Travelling around India in 2017/2018 – Kerala
These giant cantilevered Chinese fishing nets are a legacy from the court of Kubla Khan in 1400 AD. The enormous, spider-like contraption requires at least four people to operate their counterweights at high tide. Modern fishing techniques are replacing these labour-intensive methods but they’re still used in Kochi.
An ice rink in a shopping mall?! Come on UK, use your imagination 😄. There’s also a fun park with bumper cars and other rides.
Kerala’s language is Malayalam. The writing to me looks more like beautiful decorative art than words.
The woman in the sari almost fell into the road off the pavement 😱. There’s an unfinished pavement on the right 😊
As you can see, the shopping mall really is a happy place. You can also, as the poster says, “spend some quality time with your loved ones” at the mall.
My post-yoga breakfast: potatoes, beans, rice and some (delicious) coconut flakes 😋
Our boat was not mechanised. Two men – front and back – steered the boat.
This cheerful man was diving to the bottom of the canal to collect mud. The mud is used as fertiliser.
A first for me – a rower in a sari.
After yesterday’s backwaters trip, I returned to yoga this morning. You’ll be pleased to hear that there was no reappearance of the Crown Jewels 😅. After yoga and breakfast, I went for a haircut at the corner barbershop. The barber asked whether I wanted a medium length cut and I said short for the back and sides since that grows faster – well, to be accurate, that’s growing as opposed to the top, which is disappearing! After shaving the back and sides, he started some elaborate work on top; some gel might have appeared too. I thought he’s actually trying to hide the fact that I’m thinning on top – I’m going to end up with some intricate comb-over! So I said to him, I’m too old to be vain, please cut the top short as well. He didn’t look happy. As he shaved away, I thought it must give barbers a sense of professional pride to do so much with so little. This was confirmed when he finished and I paid my £1.25: he gave a half-apologetic smile and looked like that rare conscientious professional who felt he hadn’t earnt his fee! Newly shorn, I’m ready for Fort Kochi’s New Year’s Eve celebrations this evening. I wonder what it will be like. 🌷🌻🌷🌻🌷🌻🌷🌻🌷🌻 Finally: best wishes for the New Year! If the year hasn’t gone well for you, tomorrow’s another day. No one may know what you’ve gone through but I hope you find comfort. Tomorrow we can be different, better. A day when we can stop dwelling on the past or fearing the future. A day to live in the present and enjoy it. Life is for living; it might be the only life we have. Life has a habit of surprising us. I hope the New Year gives you many welcome surprises 🤗❤️
Indie rock, Indian style 😉
Pappanji
Fireworks go off as Pappanji burns to mark the passing of time
Celebrating on the streets. The only snowman Kerala will see – winter temperature 30c 😳
The plastic monster
Ascending Chokra Hills
Tea plantation
Sunset from my balcony 😊
View from the top of Chokra Hills. My hiking guide is on the left with a white top
Another view from the top of Chokra Hills
The tectonic plate like bushes are the tea plants
Cardamom plant
You can just about make out the giant squirrel. My guide jumped when he saw it!
I just like the contrasting movements on this – the buzzing rickshaw and the cool stroll of the pedestrian. You can see the fringe of the temple in the background.
On the canals
I asked the grocer if I could take a photo. He played it cool.
I asked the spice seller if I could take a photo. He posed!
This is the now dilapidated port from which a mini-railway transported goods from ships to the canals. The candy floss seller taking time out or, perhaps, reminiscing.
A temple on the high street? Why not?!
Flowers on strings for puja (prayer)
A busy junction
Oranges are not the only fruit
This may have been my favourite meal so far. A homemade (North Indian) paratha, veg curry and subtly flavoured coconut chutney
The high street – Mullakkal Road
One of many canals
Another canal!
Last night’s sunset – because you can never see enough sunsets 😎
On my morning run. Nothing special – I just want to remember the birds who, like us, walked out to sea then, when the waves came, ran back to stop their feet getting wet! Bless them 😊
This little fella perched in front of me on the canoe
On a canal of the backwaters
On the backwater
A larger expanse of the backwater
A narrow canal
A villager cycling along the canal
The canoe, similar to the one I’m in, is not on land! These plants are growing on floating clumps of soil in the canal. It makes the canal look like a field.
A larger boat on the backwater
You can spend a night or two on the backwater in a houseboat.
My breakfast was some sort of stodge with curried tomato. A great way to start the day 😊
These young men play frisbee on the beach every day. They throw the frisbee out high towards the sea as far as they can (it appears to go out over a 100m!) then the wind brings it back. They’re so accurate as to where the frisbee is going to return that it never hits anyone even on a crowded beach.
Breakfast – streamed rice and coconut with chickpea curry. South Indian food is delicious 😋 I’m going to have get the recipes😄
This alarmed me when I saw it whilst running!
If you look closely, on the left is the elevated highway and of course the sea is to the right.
Dinner – palada (pancakes stuffed with coconut and cardommon); dessert was banana and raisins sprinkled with cashew nuts.
This is not lavender! It’s the backwater looking like a field of flowers.
On the way to the ashram.
The ashram
Amma leading bhajan
After trying some of the free Indian food, I bought a veggie burger and chocolate cake 😄
In case you needed encouragement 😉
A lovely sunset seen from my room
Relaxing by the backwater at the ashram
Dolls of gods, including Amma
Today’s lunch: pesto pizza with olives and tomatoes (surprising good) and carrot cake 😋. They make tasty vegan cakes and I’m eating way too many 😄
These colourful boats lit up the river!
Hello!
This looks like a Jackson Pollack painting but is in fact loads of ducks
Rickshaws are everywhere!
Sunset of the Day 😄
Back to delicious home-cooked food 😋
A line up
Coaches tend to be colourful and ornate.
A woman biker is a common sight.
A three-wheeled truck
Young women are frequently seen on bikes. These were amused at me taking photos.
Family on bike. Some passengers ride side saddle.
Government buses with glassless windows.
Let’s not forget the humble bike, still a common sight.
Another veg hotel.
Today’s breakfast – pancakes, veg curry and steamed coconut rice – was tasty and filling 😄
Tonight’s dinner – probably my favourite: stuffed chapattis with tomato/onion salad and an amazing coconut chutney 😋
A veg hotel (with my favourite form of vehicular transport 😄)
My final breakfast in Kerala. I’ll miss the food here.
Please make yourself comfortable 😊