Kerala was always in the bucket list! Finally got the chance to wander around the roads of God's own abode! My friends and I started off on 22nd night and reached kochi on 23rd.
Kochi is like a typical indian city... busy roads, too many folks and a rich Kerala culture! We went to fort Kochi to see chinese nets and visit nearby church. Post that, we left for Allepey at around 1pm by local bus. We reached Allepey by 2:30pm. From there we took ferry for Kumily. This almost 3 hrs ferry journey on backwaters is a must-do and cost just Rs.20/person! We reached Kumily and stayed in Vedanta hotel.
Next day, we had reservation for bamboo boat rafting program in Periyar tiger reserve (I was too damn excited about it before we started off from Bangalore)!! The D-day arrived and we went for rafting. Though sun was scorching hot, the experience in itself was legendary. We anchored our rafts at the point where we had to start trek from. We saw many amazing birds and also got the rare chance to witness grand deer feast of wild dogs. That was one hell of a sight!
In the evening, we went for Kalaripayattu and Kathakali show. These are must do when one is in Kumily, particularly, Kalaripayattu shouldn't be missed at any cost. It's Indian martial arts and one will awe in disbelief after witnessing the prowess that these fighters possess! Kumily is a nice place with chilled out crowd, many chocolate shops(hell many!) and many tourists.
From Kumily, we went to Kovalam. Kovalam is mainly known for its beach and is a nice place to chill out, however, not better than Varkala where we headed next.
Varkala is beautiful, the beach has pristine emerald green coloured water and one can stay for days here without getting bored. This is one place where I can go multiple times for sure.
After having great time in Varkala, we finally headed to Thiruvananthpuram from where we had a return flight for Bangalore. We bid goodbye to the place promising to come back again!