Trip to Kerala with wife- August 2016
- Thread starter drk
- Start date
drk
Active Member
Prologue:
I am a biker, and for a long time, I was planning a bike trip to the Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka in the monsoons.
Yet, it so happened that I ended up converting the ten day bike trip from Trivandrum to Nagpur,
to a six day trip, with wife, by public transport, covering Kerala.
We explored the state as locals,
roamed around, without plans,
and were left speechless as this land showed us some of its hidden treasures.
This is how it happened.
We landed at Trivandrum airport at 1 30 am on 20th August, 2016.
A friend of mine was in the same flight and she asked us to come along with her till Kanyakumari,
from where we could start our trip.
The idea looked good as we could catch the sun rising from the Bay of Bengal.
So together, we moved towards Kanyakumari at top speed,
and after dropping her at home,
we reached the Cape at 4 am.
There was still time for rthe sun to rise,
yet, the place had a lot of people who were on a pilgrimage to this town.
I clicked some photos to kill time,
and at 4 30, we went to the temple of the Virgin Godess- Kanyakumari.
One has to remove their shirts before getting in,
something which I would be doing often on visits to other temples in the coming days.
Last time I visited Kanyakumari, I gave the temple a miss,
as there was a long queue for the darshan.
This time at 4 30 am, the place was relatively empty,
and really peaceful.
After coming out,
we waited for the sun to rise,
killing more time taking pics,
and noticing how the lights at the rock memorial are switched on and off at dawn.
The constellation orion was just above the rock memorial,
and soon after, the horizon became orange.
The presence of clouds dimmed our hope of seeing the sun,
and as we were about to leave,
we saw the sun rising,
conches blew from the rock memorial,
people rejoiced with joy and the sun rapidly came up from the sea,
as if in a hurry, getting late for its journey across the sky.
We moved towards the railway station to catch the 6 50 train,
which would take us to Trivandrum.
We had left from Nagpur- in the centre of the country, at 9 pm,
and now, after 9 hours,
we had reached the southernmost tip of the country, roamed around and were returning.
This was quick.
The train was going till Mumbai,
but our destination was Trivandrum.
We caught some sleep in the train,
and were agile and awake when we moved out of the railway station at Trivandrum.
After breakfast,
we walked towards Padmanabhaswamy temple-
the temple famous for its stores of gold.
there is a lot of police now securing the temple premises,
and after the mandatory change of dress to a mundu and nothing above waist,
I got inside the temple.
The exterior of the temple is in Dravidian style, with gopurams.
The inner sanctum is in Kerala style.
The temple is beautiful but unfortunately, photography isn't allowed.
The idol is of Lord Vishnu, lying on the serpant Anantha-
thus giving the deity its name- Padmanabhaswamy Ananthashayanam.
The city also derives its name from the temple- Thiru Anantha Puram- The land of Anantha Padmanabhaswamy.
From here, we went to the Napier Museum.
Named after the then Governor of Madras- and still not renamed,
the building houses many beautiful bronze idols, stone idols and idols carved out of wood and ivory.
In fact, the ivory carvings at this place are among the most beautiful peices carved out of ivory.
The Museum also has a large wooded temple chariot,
and other things carved from wood, many centuries ago.
Nearby, is a hidden treasurehouse-
the Shree Chitra Art Gallery-
Raja Ravi Varma's paintings need no introduction,
and this art gallery has the biggest collection of his paintings.
From small paintings to life size and even larger portraits, scenes depicting everyday life- of royals and commoners,
all such paintings can be seen here.
Besides, there is a collection of paintings by Nocholas Roerich and his son,
and some other paintings.
The place was peaceful and calm,
and visiting it was a fulfilling experience.
From here, we decided to conclude our stay and Trivandrum and move northwards.
Varkala was our destination,
and we took a bus going Northwards,
which would drop us to Kalambalam, near Varkala.
