Kerala: And Hercules came too! (Kerala)

Member Name: ninski

Product:	Kerala
Date:	22/01/01 (361 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Combination of a sunny holiday and discovering a different culture

Disadvantages: Fierce sea in some resorts

Sunshine, a different culture and a spot of yoga – that’s why I went to India. But before I launch myself into this opinion I must first explain the role that Hercules plays in it!! Yes, we’re talking about Hercules, he of Greek mythology, muscular hero of children’s stories and the favourite ‘fighting figure’ of my nine year old nephew! This Hercules stands one foot high and is distinctly battle scarred from his regular fights with other members of the toy cupboard army that is my nephew’s pride and joy! I was telling him about my trip, during one of the aforementioned battles and pointed out the fact that Hercules looked rather worse for wear and could do with a holiday to let his scars heal. My nephew agreed and decided that I should take him to India, so that was how my packing came to include Hercules!!

KERALA is the southern most state on the west coast of India, sitting just below Goa. On the cover of the photo album I compiled after this trip, I’ve written “Kerala – land of sun, wonderful sights, sounds, smells, colours, coconuts and many smiles” and this just about sums it up!

Kerala is fast becoming the next ‘hot spot’ of Indian holiday destinations, behind Goa, but at the moment it is still unspoilt and is not one of the poverty stricken states. I went there in March, which is the end of their summer season, just heading for the monsoon period and it was a lovely time to be there – perfect temperature. I actually went there on a yoga holiday and although, later on, I will dwell briefly on this aspect for those of you who are interested, my opinion will mainly concentrate on Kerala as a holiday destination for a lovely experience of India.

RESORT
I stayed in Kovalam, one of the main resorts in Kerala, though still with a very local feel to it. Accommodation ranges from some rather nice hotels with swimming pools and all sorts of fac
ilities, to cheap rooms for rent. I was somewhere in the middle, part of a private home with my own room and en suite bathroom, wonderful gardens, in the middle of coconut palms and brilliant coloured flora! A wonderful winding path leads to the beach, 5 minutes away, past lots of little shops – all catering for tourist trade of course (see ‘shopping paragraph'!). Kovalam has a fantastic long sandy beach, upon which the fierce waves of the Arabian Sea crash! Yes the Arabian Sea in this area is fierce, with a very strong current and there are warning flags and lifeguards dotted along the beach. I do love swimming in the sea so braved it a couple of times – getting in and out is the worst – when you finally manage to struggle out, you find your swimming attire filled with all sorts of small stones trapped in uncomfortable places!!! You can hire a sunbed and umbrella for the day from the many lads, offering their services (so to speak) along the beach! This is what I did on my first day but apart from contending with the sea, the other bone of contention is the peddlers trying to sell you their wares. Now I have to say that these wares – sarongs, wonderful fresh fruit, etc, are well worth purchasing at an incredibly cheap price, but you only need so many! And never promise to buy later if you don’t really mean it, because your promise will never be forgotten.

I decided to make use of the facilities of one of the hotels along the seafront – for a reasonable sum, you can hire a sunbed, umbrella and towel and laze by the pool, with the beach right in front of you, read those books you’ve been saving for your hol, order the odd fresh coconut juice served in its shell, lie back and listen to the music of the sea.

Now talking of music, there is a wonderful event every morning – the local fishermen bringing in their nets! They take the nets out by boat, drop them in strategic positions an
d the following morning, haul them in by hand! The bringing in of the nets, reminded me of the tug of war competitions I used to take part in when I was a Young Farmer!! They haul in the ropes, hand over hand, digging their heels into the sand as they move backwards and as each man reaches the growing coil of rope, he runs round to join the front line again! As the nets start to appear, the excitement rises and the singing starts! The younger ones run into the sea to help the nets on their way in, beating their hands on the sea as they sing. Once the nets are in, everyone gathers round to inspect the day’s catch. The restaurant and hotel owners, along with other locals, haggle over the fish and off they go; housewives in wonderful coloured clothing, sway off with bowls full of fish balanced on their heads. It’s all over for another day and the men arrange the nets so that they can dry off ready for the boats to take them out again in the evening.

For a change you can walk about half-hour (or jump in a rickshaw) and go to the next beach along, which is private and belongs to the Ashok Hotel. The sea is much calmer here, protected by a rocky headland and it’s quite fun to head out to sea on a small kayak (humming Hawaii Five-0 as you go!).

