Onwards to Periyar National Park

7.2.19

We got up at 6am. Finished packing and set off to find a tuk tuk to take us to the boat jetty to get the 7.15am ferry from Aleppey to Kottayam.

It must have rained hard in the night and John made stepping stones from bricks in the garden so that we could get out of the gate.

We had a few moments panic because there wasn’t a soul on the road but then a driver came along. Bought snacks again from the little place by the jetty, sadly the onion bhajis hadn’t come in yet.

Set off bang on time. We were surprised to see a little lad packed off with his ferry fare and waved off by his mum. He seemed way too tiny to be on his own.

The ticket man came and we were shocked that it was 30p for both of us for a 2 hour journey.

The little lad was colouring with wax crayon and then using a razor blade to scratch it off!

The ferry went in a different direction from our 8 hour marathon cruise. The scenery is just beautiful.

Very soon several more children turned up wearing the same outfits as the little boy. They were off to school.

They were soon flocking around us, well John mainly. They loved looking at photos on his phone and roared with laughter at photos of our dogs wearing raincoats and seeing cats and dogs together on the sofa. They wanted to know their heart rates on Johns sports watch but all had zero as their arms were so tiny.

The waterways became narrower, I love the greenery with its pretty flowers and watching the herons flying as the boat gets near. Always so much to see along the way.

All too soon we had arrived at the final stop, Kottayam.

The children ran off into school, unbelievable that most had a 2 hour journey.

So pleased we opted to do the ferry for the first part of our journey rather than a 6 hour direct bus.

Next we shared a tuk tuk with another passenger to the bus station. The guide book said it was a 15 minute walk, it was at least that by tuk tuk.

We were terrified about repeating our previous bus drama, but asked a guy and followed some other foreigners to the Kumily bus. It wasn’t the planned 10.35am fast one but we didn’t care, we just wanted to be on a bus going the right way.

We were scrunched at the back with our luggage, I moved to give John more room. He was feeling queasy and very hot. An elderly man got on a little while later and had the most horrendous cough. He didn’t look like he was going to last the whole journey and was hacking into a large piece of cloth. At one point he put his head down as if to spit on the floor next to John. Luckily he didn’t.

First chance I offered to swap places so he could be next to the window (well the space called the window, not actually any glass). Instead he moved further down the bus. At least it had taken Johns mind of how sick he felt.

The bus drivers drive like lunatics. The roads were very windy with sheer drops but that didn’t affect the speed.

Some of it was so rough that according to my Fitbit watch I completed 10,000 steps.

I watched 3 episodes of Flirty Dancing which had me smiling loads and took my mind off what was going on.

Some of the scenery was just amazing. I’m amazed any photos came out the speed we were going!

We arrived at the bus station after 3 and a half hours. The cost of this white knuckle ride was just 224 rupees for both of us. (less than £3)

Google maps said it was a 15 minute walk to Wild Window Homestay. Google maps lied, much to the amusement of many ladies sitting alongside the little alleyways we went down.

When there was no right turn right at the very end of the directions we were too embarrassed to go back down the alleys and after another 15 minutes in a different direction Google said we had arrived. We were at the top of a small lane with just forest in front of us and only derelict looking buildings. Our hearts sank.

Thankfully Wild Window was just after the corner.

John’s pull up metal handle came off his case just as we arrived.

We thought we had blown all the electric sockets just after I made coffee when we arrived but was in fact a powercut. Apart from that our accomodation is lovely.

Literally on the edge of the national park

Went off into town to explore and to book hiking and bamboo rafting at the Eco Tourism office. No places tomorrow so we are booked in on Saturday.

We planned to also go boating on the lake. It’s a separate booking office, but after going along there we were undecided from the reviews. It’s a man made lake and no guarantee of seeing wildlife, so we are going to give it a miss and go to the spice gardens and cookery class instead.

Thekaddy / Kumily is a lovely little town, has a great feel about it and lovely shops.

We looked at suitcases in various bag shops and explained to the lad in one shop that the handle had come off, he said there is a place near the bus station that can repair it.

Off we went in search of the repair shop. This man asked where we were going, we explained and he said Yes…. Follow me… Yayyyy..

He took us to a bag shop. A bit of google translate and consensus was a big no.