We could have taken the train as well, which is a quicker way to reach Varkala,
yet, wanting to see the roads as well, we took the bus.
Highways in Kerala are non- existent,
and even National highways here are narrower than district roads in some states.
The reason is lack of space and high population density,
Yet, we did not find traffic jams anywhere.
The traffic is disciplined and that is how, they still manage with roads that are a fraction of what we are used to seeing.
Since the state has achieved zero population growth,
they would probably survive in spite of these roads,
provided that public transport retains its popularity.
One striking feature in Kerala is the beautiful houses.
each and every house looked beautifully designed, spacious and colourful.
The choice of paints is vivid and tasteful,
and one is amazed by the kind of homes that one sees, everywhere in the state.
This is probably indicative of the remittances from the Gulf,
and the importance given to building a house by the locals.
After getting a connecting bus from Kalambalam,
we reached Varkala bus stand,
and started walking towards the beach.
Meanwhile, I had booked a hotel room online,
and we reached there after a fifteen minute walk through the lanes of this quaint little town.
The Hotel was bang on the Papanasham beach,
with a swimming pool and poolside restaurant.
The room has a beautiful view of the beach,
and I was glad to chose this place.
We caught a nap and woke up hours later,
realizing that we had missed the sunset.
Yet, this seemed to be a place where we wanted to spend more time,
and decided that we would stay for more than a day.
In fact, at the reception,
it was written- 'Learn the art of slowing down',
and we were learning it too fast I guess.
So finally, Kerala managed to slow down our frantic pace,
and the remaining vacation went on a very leisurely pace,
enabling us to soak ourselves in the experiences that Kerala offered.
I am a biker, and for a long time, I was planning a bike trip to the Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka in the monsoons.
Yet, it so happened that I ended up converting the ten day bike trip from Trivandrum to Nagpur,
to a six day trip, with wife, by public transport, covering Kerala.
We explored the state as locals,
roamed around, without plans,
and were left speechless as this land showed us some of its hidden treasures.
This is how it happened.
We landed at Trivandrum airport at 1 30 am on 20th August, 2016.
A friend of mine was in the same flight and she asked us to come along with her till Kanyakumari,
from where we could start our trip.
The idea looked good as we could catch the sun rising from the Bay of Bengal.
So together, we moved towards Kanyakumari at top speed,
and after dropping her at home,
we reached the Cape at 4 am.
There was still time for rthe sun to rise,
yet, the place had a lot of people who were on a pilgrimage to this town.
I clicked some photos to kill time,
and at 4 30, we went to the temple of the Virgin Godess- Kanyakumari.
One has to remove their shirts before getting in,
something which I would be doing often on visits to other temples in the coming days.
Last time I visited Kanyakumari, I gave the temple a miss,
as there was a long queue for the darshan.
This time at 4 30 am, the place was relatively empty,
and really peaceful.
After coming out,
we waited for the sun to rise,
killing more time taking pics,
and noticing how the lights at the rock memorial are switched on and off at dawn.
The constellation orion was just above the rock memorial,
and soon after, the horizon became orange.
The presence of clouds dimmed our hope of seeing the sun,
and as we were about to leave,
we saw the sun rising,
conches blew from the rock memorial,
people rejoiced with joy and the sun rapidly came up from the sea,
as if in a hurry, getting late for its journey across the sky.
We moved towards the railway station to catch the 6 50 train,
which would take us to Trivandrum.
We had left from Nagpur- in the centre of the country, at 9 pm,
and now, after 9 hours,
we had reached the southernmost tip of the country, roamed around and were returning.
This was quick.
The train was going till Mumbai,
but our destination was Trivandrum.
We caught some sleep in the train,
and were agile and awake when we moved out of the railway station at Trivandrum.
After breakfast,
we walked towards Padmanabhaswamy temple-
the temple famous for its stores of gold.
there is a lot of police now securing the temple premises,
and after the mandatory change of dress to a mundu and nothing above waist,
I got inside the temple.