SHOPPING PARAGRAPH!!
There are so many bargains to be had!!! Beautiful cotton and silk sarongs, jewellery, bags, lovely cotton clothes (have your own made or copied while you’re there), wooden carvings, herbs and spices, incense … and the list goes on! Dotted amongst the shops, which are higgledy piggledy, some tidy, some scruffy, are some internet cafés (no need for withdrawal symptoms from dooyoo!!). Also plenty of chances to have a henna tattoo – bit of fun if you don’t want the permanent variety! And if you fancy a massage, there are opportunities to spend a marvellously relaxing hour being pampered with wonderful oils!

FOOD AND DRINK!
T
he food is fantastic! And so cheap! The most popular food in this area is freshly caught fish (yes, we saw them being caught earlier!) and a multitude of vegetarian dishes, although there is meat around too. The fish is superb - you choose from the display and have it served either plain or with a choice of local sauces. You can wash it down with beer, wine or wonderful mixtures of juice such as fresh ginger and lemon.

SIGHTSEEING
Although I was very happy spending my days lazing and watching the local activities (and after all I did do my yoga every morning – still coming to that later!) I did also want to get out and about and see what else Kerala had to offer. This is so easy to do. Wherever you are staying, the owner of your accommodation will know a local driver of either a rickshaw or taxi! The rickshaws (three wheeled motorised variety) are great fun! I teamed up with another solo traveller for a trip into Trivandrum – the nearest large town and home to the airport. This is well worth a visit for a wonderful selection of museums, temples, street markets, material shops and just local life!

THE TIP TRIP!!
This is my affectionate name for a marvellous trip down to the southern most tip of India – Cape Comorin! This time by taxi - £8 each for two of us to hire Prem Kumar and his taxi for the whole day! Prem was excellent – his English was quite good and he gave us local information along the way and stopped when we wanted to take photos – and he soon got to know the photos we wanted – I’m looking at them now: man on a bike with a huge great fish hanging out of a crate on the back; shops selling big sacks of rice, dried chillies, spices etc; river scenes with children splashing around while their mothers pounded their washing on the rocks; more temples; banana and coconut plantations; paddy fields; and here’s one of a huge lake absolutely full of lilies (caption: eat your heart
out Monet) with the Ghats – a beautiful mountain range – in the background; and the odd elephant trundling along the road. We passed through many small villages and every one stopped to wave and smile! We felt like royalty! They are such lovely people!

En route to the south we stopped at the fantastic wooden palace of Padmanabhapuram – the most famous of its kind in India. It consists of 29 different palaces, all linked by small paths, gardens and courtyards. It is indeed amazing.

The Tip itself is the meeting point of three seas: the Arabian Sea, the Bengal Sea and the Indian Ocean. You really can see them coming in from different directions and we had a paddle with the locals! There’s a boat trip across to an island which is home to another marvellous temple and also at the Tip is the Ghandi Foundation, where his ashes were scattered in the sea.

For another lovely local experience, take to the backwaters of Kerala. You can hire a small houseboat for a couple of days but I just had a morning punt! It was so calm and peaceful – wonderful lush surroundings and small, simple houses scattered along the riverbanks and nestling amongst the trees. Children ran to the water’s edge – luckily we’d been forewarned and were able to throw coins and pens for them. If you’re planning a trip to India, do take a supply of cheap biros!

SO WHAT ABOUT HERCULES you may be wondering, or had you forgotten about him! He went everywhere with me so that I could photograph him for an album for my nephew! He met all the locals, rode on the back of a wooden elephant, rode the waves on the kayak, drove a rickshaw, paddled at The Tip and even tried out some yoga positions!! And that, dear readers, leads me on nicely to the yoga aspect of my holiday ….

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE INTERESTED – THE YOGA ASPECT!
What better place than India, to go for a spot of yoga –
; where it all started in about 150 BC! There are many types of yoga practised and the class that I joined each morning on the rooftop of my accommodation, amongst the tops of the coconut palms, was Sivanadran – lots of slow stretching and breathing – just the thing to wake you up in the mornings, followed by breakfast in the garden, of fresh fruits such as mango, banana and coconut, all grown locally!

By the end of my two weeks I felt fantastic, had a good tan (oh it makes such a difference to the way I feel!) and felt a great warmth towards the lovely people of this beautiful state. I will definitely be going back! And a rejuvenated Hercules continues to win his battles and recount his adventures to the rest of the toy cupboard!

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