Located along the south western coast of India, Kerala is a province known for tea, coffee and spice plantations as well as an alternative medicine known as Ayurvedic medicine. More on that later.
My first town was the small mountain town of Kumily, where I was thoroughly entertained with a demonstration of traditional martial arts. Four men performed, exhibiting their skills with physical movements and weapons. The most impressive weapon was the curved sword, which has four long thin blades and a single handle. He whipped it around his body several times, like a deadly whip. Then two experts reproduced a mock fight, one with a sword and shield, the other with a long pole. Good times, but no one died đ
Immediately after the show, the audience moved to a second venue to watch a Kerala folk play/dance. To be honest, I wasn’t quite exactly sure what I was witnessed, but it was fun nevertheless. Apparently the actors were personality types, as opposed to individuals, as they over emphasized their facial expressions and hand gestures, resulting in an interesting performance.
The next day started with an early morning boat tour in a national park, followed by an elephant ride and then a visit to a lovely tea plantation to learn about how the traditional tea is made. At a spice shop, the sales lady desperately tried to sell me all kinds of ointments that apparently would improve memory and cure everything from psoriasis to my rosacea. I ended bought a small bottle, in the tiny hope it could help my rosacea. It was supposed to contain all natural ingredients, so what damage could it do? After one application of the smelly, greasy cream, I chucked the rest into the garbage.
The second town was Alappuzha, where I spent 24 hours on a boathouse. It was a very cool experience, as I was the only guest with a captain, chef and servant. They took me on a gentle cruise of the nearby lake, where we stopped at a local shop to pickup some ice cream and fresh tiger shrimp. The chef cooked it (the shrimp, not the ice cream) for dinner that night. We also stopped so I could cruise along some narrow, man-made streams in a canoe. Locals lived on one side and rice fields were on the other. This organic moment reminded me of a wonderful 2 week canoe camping trip from 16 years ago. Spending time in a canoe in the countryside is very therapeutic for me, and that simple moment was precious.
The third and last town was Kochi, where I visited two museums, a city palace, a couple of temples and a church. By this point, I was mentally exhausted with India, and everything I visited looked like more of the same. The day ended early and I was happy to spend the evening at the hotel and nearby restaurant, eating the delicious south Indian cuisine.
The next day I flew back to Mumbai to pickup my fully repaired camera (woo-hoo!) and get a much needed haircut. Then it was off to Sri Lanka!
After exactly a month in India, I’ve come to appreciate the culture and people there. They are super friendly, when not trying to sell you something or stare at you like you’re an escaped zoo animal or try to molest you with picture taking like the paparazzi. It’s dirty and smelly, but there’s plenty of beauty to be found if you know where to look.