The exterior of the temple is in Dravidian style, with gopurams.
The inner sanctum is in Kerala style.
The temple is beautiful but unfortunately, photography isn't allowed.
The idol is of Lord Vishnu, lying on the serpant Anantha-
thus giving the deity its name- Padmanabhaswamy Ananthashayanam.
The city also derives its name from the temple- Thiru Anantha Puram- The land of Anantha Padmanabhaswamy.
From here, we went to the Napier Museum.
Named after the then Governor of Madras- and still not renamed,
the building houses many beautiful bronze idols, stone idols and idols carved out of wood and ivory.
In fact, the ivory carvings at this place are among the most beautiful peices carved out of ivory.
The Museum also has a large wooded temple chariot,
and other things carved from wood, many centuries ago.
Nearby, is a hidden treasurehouse-
the Shree Chitra Art Gallery-
Raja Ravi Varma's paintings need no introduction,
and this art gallery has the biggest collection of his paintings.
From small paintings to life size and even larger portraits, scenes depicting everyday life- of royals and commoners,
all such paintings can be seen here.
Besides, there is a collection of paintings by Nocholas Roerich and his son,
and some other paintings.
The place was peaceful and calm,
and visiting it was a fulfilling experience.
From here, we decided to conclude our stay and Trivandrum and move northwards.
Varkala was our destination,
and we took a bus going Northwards,
which would drop us to Kalambalam, near Varkala.
We could have taken the train as well, which is a quicker way to reach Varkala,
yet, wanting to see the roads as well, we took the bus.
Highways in Kerala are non- existent,
and even National highways here are narrower than district roads in some states.
The reason is lack of space and high population density,
Yet, we did not find traffic jams anywhere.
The traffic is disciplined and that is how, they still manage with roads that are a fraction of what we are used to seeing.
Since the state has achieved zero population growth,
they would probably survive in spite of these roads,
provided that public transport retains its popularity.
One striking feature in Kerala is the beautiful houses.
each and every house looked beautifully designed, spacious and colourful.
The choice of paints is vivid and tasteful,
and one is amazed by the kind of homes that one sees, everywhere in the state.
This is probably indicative of the remittances from the Gulf,
and the importance given to building a house by the locals.
After getting a connecting bus from Kalambalam,
we reached Varkala bus stand,
and started walking towards the beach.
Meanwhile, I had booked a hotel room online,
and we reached there after a fifteen minute walk through the lanes of this quaint little town.
The Hotel was bang on the Papanasham beach,
with a swimming pool and poolside restaurant.
The room has a beautiful view of the beach,
and I was glad to chose this place.
We caught a nap and woke up hours later,
realizing that we had missed the sunset.
Yet, this seemed to be a place where we wanted to spend more time,
and decided that we would stay for more than a day.
In fact, at the reception,
it was written- 'Learn the art of slowing down',
and we were learning it too fast I guess.
So finally, Kerala managed to slow down our frantic pace,
and the remaining vacation went on a very leisurely pace,
enabling us to soak ourselves in the experiences that Kerala offered.
drk
Active Member
Varkala:
We had no idea what to expect from this place,
and everything was new.
i had not researched much on the places which I was going to visit,
and the only 'on site' help that I had was Trip advisor- which helped a lot.
In the evening, we went for a stroll,
and from the beach, climbed up the stairs that led to the cliff.
Varkala has a thriving living space which comprises of a strip of land on a cliff overlooking the sea.
On this cliff, there are hotels, restaurants, shops, spas, cafe et al lined up,
each one of the facing the sea.
intermittently, one can climb down from the cliff to the beach where it exists.
The town is also a pilgrimage, specially after death of a relative,
when people bath in the spring water that arises from this cliff and joins the sea.
We returned after dinner,
to wake up to another day at the same place.
The next day, waking up late,
we had a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel.
