Thekkadi ... jungle trecking and backwater crusing

The next day we were excited to get to Thekkady, even despite the six hour drive to get there! The landscape changed from estuaries and rice paddies to rolling hills, coffee, tea, and spice plantations. This region is known for growing just about any spice you can imagine and these spices are a defining element of human history. Europeans waged wars and traveled the world in search of routes with better access to these earthly riches. The area grows cardamom, cinnamon, pepper, coffee, tea, vanilla, star anise, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, chilies sandalwood even frankincense and mirh! Along with this you can find many kinds of nuts including almonds, cashews, hazelnuts and many types of fruit including pineapple, mangoes, oranges, bananas melons, and the list goes on! This was the first time we’ve seen the plants that produce a lot of these spices and nuts. For foodies like us this was a real treat.

The road to Thekkady was lined with plantations and surprisingly …. mansions. The plantation owners are well off and built themselves near palace like homes, and why not? They are all brightly colored and gated. Along the way there were many stupas or small 3 story shrines to central figures of Christianity (Mary, Jesus, and various saints). These sights were amazing enough to take our minds off the ever present threat of a head on collision on the tiny narrow road (with no guard rails) that switch-backed up the mountain side with cars constantly dodging oncoming buses and rickshaws.

Indian martial arts

On our first night we attended a local martial arts performance. The local guide told us that this style of martial arts is the foundation of all the martial arts from around the world, and that it was spread by the early Hindu and Buddhist monks who traveled to Asia. The individuals who practice this art are extremely disciplined, often devoting their life to the practice. It involves yoga like movements, training with a variety of weapons and then at the most advanced stages, training in hand-to-hand combat. Watching the performance reminded Chad of his years in Tai-kwon-do as a child (minus the swords and fire jumping).

Jeep Rollercoaster

The next morning we slept through our 4:50 am wake-up call and were late for our pick up to head out to the Periyar wildlife sanctuary. This is one of the biggest wildlife reserves in India. It is home to Indian elephants, wild boars, lion-tailed monkeys, ibex, tigers, leopards and sloth bears. The sanctuary is also rich in bird life there are great hornbills, kites, darters, herons, egrets, owls and kingfishers. At least this is what all of the brochures say. Despite the long drive to get there in near freezing temperatures (seriously it wasn’t much warmer than 5 degrees and we were in shorts) at the break of dawn, we managed to see a total of two giant squirrels, two bison from a distance of over 500m and three packs of monkeys. Our guide told us that the reserve has around 1000 elephants and 44 tigers. However, they only see elephants 3-4 times a week and in 5 years he has only seen a tiger from a distance 5 times. We are not surprised after all it’s not a Zoo to watch animals but rather a place for them to live a decent life not hounded by humans. Surrounding the reserve are many small spice plantations and we spent an absorbing afternoon searching for pepper, cardamom, turmeric, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and betel. The day wasn’t a waste, the 9km hike through the jungle was a great reminder of how much we both really appreciate nature and exercise, both of which we’ve been lacking lately. After the reserve we went back to the hotel to relax and attempt to coax the kittens from their hole. There were two kittens and their momma who were living beside our door. After the two days of troubling the kittens they got us back! They woke us in the middle of the night playing with Chad’s socks that were hanging on a chair drying; but they were too cute to be mad at!

Relaxing on the houseboat

We were set for our last adventure in India, a houseboat trip down the Periyar river from Kumarokom to Alleppy. What we didn't read in the details of the trip itinerary was that we would have to drive almost 5 hours from Thekkady in order to reach the boat. Coming down the mountain through the switchbacks was an adventure in not trying to throw up in the car.

Sunset on Thekkaddy houseboat

When we finally pulled up to the dock to see a 40 foot boat waiting for us we knew we would have a great night. Turns out we’d be cruising in style …we had the whole boat to ourselves, including a staff of three. On the cruise down the backwaters we caught a glimpse of the rural life, farmers working in rice paddies and people taking their evening bath in the river in front of their house. The cook on the boat made us a traditional Kerela dinner, there was so much food! We enjoyed Valentine’s Day with a beautiful sunset and nothing but the sound of nature. This was our last night in India and it ended very sweetly. The next morning we were leaving India and starting our tour of Jordan.

Goodbye from India

Thekkadi ... jungle trecking and backwater crusing

Thekkadi, India