4 holidays. Well, Friday technically was not, but I took an off to travel.
DAY 1 : 17th September, 2015
I took the train from Bangalore to Kozhikode. It was raining when I woke up at the station, rather luckily woke up only to ask the next person in my sleep, "last station kozhikode?" He said something else. I asked, "Kozhikode?" He said, "this one".
I stopped at the beach, after walking on a long stone path, and sat there experiencing silence, peace and ocean.
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| The Long Stone path going into the ocean away from the honks of the city. |
On my way back, it was sunny and it won't be an exaggeration to say that diamonds were sparkling on the black stones, so much that it was all sparkly.
I must say, Kerala people are rather nice just like the Kannads. I was offered 2 juices for the price of 1 at the shop near the bus stand. Anyways, I took the bus to Kochi which dropped me at Ernakulam South Junction KSRTC bus stand at 11. I ate some food and befriended that person, who advised me the location of some cheap lodges near the station. I spent my night at a lodge nearby.
DAY 2 : 18th September, 2015
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| Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica Church |
I went to travel around Fort Kochi in the morning. It was a hot noon, so I rested in the famous Basilica Church for a while and later, took a ferry to Vypin and then a bus to Kuzhupilly Beach (not sure how is it pronounced).
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| Fort Kochi shore; you get a ferry to Vypin from here. |
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| On the way to Kuzhupilly Beach |
I walked on the beach for a long time (~5kms) and reached Cherai beach. It was a peaceful, heavenly beach. Gosh, I missed a puff of hash, the place was so beautiful.
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| The Beautiful Peaceful Cherai Beach |
I took a bus further towards Munambam. There were fishing boats there, but not much else to see. Around 4pm, I took a bus back to Ernakulam.
I packed from the night's lodge, rocked and rolled to Fort Kochi, reached Vedanta Wake Up and checked into a rather good Rs.350 per night AC Hostel. Awesome ! :-)
DAY 3 : 19th September, 2015
I woke up at 8:30 the next day, undecided as to whether I should rest or go out. It was sunny. I am glad I went to Alappuzha. I took the yellow and black bus from Thoppumpady bridge. Local people, especially the conductors helped and landed at Alappuzha bus stand. The boat houses caught my eye and I negotiated with them a little for a tour of the backwaters. The guy was good at negotiating and advised me not to go to the beach at noon, but to instead go to the backwaters. I finally fell prey to Rs. 300 per hour, Rs. 500 for two, and Rs. 750 for three hours of backwater travel.
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| Kerala Backwaters were amazingly beautiful. India is beautiful. :-) |
I went to check out the backwaters. Although I had thought that I'd be done in an hour, I ended up staying three hours on the water. The backwaters of Kerala were huge and amazingly beautiful. It started raining mid way, so I took my t shirt off and stood there enjoying the rain on my personal boat in middle of the backwaters. It felt really good!
The boat owner, Manoj (9048569581), took me to a local person who offered us local tasty fish meals thali. I was hungry since morning and it was delicious. I loved it! Manoj took me till Kainakary only and not till Kumarakom, but there were very less ferries which took people till Kainakary. He dropped me near the start point from where I took the bus to beach. I bid adieu to Manoj at the end of our 3-hour deal. :-)
The Alleppey Beach was nice but Cherai was better. So, I didn't stay long and came back to Fort Kochi where it was pouring heavily. I checked out another Hostel in that area - The Happy Camper (450 per night). It looked better than Vedanta. I was tired and slept nicely.
DAY 4 : 20th September, 2015
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| An Indian Navy Ship |
The last day of my trip. Four days ago, I didn't know what would I do for four days and today, it is the last day and I am still amazed by the peace and travel friendliness Kochi has to offer.
I took a ferry and then a bus to Cherai Beach. I walked on the stone wall by the beach to enter the only restaurant that had its entrance from the sea and not from the road. I think the name was ChillOut Cafe. I sat there for a while, ordered my breakfast and before leaving, how could I not, how could I not go into the water?
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| Cherai Beach from ChillOut Cafe; Click to See Original image |
Ohh man, I Love India !! The rest can not be explained in words, one has to experience that bath in the ocean.
I checked out from Vedanta Wake Up later, and took my train to Bangalore from Ernakulam South Juntion. The 4d/5n trip costed me around 4300 bucks, though I could have saved some more money.
