Last stop on the South India tour was a small town in Kerala where we could visit the famous backwaters.
If you look at a map of Kerala, you can see lots of freshwater lakes just inland from the sea. A lot of the area is below sea level and carefully managed by the local farmers using canals and water pumps. It's also very picturesque.
We stayed in an old house that was 130 years old or so, and really quite beautiful inside.
We had a boat and walking tour around some of the local canals. Quite tranquil and lots to take photos of.
This lovely Brhaminy Kite has unfortunately had it's wings clipped or something. Several of the shops along the canals get themselves kites outside their shops to entice customers and tourists. I am really not too happy about this sort of practice and didn't spend any money in the shop, but getting some close-ups of the kite was too much of a draw!
Most of all the people living here wash their clothes on a stone by the canal rather than washing machines. According to Sanna, they believe hand washing like this will get the clothes cleaner than the machine.
After the backwaters it was back to Kochi and the end of our tour. It has been a quick 2 weeks, but pretty darn good. We were all a little worried at there being only 3 of us on the trip, but Sanna said that as we all got on well it made the trip far more relaxed. She didn't have to work to get everyone's attention for organizational things, it was simple to get into restaurants, and very easy to count us to see if anyone was missing!
Next I was scheduled to fly south to Kovalam, near the tip of India, for a short week's rest before the final 2 week tour from Delhi to Kathmandu. It's another of these posh 5 star places, and while I had some plans to go and visit the tip and a local national park, I have instead been extraordinarily lazy and instead spent the week by the pool, chilling in my room, blogging, and watching Netflix.
I did go for a walk down by the lagoon where they have a great variety of birdlife and really enjoyed being able to take the time to get some photos rather than being 'on the clock' as I usually am on the tours.
View from the restaurant. Gorgeous evening and monsoon rain.
Tomorrow I head to Delhi and I'm actually caught up with my blogging! (Well, apart from the entire month of South East Asia!)
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| Water hyacinth gone mad - a real problem for the area |
We stayed in an old house that was 130 years old or so, and really quite beautiful inside.
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| My room for the night. Discovered a leak in the roof! |
We had a boat and walking tour around some of the local canals. Quite tranquil and lots to take photos of.
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| 'House boats' you can hire on the backwater |
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| Domestic canal with houses on each side |
This lovely Brhaminy Kite has unfortunately had it's wings clipped or something. Several of the shops along the canals get themselves kites outside their shops to entice customers and tourists. I am really not too happy about this sort of practice and didn't spend any money in the shop, but getting some close-ups of the kite was too much of a draw!
Most of all the people living here wash their clothes on a stone by the canal rather than washing machines. According to Sanna, they believe hand washing like this will get the clothes cleaner than the machine.
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| Rice fields now flooded (deliberately) to let them recover |
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| I've forgotten what this was. |
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| Height difference between the canals (sea level-ish) and the fields |
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| White collared Kingfisher |
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| Egrets? |
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| Many Great Egrets in the fields |
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| Weaver bird nests |
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| Even more Great Egrets in the fields. |
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| Warning: Low Bridge |
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| Indian Pond Heron |
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| Table / fish tank. Think this is a cool idea! |
After the backwaters it was back to Kochi and the end of our tour. It has been a quick 2 weeks, but pretty darn good. We were all a little worried at there being only 3 of us on the trip, but Sanna said that as we all got on well it made the trip far more relaxed. She didn't have to work to get everyone's attention for organizational things, it was simple to get into restaurants, and very easy to count us to see if anyone was missing!
Next I was scheduled to fly south to Kovalam, near the tip of India, for a short week's rest before the final 2 week tour from Delhi to Kathmandu. It's another of these posh 5 star places, and while I had some plans to go and visit the tip and a local national park, I have instead been extraordinarily lazy and instead spent the week by the pool, chilling in my room, blogging, and watching Netflix.
I did go for a walk down by the lagoon where they have a great variety of birdlife and really enjoyed being able to take the time to get some photos rather than being 'on the clock' as I usually am on the tours.
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| One of those was my house! |
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| Oriental Darter |
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| 3 Darters |
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| Black Kite |
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| Pond skaters, lots of them |
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| Black kite, eating what he caught! |
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| Black kite fishing! |
View from the restaurant. Gorgeous evening and monsoon rain.
Tomorrow I head to Delhi and I'm actually caught up with my blogging! (Well, apart from the entire month of South East Asia!)
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