I bought 2 long Indian tops and some thin trousers. After looking at all the different colours in every shop in the area we went back to the first one later on.

Sibi at our homestay recommended Grandmas Place, so we went there for dinner.

We saw more tourists in there than we have for our whole trip so far. The menu gave detailed descriptions of each of the Indian and Chinese dishes on offer. We sat and studied each one.

But of course we had paneer butter masala and chicken biriyani. Butterscotch cornettos on the way home, still not really very butterscotchy but pretty tasty anyway.

Just after we got back the owners called us to see the wild boar family. What a great view from our balcony. Lovely! She feeds them every night. I counted 11 of them.

The big one is so tame she hand fed it. Then it came right up to the gate asking for more. So nice to hear wildlife around us instead of traffic and laundry bashing.

He loved our yellow rock cake leftovers and grunted for more 🙂

John’s man bag has also broken so he has borrowed a screwdriver, dismantled his case and attached the man bag strap to make a pull along handle.

He isn’t just a pretty face. (his words not mine)

Sadly his phone just will not charge. He even bought a new charging lead today but the phone is having none of it.

Fingers crossed we can find a repair shop in town somewhere tomorrow.

Thekaddy adventures

8.2.19

John went off for a run and I had lovely hot water once our host Sibi came and switched something on the roof.

There was an awful lot of animal noise that sounded like it was right outside the door, in my head a herd of wild boar were on the corridor eating a street dog alive. I was too scared to go out and look. From the balcony I couldn’t hear it or see anything.

I made coffee and sat on the balcony and watched monkeys playing in the trees and thankfully the awful noise had stopped.

Saw a couple who were just leaving when John came back, it was monkeys that had been fighting over some popcorn people in the room further along had put outside their door. Good thing none of the rest of us were waiting to go out!

John’s phone charged overnight. No logic to it. I’m now able to add the selfies the kids took with it on the boat yesterday.

We set off to Barbque firstly to see if we could book a cooking class. Great, booked in for 5.30pm today.

We stopped for lunch at The Leaf. Chicken biriyani for John (surprise surprise) and I ordered pineapple and cheese toast.

2 triangles had pineapple in, 2 had cheese. It made me think of the tuna ‘n’ sweetcorn Dinner Ladies sketch with Victoria Wood. I even googled it and watched it again.

So anyway it was cheese and pineapple not cheese ‘n’ pineapple but was very tasty. We both had curd and honey afterwards, curd is thick tasty yogurt.

From there we continued walking to the Green Park Spice Garden, John said I didn’t need maps on as he saw it this morning while out running.

I was surprised how long it was taking and eventually we reached Green Spice Garden, probably the same experience but Green Park has great reviews. Turned back and walked 3km to the right place.

The tour was very interesting, some online reviews mentioned animals and an aquarium, one large fish and a pool with tiny ones. The animals were 3 goats, a couple of rabbits, some guinea pigs, 3 cows and a dog that John untangled from it’s short chain and another dog on a chain. The first one was so excited to have some interaction. John pointed out to the guy that they need some water.

Aside from this it was worth visiting.

We then walked up to see the Rose Garden which was nearby but mainly for children so went off to find pineapple juice instead as we were a bit early for cooking class.

We found a little place advertising juice but he didn’t have pineapple so we said goodbye. But then he came after us and said he could do it.

He sliced the pineapple and was just about to put it in the blender when the power went off, so we said no problem we will just eat it as it is. He cut it into little chunks for us and gave us 2 forks, a sprinkle of lime juice and napkins. It was a huge plateful. Followed by a 2nd one!

He asked for just 40p for this, so we gave him extra.

We were first to arrive at cooking school. The teacher was just putting marinated chicken on a huge barbecue. It smelled amazing.

There were 9 of us, a mix of Brits, 2 Australians and 2 Americans. A really lovely group.

Our first task was chopping okra, green beans, shallots and potatos, all into tiny slices.

We then watched and took turns stirring, grating coconut, frying poppadoms and making parotta bread.

We had samples of everything along the way.

Then we all sat together and feasted. It was all delicious.

I’ve often looked at okra in the market and assumed I wouldn’t like it as I am a real baby when it comes to veg, but I’m definitely going to buy some when we get back.

