Dicky Tummies and Bourbon Biscuits

Trip Start Dec 26, 2008
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Trip End Feb 06, 2009


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Where I stayed
Ashley Bungalow
(Kovalam hotels)

Flag of India  , Kerala,
Wednesday, January 7, 2009

What I didn't know about Kerala before arriving was that it's a communist state.  This became apparent on the drive from Cochin to Kuttikanem where where we wound through streets of beautiful houses, well kept and well tended; through every village and town that we travelled, we saw scores of schoolchildren, all in beautifully presented school uniforms; there was very little sign of the abject poverty that we had witnessed in Mumbai and Baroda.  The guide in Cochin advised that Kerala is proud to boast a 98% literacy rate, the highest in India.   I'm ignorant as to the extent of the communist government here, but there is definitely a noticable difference in.....well, just about everything.  It seems to be a wealthy state, with a much lesser gap between rich and poor.

The drive took four hours and we wound our way through villages and towns, up and up and up in to the hills.  Fortunately, we had many, many packets of Bourbon biscuits to keep us happy - one of Ted's new favorites, apparently, given the way he was devouring them.  Our destination, a tea plantation in Kuttikanam.  Most tourists head to Munnar, but the given our limited time, we opted for something a bit more off the beaten track, but more easily accessible for the rest of our schedule.

Finally - and thank god for a/c buses - Salven, our driver, navigated his was through the estate and deposited us safely outside the bungalow. For once, we were all silenced as it was......beautiful.  Nestled away right in the middle of thousands and thousands of tea bushes, the bungalow sprawled across the top of the hill, overlooking it's land.  There was barely a sound to be heard, except the chirping of birds - a welcome respite after the noise and liveliness of Goa.  The bungalow seemed to go on and on and on, as Panaswamy, our host for the next couple of nights, showed us around.   The plantation used to be owned by a British family, and the British heritage was evident everywhere.  You could just imagine them, swanning around their property, having dinner in the elegant dining room, gin & tonics by the fire or on the terrace.  Definitely a memorial to times gone by.

We quickly settled in and went for a wander around the immediate grounds.  The views across the valley went on and on, and  there were tea bushes as far as the eye could see.  Tea which we sampled quite readily just a few moments later, accompanied - of course - by the Bourbons.

Panaswamy cooked up a wonderful feast for us on our first night, all home made, 'unspicy' Indian food.  Unspicy was key as several of our party - myself included - were still suffering from dicky tummies.  It was - and is - to be a theme of the trip, and I guess not completely unexpected given our location.  Yes, we've been talking about bowel movements a lot - enough to keep a Brit very very happy!

A vigourous game or two of cards followed (yes, MF, I actually voluntarily played cards!!!!!!) after the brief power cut (it went out at 8pm each night and came back on at 8.30) before we retired for an early night - apart from being disturbed by what we concluded were monkeys, banging and pulling on the doors.  The boys were not worried at all; the girls were convinced we were about to be murdered in our beds.  As I sit here now, you can tell who was correct :-)
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