Kerala Part 1: Day 1
Day 1: 22nd Jan 2012
Fort Kochi
So this is about a vacation forced to be taken after a long, long time. We have never thought of Kerala as a tourist destination, mainly because it is so expensive to holiday in Kerala especially if it includes travel from and to Delhi. In the same price or less, one could do a Bangkok-Pattaya, or some other place in any other South East Asian country.
Anyway, since we have a 2-night booking that one of our good friends at a resort have been kind enough in arranging, we plan a trip around this.
So on 22nd Jan, we have an early morning Indigo flight. Gets delayed by half hour due to one passanger. We reach Cochin Airport at 9:45am. The guy at the tourist counter is helpful and gives us a lot of maps, but also tries to palm off a houseboat deal for 7,000/- saying this is the best deal. Once we reach Allepye, we find that this is the standard rate, and we could have had this deal even after reaching Allepye if we had needed. Thankfully we do not go by his words.
The guy also tries to get us some deals for hotels in Kochi. The first one he tries is called Arches, is quite nice, but is full. The second one is called Greenix, but apparently this one does not have facility to stay, although the guy at the counter swears by it and says that they have 6 rooms.
One thing he does say though, which is good, is that we should be staying at Fort Cochin, which is more of the heritage place, rather than Ernakulum, which is the new city. So anyway we get a pre-paid cab from the airport and head towards Fort Cochin.
Airport to Fort Cochin is quite far (40km) and the cab charges 905/-! .. Just the taste of things to come in terms of prices. Once at Fort Cochin, we get dropped at a place called Rositta - a shack-like place - maybe good for Lonely Planet type of travellers (even that is doubtful!) - but certainly not suitable if you have an infant with you.
So we hire an autorickshaw, dump all our luggage and start going around the Fort Cochin in search of accommodation. A couple of home-stays - nice, but not available for tonight. A couple of hotels - Gamma - not so nice. Finally we find a place called Ballard Bunglow. Wooden interiors. Right next to the jetty. Good price too - 2,500/- a night. So we call it home for the night. It is about 1:00pm now.
The same auto driver - Hussain - comes back in half an hour, and takes us to a restaurant called Seagull. Old place, full of foreign travellers. But very poor service. Prawn curry - prawns are undercooked. Crab masala is good though. All meals cost around 500/- for all days.
Hussain asks us if we want to see Kathakali dance. It is every evening around 6pm at Greenix - the same place we had heard from the guy at the airport - but we need to book early to get front seats. We are not sure if the baby will stay and let others watch the performance in peace, so we pass the opportunity.
We roam around the fort area in the autorickshaw. We go to the 'Dutch palace'. It was actually built by the Portuguese to appease the local Maharajah, but later repaired by the Dutch, and currently houses a tepid museum. Entry fee 5/- for Indians. The only thing worth seeing are two walls with murrals - paintings depicting the entire of Ramayana and some parts of Harivansh - like Krishna-Radha etc and one hall with Vishnu's painting. Other murrals are incomplete. The rest of the exhibits - like the king's clothes etc. do not excite. Imagine a museum where you have pictures of old coins instead of actual old coins!
After this we go to the far end of the fort where we see the Chinese fishing nets. Not as good as what you have seen in the pictures. Maybe the timing of the day was wrong - 4pm. We should have seen them in the evening along with the setting sun.
Anyway, we plan for a trip to Allepye the next day, and Hussain arranges for his brother-in-law Rasheed to take us in his car. 1,200/- for 50km.
We rest a while, and in the evening roam about the fort area. Some very quaint bungalows. Tissa's Inn, the Tea Bungalow - all look good from outside. We head back towards the water. Near Greenix, there is another place called the Fort House. Great ambience, with a small wooden deck projected outside in the water, with a few tables on it. The hotel has some rooms too, but all booked. We have a very nice dinner of squid salt pepper, some nicely made chicken roast, and wonderful appams - all to the company of some fireworks going on the other side of the water.
It is about 11pm and we return to Ballard Bungalow. I am searching for a cup of coffee, but it is quite late in the night, and one round around the food area - the Burger Lane included - does not yield much result. Nevertheless, the dinner has been quite nice, and will sustain me for the night.
Day 2 follows ...