Absolutely fabulous evening, would thoroughly recommend to anyone in the area.

Our American friends gave us a lift back in their car. They have hired a car with driver for their entire trip.

She was envious of us doing it all independently on public transport, I was envious of her not having the stress of having no idea what is going on at the bus and train stations!

Just as we got back our host family were just setting off for a family function. No sooner had we got in our room when their 2 little daughters presented us with…. a pineapple. The hugest one we have ever seen.

We may well die of pineapple overdose. What a way to go 🙂

Elephants :)

9.2.19

We were up bright and early for our hike and bamboo rafting. First we had to go to the tourist police office and pay 475 rupees each for admission to the National Park. The admission is only valid for a day. This was on top of the £18 each charge for the half day tour. It’s one of those annoyances, especially when nationals pay 40 rupees but there it is, you just have to accept it.

We met the rest of our group at Bamboo Grove, 2 young lads from Geneva and 6 young Russians. I did feel like they must have all thought we are really old.

We set off at 10am after signing to say the company has no liability for injuries, death etc and being given back packs with water and our lunch.

The Russians were ridiculously noisy and silly even though the ticket and the guide advise silence in order to have a chance of seeing wildlife.

We moved near the front and the 2 Swiss lads made a joke about the Russians behaviour and that was it, we bonded for the rest of the trip.

We hiked through the forest for 2 hours, trying hard to zone out their noise and appreciate the sounds of the birds and monkeys. Sadly they really did spoil it for us.

When we reached the lake it was time for lunch.

Chickpea curry, chapatis, 2 tiny bananas, a huge banana, an apple and a carton of juice. The curry was lovely and thankfully John had saved 2 plastic spoons from a previous meal. I cannot get my head around eating curry with my hands.

I don’t like bananas but these tiny ones were gorgeous. I was assured that the large one was like eating raw potato so am saving it for the wild boar.

After lunch it was time to board 2 bamboo rafts. Well almost – 2 of the girls decided it was time to do lunges, squats, skipping and jumping. The tranquility of the lake and the birdlife was clearly of no interest to them.

The Swiss guys made a beeline to sit with us on the raft, but the guide had already sensed the atmosphere and put the Russians all together.

They started shouting and arguing with each other while the guide was trying to get their attention about the trip. They really were just dreadful.

Off we went, its very slow and tranquil. Lovely.

Very rarely there are elephants.

We could see some far away in the distance.

But then we were totally blessed to see 2 nearby.

One of the boat staff took this for us through the binocular lens.

It was wonderful. We moored up and just sat on a small hill and watched for ages. The staff were all as excited as we were.

Then it was time for them to paddle us back over to the other side. As we got off and approached where we had lunch the 2 elephants were walking along our path. One guide went ahead to shoo them away.

The only other animals we saw were some bison.

We walked a slightly different route back and didn’t have to be silent. Ironically the Russian worst offenders were tired and quiet. In fact we think they may have had another fallout.

It was lovely chatting to the 2 lads all the way back about travels. One was only 23 and has travelled so extensively. Iran was one of his favourite places and he says we should go.

Our walk was 13km in total and we all agreed we would have felt very disappointed if we hadn’t seen the elephants.

Said our goodbyes and may spot them in Munnar, they go tonight, we go in the morning.

We had a light shower of rain on the way back and the temperature has really dropped. Its been 30 degrees here and cool enough at night without the fan. Just perfect.

We went off to find a mobile phone repair shop as Johns phone won’t charge again. They tried a new charger and hey presto… Fingers crossed this sorts it now.

We ate the huge pineapple given to us by our host family back at our room. It was good to get the walking boots off and chill.

We are planning to book a taxi through our hosts, it’s 5 hours by bus to Munnar, 3 and a half by car. The roads are apparently even bendier than on the way here. Our hosts aren’t back from their family do yet, hopefully it won’t be too late to sort it when they get back.

We went to Bamboo restaurant as it was highly recommended on Trip Advisor. Lemon chicken wasn’t good at all and cashew naan was a big let down. First meal I haven’t enjoyed in 8 days so that’s not bad going.

Our taxi is all booked via Sibi on Facebook, we set off to Munnar at 8am.