Ever tasted ginger coffee?? Or even dosa spring-roll?? I bet you haven’t!!! And of course I know why!! Cause you might not have …. I don’t know what but!!! Let’s see… Before we plunge into any more details, let me take you to god’s own country!! A place that is breath-takingly divine! A place that truly defines beauty!! There is so much about the place which keeps you sane! It’s not just the beauty, it’s the silence you will fall in love with. And who doesn’t want some private time alone! Truly and purely dedicated to you! And for the photographers out there, this place is just like heaven! But nothing comes close to the view that you witness with your naked eye. But it doesn’t hurt to capture a few great shots :p 😛
Now you know what I mean.
I know I can be a bit philosophical sometimes but then you are what you are! I don’t know how you seek peace, but for me definitely this is “The place”. Let’s straight away dive into the travelling details! This is not some…Forget it!! And if you are a manipalite, then you know how suffocating it becomes at times. So we all sneak out to places where we, you know what exactly we do!! So that’s what I did! Well those who can plan early, can take the rail route and those who fall into random plans and random action category can take the bus, kallada travels from T.C. So evening 6.15 you start and reaches at 7 in the morning and the rest I will leave it to you….. As far as accommodation is concerned, there are plenty of home stays, hotels available.
And what to do when you get there!! Well start with the ‘shikara’ ride through back waters! Cause that’s one of the two things to do in Alleppey. So what you are not even close to honeymoon -inggg…. Remember it’s a weekend visit 😛 you can ask the hotel staff or the homestay staff to arrange a shikara for you. It’s around 200 INR per hour. Take a ride for three hours. The view and the serenity that you witness is way away from what you imagine. The best part is the privacy. No matter whether you are five of you or just the two of you, they take you for the ride. I know you will definitely fall for the place, at least I did 😉 (wink) But what I dint like was the ginger coffee!! My gawd who drinks ginger coffee. No one right! And how on earth did that happen! Well I am a self-confessed coffee addict (truly fictional :P), well not an addicted medically , it’s just that I need a cuppa a day ? … So there goes the story, we asked the shikara person to take us to a shop where we could nibble something and drink coffee…Why coffee…Cause the place’s so calm you feel sleepy :p 😛 So he stopped the shikara in a small shop. Like a scene in a screenplay let me tell you the story!
Scene 1: Entry of a middle-aged woman
Dialogues by me and my friend: Do you serve coffee?
Lady: yeah! We do!
Us: So can we have two real strong cups of coffee and with less sugar! (we like it bitter)
Lady exits..
Few moments later, two coffee cups enter the hall!!
Us: Errr! There is something different about the coffee! Certainly has a different flavor to it!
A few moments of realization and a few more sips!!
Us: Whaaaaat! Who adds ginger in their coffee!
So there goes my experience of a ginger coffee!
Yeah after a three hour long trip through the Alleppey back waters, the journey came to an end.
So what next…We were damn hungryyyyy! Next was searching for a good place to eat! Well lumia does give you some details on the place but still we asked the residents, we talked under the scorching heat…Finally we ended up in a place called “Sisir’s palace”… And guess what the food was good..
Next what!! Well you can go to a temple and followed by the Allapuzah beach!! That’s what we did… As far as the beach is concerned, it’s a fine looking beach…. Oh yeah you can have the Allapuzah famous (I guess so, cause I saw a number of outlets) uncle john’s ice cream…Next what we did was again search for a nice place to eat! So ended up in a nice hotel! At least it looked nice! So the very next thought that follows when you go to some place nice is the food must be goooood! We ordered veg spring roll, a special”chinese gobi dish” based on what was indicated in the menu and the waiter’s take on the dish) and the third item was probably noodles. So after few moments the first order was placed in front of us! “ Spring roll”. The stuffing was OK, not even close to the spring roll that we normally eat but manageable but the trickiest part was the coating! Instead of the normal flour that is used, they used dosa as the wrap! At least change the name or so! Name it dosa spring roll or something! So that we don’t get amused or confused or furious! I don’t which is the right word to use! You got the feeling right! How it felt! Gawd! Next was the chinese special dish! In simple terms if I say it was just gobi dipped in gram flour batter and deep fired! Dude! What’s special about it! And the chinese part, ha ha ha I would say, it just eloped somewhere! Basically it was a disaster! Yeah the day came to an end! Next day we took a bumpy bus ride to Kochi which is technically 56 kms according to google maps but as it was a sunday morning the bus took about an hour to reach!
Kochi!!!
Day 2 & 3: Kochi
We rented a scooter and borrowed a map from our home stay people! So there began our exploration! It’s complete different feeling reading a map and exploring across a new place! Kochi, well they have the famous chinese nets, St. Francis church where Vasco da gama was once buried, Jewish synagogue and few museums and and Saint Cruz Basilica.. And what else yeah…the spice markets…And there’s a restaurant called “Ginger house” near the Jewish synagogue! It’s their specialty to serve the foods with a ginger twist.. By the time we reached there it was lunch time.The place is surrounded by the backwaters and very beautifully decorated…We just had the ginger tea…It was really good… What I would say rather I would call it a experience….. The food in Kochi was really great! It has a quite a number of different cuisines to offer! And make it a point to visit the Chinese fishing nets in the evening…The setting sun really throws a beautiful orange pinkish shade on the sky and the reflection on the water and the fishing nets! Altogether it’s a delight to watch!
What to shop in Kochi: Spices definitely, beaded jewelry and may be some beautiful hand-made stuffs
And fish lovers! You will have a great great time! Like I said the food that Kochi offers you is extensive and really yummmy!
Next what…We took a ferry ride to Cherai beach from Fort Kochi. It’s good… A whole different experience…The ferry carries everything from man to trucks! Cherai beach is pretty decent! The blue color of the water has always been a personal favourite.. And the last thing was Lulu mall…So my weekend trip came to an end! 3 days and two awesome places!!! Kerala is truly god’s own country! And the rest! Find it out for yourself!!!
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