Pictures I took in Kerala

I have posted all of my pictures that I took while on my holidays.  I have put them under Flickr.  I have not bothered to put descriptions on them and they are not even in order, but if you are interested in looking at some more pictures, feel free.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/runnerreynolds/

Home in Vancouver

Made it back to Vancouver safe and sound, even a little early.  Marco was there at the airport waiting and before I knew it I was home!  Yeah!   Managed to stay awake to go down and do a short run with PRR.  By the time I got back from that I had been up for 48 hours with about maybe an hour of sleep in there all together.    It was so great to be outside in about 12 degrees today - no more 30 degrees days until late July, I hope!

I want to show some pictures of my tour of Kerala, so here are some of my better ones....

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Almost Home

Am currently at the Hong Kong Airport and just about to board the plane home.  I left Kochin about 20 hours ago and still have about 14 hours to go....

Am really looking forward to getting home and seeing Marco and Penny and of course running again!

Have swam everyday for the past 9 days, but looking forward to running in the rain.

Kerala - final days

My last few days will be spent at a beach resort near Alleppey.  I am at a beach called Marari at a decent resort with not much to do other than try to stay cool and read and swim.  It is very hot here and I went for a hour walk this morning and came back drenched.  The pool is lovely, but the water temperature has to be about 30 degrees C - just slightly cooler than the air temps.  Have been swimming lots, but I now miss the days when I first arrived at Bangalore and the swimming pool was about 17 degrees! I am reluctant to swim in the ocean as I was told that it is not a very good idea as the local fisher men use the beach for cleaning fish and their own personal outhouse.  On the upside, I am getting a really nice tan and am totally relaxed.  It is going to be difficult to come back to work mode in one week!

The house boat was nice, but very over priced.  It was called deluxe, but maybe by India standards it was.  The lake did not look clean enough to swim in, but the breeze off the water was great and to top it off had another great lightniing show. Couldn't stay outside and watch all of it as the mosquitos came out and tried to eat me alive!  It was the worst I had seen them since I got to India.   Thank goodness I have been religiouly taking my malaria pills.  Got some good picutres though and thought I might be able to load them up here on this hotel lap top, but to no avail.  You will just have to wait until I get back to Vancouver!

Kerala, middle of trip

Well, I have left the Tea plantations - saddly.  I really loved being in the hills and the orderliness of the tea plantations.
Have gone through the rubber tree plantations and the many other spices that are grown in the hills,  Have come down a lot in altitude and into much warmer temperatures.  Am currently sitting by a large lake - Vembanad and will be travelling on in tomorrow via house boat.  I will have to see if I go insane or not just sitting on a boat for 24 hours.  Still have books to read, and I hope if the water looks clean enough, I will get to jump in the lake to go for a swim....

BTW did not get to see any tigers, but not too disapointed as I did see some when I first arrived in India.  Did see some great views of the valleys and even better -  got to see a spectaculare lightning show last night.  It lit up the whole sky and seemed to go on for ever!

Still unable to post any pictures, so can't show you how beautiful it has been, but will do so as soon as I can!

Kerala vacation - first few days

A quick update on my first few days of my vacation.  I flew Thursday morning to Kochin, which I think is the biggest city in the state.  I was met by my driver and a representative from the company who arranged my tour.  Was taken to my hotel and settled in and then went for a quick walk around the area before I was to be taken around sight seeing.  I was in heaven right away as I was able to just walk out of my hotel and wander around.  There were even side walks!

My driver then took me to some touristy areas over in Fort Kocin.  walked around the shops and then the beaches and watched some of the fishermen and then I went to a traditional dance...  It was interesting, but not something I normally would have gone to.

The next morning after breakfast was a drive to Munnar.  Being Easter Friday there was very little traffic on the roads and what normally takes about 5 or 6 hours, took just over 3.  It was a great drive as we left the city and started climbing the hills.  We got up into the tea plantations and I just loved it!  The tea plantations are just beautfiul, green organized farms that I wish I could show you pictures of.  Once I am able to post some pictures, you will see how amazing it is.  Munnar is not very big, and my hotel was about 10K out of town up in the hills overlooking a very large valley.  To top it all off, I was provided a very impressive lightning show last night!  Managed a little run and walked a ton and just enjoyed being in the clean air.

This morning we left the tea plantations and are now in Periyar.  Actually that is the name of the lake and animal reserve and I already forget the name of the town.  I am in a very nice hotel, but am in town and don't have a spectacular view this time.  Will be going for a hike in the nature reserve tomorrow and will let you know if I see any tigers!

On Vacation

Today was my last day at work, and as is tradition for the the last day for the Canadian trainers, the gang gave me an Indian outfit as a going away gift.  My responsibility was to buy them all ice cream and pizza this afternoon.  I must admit I am a little sad to say good bye and will miss working with them on a daily basis.

But the good news is that now I have 12 days of vacation to spend looking around India before coming home.  I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do and where to go for my India vacation. India is so big and 12 days is not really a lot of time. It is like coming to Canada and trying to see as much of the country as you can in 12 days. Hard to do without flying a lot and not really seeing anything in depth. So in the end I decided to concentrate on one area. The state is called Kerala and it is south of Bangalore. Kerala has become quite a tourist destination because of its natural beauty. Lots of beaches, rivers, hill stations and farmland. I wanted to stay away from big cities and was not that interested in seeing temples or even the Taj Mahal.  I am getting a little flak about not going to see the Taj Mahal, but really, I think I can live my life without seeing it. It is good to hear that there is a lot of the Indian population that has never been.  Oddly enough it is not as hot in this area as it would be if I went North towards Delhi, but it is still going to be plenty warm enough.

 

I am looking forward to my holiday, but am also really looking forward to coming home.