am no longer in bangalore and i decied to make a last call to my home and then wud switch off the mobile. As i had decided to keep my self away from any tech for the entire week. We finally managed to get an auto and reached his native place Kotakkal Beach Road by 10 Pm.
The next entire week was the best time I had in my life. From the typical kerala cuisines to the life style of the people and of course the beaches.... could never forget these days ever. The major activity every day for the next week was eat , roam , sleep. Right from hunting for fresh mangoes and tender coconuts from trees to extracting cashews & catching crabs and oysters to pigeons and turtles etc etc I did all those things that I think I would have never done any where else. It happens that there is a Turtle conservation unit at this place and here I had a chance to get close with baby turtles and the rare star back turtles, it was 1 heck of an experience. the food there was my favourite giving a chance to relish on all coastal cuisines this was a part of my daily dosage of protein enriched food and of course the mangoes, thats the 1 thing I observed apart from the coconut trees is that every house has a minimum of at least 4-5 mango tress of different varities, so much so that mango trees grow in the road very much like the parthenium in bangalore :) and the same with pineapples and jack fruits tooo :) :).
Stranger more is that there are no street dogs in the place instead I could find mongooses running around streets and every house owning at least a family of cats :). At first it was like .. Wow ! there's a mongoose but by day three it was pretty common, unfortunately I couldn't get 1 of them on my camera,, feisty buggers !! :). The humidity there is horrifying, I couldn't stay fresh with out taking bath at least 5 times a day. I wud have just finished my bath and wiped myself clean and I would find sweat dripping from my forehead. by the end of the week I was so much so attached to the place and the people there that I extended my leave for another couple of days and reached Bangalore by Tuesday. Fortunate enough, i had a chance to witness the 1 of the Kerala form of art called the muthappa similar to our muneshwara..
Finally the entire trip was on of the best time I had in my life and would cherish the same for ever, these memories are the best souvenirs
I could have.
A few things in specific are
Tea is like bear here.. gr8 @ any time of the day and ppl have like a pint of it every time.
The beautiful back waters and its wild life where I got to see, rays, flying fishes, turtles, crabs etc..
The scenic beauty of the greenery surrounding all around you which is a combination of ghats on one side and sea coast on the other.
There is this one huge rock which ppl are breaking for construction since 15 years but still stands tall
The turtle conservation unit
and obviously the food !! :)
With heart felt nostalgic moments.. I definitely hope to visit the place again...
Do check out the album at : http://picasaweb.google.com/venugopalnv/AVisitToGodSOwnCountry#
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