Shalom
- Shreekant
Fort Kochi
So this is about a vacation forced to be taken after a long, long time. We have never thought of Kerala as a tourist destination, mainly because it is so expensive to holiday in Kerala especially if it includes travel from and to Delhi. In the same price or less, one could do a Bangkok-Pattaya, or some other place in any other South East Asian country.
Anyway, since we have a 2-night booking that one of our good friends at a resort have been kind enough in arranging, we plan a trip around this.
So on 22nd Jan, we have an early morning Indigo flight. Gets delayed by half hour due to one passanger. We reach Cochin Airport at 9:45am. The guy at the tourist counter is helpful and gives us a lot of maps, but also tries to palm off a houseboat deal for 7,000/- saying this is the best deal. Once we reach Allepye, we find that this is the standard rate, and we could have had this deal even after reaching Allepye if we had needed. Thankfully we do not go by his words.
The guy also tries to get us some deals for hotels in Kochi. The first one he tries is called Arches, is quite nice, but is full. The second one is called Greenix, but apparently this one does not have facility to stay, although the guy at the counter swears by it and says that they have 6 rooms.
One thing he does say though, which is good, is that we should be staying at Fort Cochin, which is more of the heritage place, rather than Ernakulum, which is the new city. So anyway we get a pre-paid cab from the airport and head towards Fort Cochin.
Airport to Fort Cochin is quite far (40km) and the cab charges 905/-! .. Just the taste of things to come in terms of prices. Once at Fort Cochin, we get dropped at a place called Rositta - a shack-like place - maybe good for Lonely Planet type of travellers (even that is doubtful!) - but certainly not suitable if you have an infant with you.
So we hire an autorickshaw, dump all our luggage and start going around the Fort Cochin in search of accommodation. A couple of home-stays - nice, but not available for tonight. A couple of hotels - Gamma - not so nice. Finally we find a place called Ballard Bunglow. Wooden interiors. Right next to the jetty. Good price too - 2,500/- a night. So we call it home for the night. It is about 1:00pm now.
The same auto driver - Hussain - comes back in half an hour, and takes us to a restaurant called Seagull. Old place, full of foreign travellers. But very poor service. Prawn curry - prawns are undercooked. Crab masala is good though. All meals cost around 500/- for all days.
Hussain asks us if we want to see Kathakali dance. It is every evening around 6pm at Greenix - the same place we had heard from the guy at the airport - but we need to book early to get front seats. We are not sure if the baby will stay and let others watch the performance in peace, so we pass the opportunity.
We roam around the fort area in the autorickshaw. We go to the 'Dutch palace'. It was actually built by the Portuguese to appease the local Maharajah, but later repaired by the Dutch, and currently houses a tepid museum. Entry fee 5/- for Indians. The only thing worth seeing are two walls with murrals - paintings depicting the entire of Ramayana and some parts of Harivansh - like Krishna-Radha etc and one hall with Vishnu's painting. Other murrals are incomplete. The rest of the exhibits - like the king's clothes etc. do not excite. Imagine a museum where you have pictures of old coins instead of actual old coins!
After this we go to the far end of the fort where we see the Chinese fishing nets. Not as good as what you have seen in the pictures. Maybe the timing of the day was wrong - 4pm. We should have seen them in the evening along with the setting sun.
Anyway, we plan for a trip to Allepye the next day, and Hussain arranges for his brother-in-law Rasheed to take us in his car. 1,200/- for 50km.
We rest a while, and in the evening roam about the fort area. Some very quaint bungalows. Tissa's Inn, the Tea Bungalow - all look good from outside. We head back towards the water. Near Greenix, there is another place called the Fort House. Great ambience, with a small wooden deck projected outside in the water, with a few tables on it. The hotel has some rooms too, but all booked. We have a very nice dinner of squid salt pepper, some nicely made chicken roast, and wonderful appams - all to the company of some fireworks going on the other side of the water.
It is about 11pm and we return to Ballard Bungalow. I am searching for a cup of coffee, but it is quite late in the night, and one round around the food area - the Burger Lane included - does not yield much result. Nevertheless, the dinner has been quite nice, and will sustain me for the night.
Day 2 follows ...
Shalom
- Shreekant
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