Kerala .... God's Own Country

Hi - Kerala is called God's Own Country for a good reason.

We arrived at Cochin airport and were driven down to Alleppey to the Pozhiyoram Beach resort (http://www.pozhiyoram.com) . It's a very small local resort where almost everyone is Indian. It's very quiet and on a beautiful little beach. It is extremely traditional and authentic. Here's the reception. The first thing we did was have lunch. I ordered the Meen Moilly (on Ganesh's recommendation) and it was absolutely wonderful. In fact all the food we had at this report was fantstic and I can now understand how many people say that the food in South India is the best in the country. Here's the Meen Moilly.


The rooms at the resort are cottages on the beach. Here's my room. It has a wonderful semi-outdoor bathroom, where you can have a shower facing the stars !

I had a few walks along the beach and the local children told me that their fathers are fishermen and they go out in the boats at about 4am and come back in a 7am. And sure enough when I went down one one morning at about 7am, I saw the fishermen undoing their nets and sorting the catch. No wonder the fish on the menu is so fresh !!

While we were at the resort, we took the opportunity to have some Ayurvedic treatments. When we asked to book, the receptionist called the doctor who came to meet us that evening and discuss the treatments. These involved massage, scrub with an ayurvedic medicine pack, which makes the skin feel wonderful and some oil poured on the forehead. All the treatments were administered by a lady practitioner, Sadhira. Sadhira told us that she was from Kerala and had spent 8 years in total studying and training for her profession. She was fantastic ! Here's Cathy relaxing after one of the treatments .. how it should be done !

We had a wonderful few days at Pozhiyoram and were sad to leave. Here's the staff who gathered to bid us farewell.


We're off up to Kumarakom today for a night at the Backwater Ripples resort before our night on the House Boat .. really looking forward to that.

Bye for now,

Kate.

P.S. Here's a little video clip for my Indian friends abroad who may be home sick .. you can hear the waves on the beach at The Pozhiyoram resort in Alleppey, Kerala ....

The Bear Necessities ...

Hi again and welcome to my Indian adventure after the build. The first day was spent in Bangalore at a Nature and Safari Park.

It’s a great place about an hour from the city which has Lions, Tigers, Bear and a Herbivore section with lots of different deer.

I arrived at the gate and was met by Nirav who drove me around to the various activities duri

ng the day. We first went through the Herbivore safar

i and saw some wonderful deer, some spotted deer and black buck.

Then it was a break for drinks and onto th

e Safari bus to see the Bears, Lions and Tigers. We saw the bears first. These seemed to be very plentiful and many were wandering around the roads. Some even

came near to the bus for a chat, like this little guy strolling along !

Then it was on to the Lions. Not too many of these and mostly away from the roads, so we didn’t get too close.

Next port of call was the Tigers .. where tragedy struck for me ..

my camera battery went flat ..(and I came for the Tigers !!) so although I saw some absolutely wonderful creatures including some White Tigers .. I don’t have any photos .. but I hope to borrow some !

That evening I was delighted to meet up with Ganesh, an old pal, who is now working in Bangalore. We had a lovely meal at the Taj hotel .. sitting a little close to the pool for comfort,

but we managed not to drown !

Next morning, it would be off to Cochin for some relaxation down in Kerala.