Today is Thursday, I had my steroid injections on Wednesday morning and today I fell great! I have energy and can enjoy myself again.
Fly into Kochi. Stayed at Villa Romantica. Very nice, even went for a swim after arrival at 11pm
After a healthy breakfast of fresh fruit, eggs and dosa (Indian fare) we drove to visit Athirpally waterfalls, one of the best waterfalls in India and one of the most famous tourist destinations in Kerala.
It was raining. Lots of water.
Look I am holding my umbrella with my right arm! Went swimming again in the morning. After visiting the waterfalls we drove about 3 hours to the backwaters. Driving is as crazy here as in Delhi. I find it even worse as there is more open space and it is ALL filed with billboards obliterating the scenery. It's so intrusive. We then took a turn off the main road and spent another 1/2 hour on narrow roads filled with crazy Indian drivers.
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| Lakesong |
Lakesong is great. The grounds, accommodations, service and location, right on the lake removed from the "outside world".Food OK, not great.
Kerala is known for its ayurvedic massage, had to try it!
Long strokes then steam bath very relaxing. One lays down on a hard teak table, no towels and lots of oil. Entire body. It was difficult to move as you would just slip in all the oil. Coconut oil is used. The smell was unusual, a bit like thyme but then they told me its coconut. There are plenty of coconuts here. When I think of Kerala I will associate it with coconut oil (not a pleasant memory). Even after my shower I still felt the smell was on me.
Houseboat tour.
Wow! We are treated like royalty. The houseboat only sleeps four, for the four of us. Nice lounge chairs complete with foot stools. Hop on boat at noon right from the resort. Yea, no driving today. Lunch at 1:30. We stopped on the side of the canal for lunch. It was good. Two kinds of rice. The rice in Kerala is big thick rice. Had fish, cabbage, beans, two chutneys, poppas, and of course dal. Very good.
Just sitting here doing nothing! Melinda and Kristin downstairs and Vishwa and I are up top. No need to sit with them as they are very poor conversationalists. Vishwa and I do very well together easy conversation. I am having trouble with the formatting of the pictures and text. My apologies, but thought the pictures help describe the trip.
Our private houseboat. Sleeps four.
We are sitting upstairs and I start smelling the coconut oil again. I thought it was me but then realized it was dinner being cooked. Guess what oil they use? Yup, coconut! The good thing was that it wasn't me who smelled. Lunch was very good but then dinner, all the same tastes. Coconut oil. I have had enough of that.
Lotus Flowers
Sunset on Lake Vembanad in Kumarakom
Wake up time at 6:30am as air conditioner is turned off. Ok let's go! Went for a nice brisk morning walk as we had about 1/2 hour before we departed. Rice fields. Lots of old people. Men here were a towel wrapped up as a skirt, never seen that style before. The look of the south Indian are quite different. Most of the men have mustaches and chubby cheeks.
People using the canals for all their cleaning chores. Kids playing in the water. Simple life, I think. The language is different than in Delhi so Vishwa cannot communicate in Hindi.
When the boat was approaching the end we were given a sudden jolt. We
crashed into another boat! The engine didn't start. Now I don't know if there
was a problem with the engine that caused us to crash or after the collision.
Minor damage to our boat, but the other one had the deck wood damaged. Everyone
was very calm, no yelling. We were then taken by a row boat to the end.
Excitement!!
Another good trip away from Delhi.
very cool houseboat!
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