The last two days of our trip around Kerala started with very early mornings! Day five began when the river taxis woke us at daybreak but it was surprisingly a pleasure to be awake at that hour! We watched egrets picking bugs off the water lilies, rover taxis picking up workers, ladies out washing their laundry on stones beside the river. men either having a wash in the river or fishing and children heading off to school on their bikes. All before 7am!!
Graham was allowed, albeit briefly, to take over the helm as Captain, whilst the river was quiet. It made his day!!
After another sumptuous meal (breakfast), we headed back to base and disembarked, sad to leave the houseboat and promising that if we ever returned to Kerala, we’d stay longer and explore more.
Our next and final stop was Cochin, in the magnificent Crowne Plaza Hotel overlooking the Thevara Canal. We were on the 9th floor so had amazing views over the city as well as being able to watch the wheeling Kites that were right outside our window!
After checking in, David and Graham were taken by Jo our driver to look at Chinese style fishing nets and a quick tour of the local area.
Diane and I were far more interested in a decent coffee and slice of cake, followed by an invigorating massage in the hotel’s spa, both amazingly good! Suitably chilled and relaxed, we all headed to the Hotel’s rooftop bar for drinks and dinner before a 3am wakeup call!
Dinner was lovely, continental meals without spices!
The only downside to Kerala was the fact that food was Extra Spicy compared to Goa, even “no spice” was full of garlic and ginger so one or two of us suffered a little with digestive issues 😀. Drinks were pricey when you could purchase them. As it’s primarily a dry state, little or no alcohol is sold in local restaurants and there are no bars but a limited amount can be purchased from Government outlets, or in restaurants catering for Westerners.
Our 3.30am alarms went off, we dragged ourselves out of bed, checked out and collected our “breakfast takeaway bags” – fruit juice, an apple and a coleslaw sandwich, all promptly went in a bin!! An hour later we were deposited at the airport, said our goodbyes to our funny driver Jo, snoozed on the comfortable chairs for two hours before boarding our flight back to Goa. By midday, we’d returned to our apartments, offloaded bags, been out for breakfast and were heading back to bed for a few hours sleep – tired, happy, relaxed and in total awe of the sights and sounds of beautiful Kerala! 😍
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