A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country

Tripoto
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 1/13 by Ankita JaisWal

This year I wanted to celebrate my birthday at someplace new (and by that I meant no metropolises)

I had heard a lot about Varkala and Alleppey in Kerala and both looked extremely mesmerising in pictures. Having a dear friend in Trivandrum just gave the much needed push to my thoughts. And my birthday, also the new year's, was set!

New Year's Eve in Varkala.

I’d suggest to take a train from Trivandrum to Varkala. It will take only 30-40 mins. It’s better to book your tickets before and do rest of the things according to that schedule. Lesson learned from missing the train. Twice! :P

It was like a painting, view of horizon from a cliff and that vast ocean with pleasant breeze; it will give you all the feel.

The view was nice, yes, but the food was amazing! We ordered a Vegetable Noodles, Tomato Cheese Sandwich and Chicken Wonton soup with Masala Peanut and Beer. (Taste buds jumping with joy! :D)

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 2/13 by Ankita JaisWal

Since, we weren't planning on to stay for the night, we caught the last train to Trivandrum at 9pm and geared up for the next adventure!

We got our train tickets booked to Alleppey / Alappuzha for 6am the next day. After catching on some sleep I woke up early on 1st January (perfect start to my birthday! :)) and eagerly jumped on the train to explore the beautiful backwaters of Kerala.

The train took 3 hours to reach Alappuzha from Trivandrum. We all took a nap and had breakfast in the train.

We were all clueless what to do and how to rent a boat or anything for Backwaters but thanks to the Prepaid Auto Centre, we were led to the finishing point where we could rent a boat. The man was helpful enough to have us arranged a nice shikara (Houseboat) and charged 800 bucks per hour.

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 3/13 by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 4/13 by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 5/13 by Ankita JaisWal

Alleppey is more about the feel and the experience rather than the place. 3 hours would seem less for the view and the beauty of that place. I’d suggest to take something along for food, instead of waiting for the guy to take you to a place to eat (it won’t be worth it and it would take a lot of time)

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 6/13 by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 7/13 by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 8/13 by Ankita JaisWal

Just chilling in the Shikara and trying to consume all the beauty around, we didn't realise when those three hours got over. I’d say It’s worth all the attention it has been getting.

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 9/13 by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 10/13 by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 11/13 by Ankita JaisWal

Apart from Backwaters, there are two beaches in Allepey - Alappuzha beach and Marari Beach (we had a lot of time so we went to both)

If you have less time then I'd suggest pick Marari. It’s a still water beach with coconut trees on the beach itself. Only downside is that there is nothing much to eat on both the beaches.

We went to Alappuzha beach and tried this Casia Resturant, which I wouldn’t recommend at all because of their unappetizing food and super late service.

There is one shake outlet just before Casia Resturant. Try that, it might surprise you in a good way! Just a normal fruit salad surprised me.

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 12/13 by Ankita JaisWal

Starting from boarding the bus from Bangalore to returning back, the whole trip got wrapped up in 7k.

I wanted to visit Fort Kochi and Munnar as well but couldn’t because of time constraints.

The place is so peaceful and beautiful that I might just visit it again. Soon.

Hope to see you too there! :)

For birthday, new year's or just to give yourself that much pending treat, what better than God's own country!

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country 13/13 by Ankita JaisWal
Day 1

As opposed to my initial expectations, it was not a really great idea to go to Varkala on 31st December as the beach was really crowded and the cliff was even more crowded. We kept roaming for a while until we saw this place (the savior too!), Tibetan Kitchen, and somehow got the perfect table, right by the balcony from where we could see the whole beach.

It was like a painting, view of horizon from a cliff and that vast ocean with pleasant breeze; it will give you all the feel.

The view was nice, yes, but the food was amazing! We ordered a Vegetable Noodles, Tomato Cheese Sandwich and Chicken Wonton soup with Masala Peanut and Beer. (Taste buds jumping with joy! :D)

Photo of Varkala, Kerala, India by Ankita JaisWal

Since, we weren't planning on to stay for the night, we caught the last train to Trivandrum at 9pm and geared up for the next adventure!

We got our train tickets booked to Alleppey / Alappuzha for 6am the next day. After catching on some sleep I woke up early on 1st January (perfect start to my birthday! :)) and eagerly jumped on the train to explore the beautiful backwaters of Kerala.

Day 2

Birthday at Alleppey

The train took 3 hours to reach Alappuzha from Trivandrum. We all took a nap and had breakfast in the train.

We were all clueless what to do and how to rent a boat or anything for Backwaters but thanks to the Prepaid Auto Centre, we were led to the finishing point where we could rent a boat. The man was helpful enough to have us arranged a nice shikara (Houseboat) and charged 800 bucks per hour.

Photo of Alleppey, केरल, भारत by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of Alleppey, केरल, भारत by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of Alleppey, केरल, भारत by Ankita JaisWal

Alleppey is more about the feel and the experience rather than the place. 3 hours would seem less for the view and the beauty of that place. I’d suggest to take something along for food, instead of waiting for the guy to take you to a place to eat (it won’t be worth it and it would take a lot of time)

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country by Ankita JaisWal

Just chilling in the Shikara and trying to consume all the beauty around, we didn't realise when those three hours got over. I’d say It’s worth all the attention it has been getting.

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country by Ankita JaisWal
Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country by Ankita JaisWal

Apart from Backwaters, there are two beaches in Allepey - Alappuzha beach and Marari Beach (we had a lot of time so we went to both)

If you have less time then I'd suggest pick Marari. It’s a still water beach with coconut trees on the beach itself. Only downside is that there is nothing much to eat on both the beaches.

Photo of Marari Beach Alappuzha, Mararikulam, Kerala, India by Ankita JaisWal

We went to Alappuzha beach and tried this Casia Resturant, which I wouldn’t recommend at all because of their unappetizing food and super late service.

There is one shake outlet just before Casia Resturant. Try that, it might surprise you in a good way! Just a normal fruit salad surprised me.

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country by Ankita JaisWal

Starting from boarding the bus from Bangalore to returning back, the whole trip got wrapped up in 7k.

I wanted to visit Fort Kochi and Munnar as well but couldn’t because of time constraints.

The place is so peaceful and beautiful that I might just visit it again. Soon.

Hope to see you too there! :)

For birthday, new year's or just to give yourself that much pending treat, what better than God's own country!

Photo of A New Me and a New Year in God's Own Country by Ankita JaisWal