There was nothing much to do, and we spent the day lazily, going for another stroll to the cliff.
This was followed by a visit to the aquarium at Varkala,
which is a must visit place when one is here.
Sunsets at Varkala are soothing to the soul.
and after an early dinner,
we were back to the hotel.
Research on the net showed that there is a boat which goes from Kollam to Allepy-
an eight hour trip through the backwaters,
The trip normally remains closed in monsoons but the page also said that it had opened from 09th August.
The plan next day was to get up early and catch the early morning train to Kollam.
Early morning plans are difficult to follow while on vacation,
and we got up at 7, and rushed after a quick breakfast to catch the 7 40 train to Kollam.
This short rail journey is through the backwaters,
and we reached in thirty minutes.
On reaching the jetty,
I was told that the boat would begin operations from September.
I rechecked the website and read the note again, carefully,
only to realise that the date mentioned there was 09-08-2015 and not 2016.
Kollam had nothing else to be visited,
but yet, I was told that at 9 am,
a short boat ride to nearby location commenced from Kollam.
We decided to go for it,
and waited for the boat to arrive.
AT 9 am sharp,,
the boat left with only us as passengers,
and we enjoyed this morning ride in the backwaters,
costing just Rs 6 per person.
The boat was like a bus in water,
stopping now and then at jetties where a passenger would board or deboard.
Slowly, it went all the way to the Ashtamudi Lake,
and from there, returned back on the same route.
We took a ticket while returning,
and thus in 24 rupees, we had had a great two hour boat ride in the backwaters.
We had no idea what to expect from this place,
and everything was new.
i had not researched much on the places which I was going to visit,
and the only 'on site' help that I had was Trip advisor- which helped a lot.
In the evening, we went for a stroll,
and from the beach, climbed up the stairs that led to the cliff.
Varkala has a thriving living space which comprises of a strip of land on a cliff overlooking the sea.
On this cliff, there are hotels, restaurants, shops, spas, cafe et al lined up,
each one of the facing the sea.
intermittently, one can climb down from the cliff to the beach where it exists.
The town is also a pilgrimage, specially after death of a relative,
when people bath in the spring water that arises from this cliff and joins the sea.
We returned after dinner,
to wake up to another day at the same place.
The next day, waking up late,
we had a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel.
There was nothing much to do, and we spent the day lazily, going for another stroll to the cliff.
This was followed by a visit to the aquarium at Varkala,
which is a must visit place when one is here.
Sunsets at Varkala are soothing to the soul.
and after an early dinner,
we were back to the hotel.
Research on the net showed that there is a boat which goes from Kollam to Allepy-
an eight hour trip through the backwaters,
The trip normally remains closed in monsoons but the page also said that it had opened from 09th August.
The plan next day was to get up early and catch the early morning train to Kollam.
Early morning plans are difficult to follow while on vacation,
and we got up at 7, and rushed after a quick breakfast to catch the 7 40 train to Kollam.
This short rail journey is through the backwaters,
and we reached in thirty minutes.
On reaching the jetty,
I was told that the boat would begin operations from September.
I rechecked the website and read the note again, carefully,
only to realise that the date mentioned there was 09-08-2015 and not 2016.
Kollam had nothing else to be visited,
but yet, I was told that at 9 am,
a short boat ride to nearby location commenced from Kollam.
We decided to go for it,
and waited for the boat to arrive.
AT 9 am sharp,,
the boat left with only us as passengers,
and we enjoyed this morning ride in the backwaters,
costing just Rs 6 per person.
The boat was like a bus in water,
stopping now and then at jetties where a passenger would board or deboard.
Slowly, it went all the way to the Ashtamudi Lake,
and from there, returned back on the same route.
We took a ticket while returning,
and thus in 24 rupees, we had had a great two hour boat ride in the backwaters.
SHEKHAR 257
Be a Good person but Don't try to Prove.
Awesome Narration. You did it at a very fast pace. Post more pics pl.