Traveling Through the South

The past week had been a world wind of travel. Flying from Bombay to Trivandrum was fun. There we (my parents, their friend Lenny, and I) visited the famous Shiva temple and the palace there, while trying to brave the heat of the south. From there it was a fun trip by car to the backwaters of Kerala for a houseboat experience. We were greeted at the boat with coconuts (filled with wonderful coconut water) and took off for the smaller canals in our slightly smaller boat (two bedrooms only and no pool or rooftop seating area- yes some of these boats have pools on top which is crazy). The food on the boat, cooked by the three man crew, was incredible and contained fresh local vegetables, fish and prawns. Although we were hit by some hard rain for about an hour of our trip, we had a great time being wined and dined while watching the beautiful scenery, villages and people go by.

After the houseboat it was off to Cochin were we ate more great fish and prawns, watched the Chinese fishing nets, visited the Synagogue, palace, spice market, and beautiful old buildings of Fort Cochin (old Cochin). We also ate at the highly recommended Dal Roti restaurant, which I highly recommend to anyone heading that way.

Then it was time for a 7 hour drive to Ooty, in the mountains. We traded the crazy hot weather of Kerala for the cool weather of the mountains and the views of palm trees and ocean side for mountains, tea gardens and windy roads. Which were fun to walk around, but made me a bit sick.

Now we are in Mysore for some more palace viewing, market walking and temple viewing before its back to Bombay.