Washing your sacred cow

So I feel obliged to start with this. Before we even start talking about houseboats, this is one of the first things I saw from the water.

Houseboats have become very popular in Kerala and there is somewhat of a backlash against them that is starting to grow. The reason for that is they dump all their waste into the waters. So these pristine backwaters are no longer pristine. They are filled with a certain about of oil and diesel and (at least I assume) whatever you flush down the toilet. So I though this scene was quite humorous. I’ve never washed a cow before – but I think it may be better to use clean water.

Day Boat

One option that some people consider is taking a day boat. This will give you the same views of the backwater during the day time and they cause less pollution to the environment. I was also told that they cost a lot less (which makes sense) but since I had purchases a package in Kerala I cannot tell you what my houseboat actually cost by itself.

Overnight cruise

Now I did find the overnight cruise to be very relaxing. I am certain that this is the most relaxing experience I have had in India so far. You board the boat around noon or 1pm and they said around for about an hour and then they dock somewhere to serve you lunch. After that they cruise around until close to sunset and then they dock the boat.

The boat is not allowed to sail overnight and fishermen lay their nets and they don’t want passing watercraft to drive through them.

You sleep on the boat. It was fairly comfortable, but quite basic. It had A/C but it did not work that well. Even so there was a nice breeze from a fan and I slept well.

So I woke up this morning to what seems to be a common sight of a hot air ballon. I don’t know what they cost or who operates them but they do seem to be popular. They look very pretty in the morning and evening times.

The national park

Eravikulam National Park is about one hour North of Munnar and is a fairly easy (if crowded) drive. Parking was a nightmare – but that is the nice thing about having a driver in India – he went to park the car while I went to the ticket office.

The fee to enter is quite a bit higher for foreigners than for locals. At Rp. 480 it’s one of the more expensive attractions around Munnar. But the views are really nice.

You cannot take private cars to the top, you have to take a park bus. This is an experience in itself. As you may have heard, Indian drivers like to use their horns. But I see no point at using horns when you have just one road and all the traffic is park traffic.

However, each driver seems to be trying to race the other drivers up the mountain to the top and hoking at each other along the way. It was almost like a carnival ride. I would suggest a light breakfast.

Mountain goats

Officially called the Nilgiri Tahr, this mountain goat is found in the park. You are very likely to see it, but as signs warn, you should not touch it. There are also a lot of other signs in the park such as not showing your rubbish in the bushes and no public urination. There is just no fun to be had here 🙂

The hike

From where the bus drops you off there is a little snack stand (they have good tea) and in information centre. You need to show your ticket to start the hike. After that you can only hike about 1km (although it is fairly steep). It’s a pleasant hike and you are very likely to see the lovely goat.

Hill Station

Munnar is a hill station that is about 4 hours away from Kochi – and it seems REALLY popular around Christmas time, especially with other domestic tourists. I have seen some foreigners, but the majority of people here are Indian.

Nature

One of the top reasons to visit Munnar is to see nature. It’s very hilly up here and there are lots of tea plantations. On the way to Munnar you can stop and see waterfalls as well as quite elaborate bridges that were constructed by the British a long time ago.

Tea

Since there are so many tea plantations here I wanted to go and see a working factory. One of the best bets seems to be to go to the TATA Tea Museum. It has a small working factory at the back and a short film talking about the history of Munnar and how tea plantations started here.

Of course after the tea museum I had to buy some tea to take back home. You can buy either loose tea or tea bags and they also have a choice of black or green tea.

Hiking

One of the other things that I love about hilly areas is the opportunity to go trekking. Since the tea plantations are private property, to go trekking you need a guide. It may be a bit of a cash grab but that seems to be the way it is around here. You can find day hikes and multi-day hikes.

There was a bit of low cloud, but it was still a great hike to walk among the tea plantations and up the side of one of the mountains.