17th of January 2011
HOTEL IN KOLLAM: Valiyavila Homestay
This is ‘in my opinion’ the most beautiful room and accommodation we had so far, and surely not the most expensive ... but yes, very hard to reach. The Homestay is located at the tip of an Island and from our rooms (I reckon we got the best rooms in the hotel), we have a 270C view over the backwaters, hammocks in front of the private patios’ dining areas, wooden furniture set out nicely in mega spacious rooms. The two rooms are interconnected by a bathroom in the middle with a French Bidet (I don’t remember last time I saw one!). The hotel also features a huge 20m or so statue of liberty – Indian statue of liberty because she displays very generous rounded breasts like you can often see on temple carvings L
At 2.00pm, we reached the DTPV Official Kerala Tourism Tour to have a comment on the backwaters village life. It was highly instructive. We saw coconut oil processing, coconut fibre processing and Oscar even had a go at ‘wheeling’ Ghandi’s way! Paul and I were the only ones risking the chai tea in a local Dhaba, well, we are not sick! and we were rewarded by the owner showing us how to chew betel leaves – though we did not chew them.
We also bought some red bananas – the best ever !!!! I call them ‘superior variety’ one thousand times over the Qld lady fingers even! The children were able to drink the juice of fresh coconut and made a spoon out of the coconut to extract some of the fresh pulp after drinking.
We also bought some red bananas – the best ever !!!! I call them ‘superior variety’ one thousand times over the Qld lady fingers even! The children were able to drink the juice of fresh coconut and made a spoon out of the coconut to extract some of the fresh pulp after drinking.
We also saw fish farms, prawn farms, and paddy fields. The people there seem to live very self sufficiently. They all seem to own a few chicken, ducks, goats and small cows.
In that tour, we met an incredible woman from New Zealand who had covered 700kms on her bike from Chennai, with peaks of up to 97kms per day. She explained you have to understand the strict traffic rules. She could boast about - in her blog crazyguysonabike.com - overtaking an elephant with her bike. She said she now felt safer on her bike in India than in Auckland. Hum...
I am now writing this blog from the best ever possible setting, on a little table (with a beautiful tablecloth) in front of my magnificent room overlooking the Statue of Liberty of Valiyavila Homestay, listening to the gentle water movements (backwaters) with stunning coconut sceneries all around; Oscar is fishing out of a little wooden fishing rod that a taxi driver who was standing in front of the hotel made for him out of a hook he happened to have in his glove compartment !!! Paul is reading his ebook and quick, food is coming for lunch, we are leaving in 30ms for Trivandrum/Kovalam – last stop!
Kovalam Beach - Beach Hotel II
18th of January 2011
What a nice surprise !
As we were walking on the beach with our bags in order to find our hotel, Josie said : 'Maman, thank you, thank you for taking me to this place !'
Kovalam Beach had changed a lot over the years.
Last time I stopped over here was 'on my way to migrate to Australia, some 18 years ago, or so' - it was my stop over between France and Australia, just like on this occasion. Many new hotels had sprung, it is not so much a backpacking hangout anymore The clientele is more mixed, Indian and Westerners all enjoying the place's natural beauty.
Beach Hotel II is a winner, right on the beach, 50 m from the lighthouse walk, sea views, very tastefully furbished, and a cafe-restaurant on a terrace overlooking the Arabian Sea.
Breakfasts to die for included in the bill - Indian and western style - whatever you feel like !
We knew it was our last stop, so we gave some pocket money to the kids to do their shopping - no more bags to carry along in crowded railway stations, and plenty of luggage allowance since we totalled 35k for 4 people so far.
I almost fell for a nice rock sculpture, but did not succumb. Paul liked it too, but it was quite a bit of money still.
We got some cotton spreads for the children beds at home, Oscar got some little bronze Ganesh for his mates (God of prosperity and knowledge that all taxi drivers seem to display on their dashboard); Josie had a shirt made up for her and had a henna pattern on her hand.
We indulged in sumptuous final seafood meals - fish in Malabar sauce, fish tikkas (Paul & I), calamari (Oscar). You could chose your fish on the restaurant's terrace and say how you want it to be cooked.
I had a final ajurvedic massage before the dreadful plane journey to come, and I delighted in the nice fragrances coming out of the massage oil.
Paul had a splash in the Arabian Sea (or Oman Sea) with Oscar. They were careful of the drifts. The beach was patrolled.
It was a terrific way to end the trip in such a beautiful and relatively relaxing setting. We knew though, this was not 'really' India anymore, or maybe it was a taste of 'some hybrid tourism' in the making in India. We loved it anyway.
We struck a deal with the hotel manager so that we could stay until 8.00pm in the room until the taxi could take us to the Trivandrum airport since the temperature here was quite high, and so that we could have a final refresh.
After that : Trivandrum/Singapore (4 hours flight) - 12 hours in SIN (yes, a bad connection but a cheap ticket) - Singapore/Darwin (another 4 hours) - 2 hours connection (good because the plane was delayed by 40mns) - Darwin/Brisbane (3.5 hours)
Kovalam Beach - Beach Hotel II
18th of January 2011
What a nice surprise !
As we were walking on the beach with our bags in order to find our hotel, Josie said : 'Maman, thank you, thank you for taking me to this place !'
Kovalam Beach had changed a lot over the years.
Last time I stopped over here was 'on my way to migrate to Australia, some 18 years ago, or so' - it was my stop over between France and Australia, just like on this occasion. Many new hotels had sprung, it is not so much a backpacking hangout anymore The clientele is more mixed, Indian and Westerners all enjoying the place's natural beauty.
Beach Hotel II is a winner, right on the beach, 50 m from the lighthouse walk, sea views, very tastefully furbished, and a cafe-restaurant on a terrace overlooking the Arabian Sea.
Breakfasts to die for included in the bill - Indian and western style - whatever you feel like !
We knew it was our last stop, so we gave some pocket money to the kids to do their shopping - no more bags to carry along in crowded railway stations, and plenty of luggage allowance since we totalled 35k for 4 people so far.
I almost fell for a nice rock sculpture, but did not succumb. Paul liked it too, but it was quite a bit of money still.
We got some cotton spreads for the children beds at home, Oscar got some little bronze Ganesh for his mates (God of prosperity and knowledge that all taxi drivers seem to display on their dashboard); Josie had a shirt made up for her and had a henna pattern on her hand.
We indulged in sumptuous final seafood meals - fish in Malabar sauce, fish tikkas (Paul & I), calamari (Oscar). You could chose your fish on the restaurant's terrace and say how you want it to be cooked.
I had a final ajurvedic massage before the dreadful plane journey to come, and I delighted in the nice fragrances coming out of the massage oil.
Paul had a splash in the Arabian Sea (or Oman Sea) with Oscar. They were careful of the drifts. The beach was patrolled.
It was a terrific way to end the trip in such a beautiful and relatively relaxing setting. We knew though, this was not 'really' India anymore, or maybe it was a taste of 'some hybrid tourism' in the making in India. We loved it anyway.
We struck a deal with the hotel manager so that we could stay until 8.00pm in the room until the taxi could take us to the Trivandrum airport since the temperature here was quite high, and so that we could have a final refresh.
After that : Trivandrum/Singapore (4 hours flight) - 12 hours in SIN (yes, a bad connection but a cheap ticket) - Singapore/Darwin (another 4 hours) - 2 hours connection (good because the plane was delayed by 40mns) - Darwin/Brisbane (3.5 hours)
