We had been hoping to catch a dance program in Kerala while we were there and especially because it was Onam. But we asked several hotel staff and they didn't know of anything going on while we were there. But one night on the way back to our room we heard some drumming so we decided to investigate. We found this program on the hotel grounds. It was very cool. We wondered why everyone around had badges and then realised after it ended that the perfomance was being continued inside and was only open to delegates of a convention going on. We asked if we could go in and were intially told no but on our way out were approached by someone else offering to escort us inside. So we got special access that no other guest at the hotel had other than delegates of this convention. It was kind of funny because we were told to sit in the back (which was fine!) but everyone was dressed up and we had just gotten back from a day of hiking and still had our rain jackets and backpack along. Plus then some photographer guy needed to get his shot of the sole white guy in the room.

 
 
 
This thing creeped me out.
 

Kerala

We took a long-weekend getaway to Kerala at the southern tip of India, and it was amazing! It was a drastic change from the hustle, bustle, pollution and heat of Delhi. Kerala proved to be the laid-back, scenic and cool respite that we desperate needed. It was very hard to come back to Delhi.

We stayed in a hotel with an ocean view, as this was our reward for making it through our first two months in Delhi and a belated anniversary celebration (our actual anniversary was the week of our move, so it was very stressful and hectic).

 
Dan enjoying his morning tea on our porch.
 
 

The hotel pool had a great view of the ocean.
 

We spent part of an afternoon wandering the downtown area of Thiruvanathapuram (Trivandrum for short), which is the state's capital. The main attraction for going to Kerala when we did was because 1) it's the offseason due to the monsoon and hotel rates were a steal, and 2) the biggest festival of the year was going on. It's called Onam.

Little did we know that most of the Onam festivities begin on a certain day during the 10-day celelbration. And this day was the day after we left! Oh well, we still got to experience a lot of Onam festivities. For example, the city was jam packed with people doing their Onam shopping. The festival has been celebrated by all religions (there are lots of Indian Christians in Kerala, and some Muslims too) as the return of a king from battle long ago. It celebrates new beginnings so everyone wears new clothes and buys goodies for their family. People were in very happy spirits, but we couldn't figure out if that was because of the festival or because Kerala is just much happier than Delhi.

This is a 1000+ year old temple devoted to Shiva. Unfortunately for us women had to wear saris to get in and you had to be Hindu. So neither of us were fit to go in, but did not feel so much like rejects because it was closed anyway.
 
 
 
Our driver/tour guide led us around the city and pointed out this 1000+ year old clock that was built around teak wood and is supposedly the same one installed when it was originally built. He was very proud that it was still working, and he almost forced us to take a picture. So we did. But I (Pooja) really hate it when people tell me to do something. So I post the photo not because I think it's impressive (because I am very skeptical that it's the same clock), but because I wanted to share the story :).
 

Here's one of Kerala's many churches. This one is much more gothic looking than the others we've seen. The photo was taken hastily because the driver practically stopped in the middle of the road for this photo while we ran out because it was too crowded to park anywhere.
 

It is said that you can't visit Kerala and NOT go on a backwater tour. We are so glad we did. It was so nice! Along the way we got to see locals fishing in the water, playing, washing their clothes and some even bathing.
 
 
 

 

We must have seen a dozen varities of birds! I think Dan took at least 10 photos of each!
 

The backwaters we were on led us to the Arabian Sea right on the other side of this beach.
 
Houseboats! How lovely to be able to stay in one of those. Someday. We saw many local boaters using a very long stick to paddle the boat. Basically, the stick is so long it reaches the bottom of the water so they can push off. It looked very tiring but I'm sure their upper body strength is unrivaled. I just wanted to go out and buy a bunch of oars and hand thenm out like candy to see if they wanted to use something a bit easier.

 

This guy definitely needs a break from "paddling"
 
More Christian influences (so novel to see so many in India since I've mainly been in parts of the North India where they are not that common)
 
 
Fisherman taking a different approach to fishing (i.e. one guy goes under the water and apparently hunts them while a guy stays up to top get ready for his partner's catch?)
 

 
Apparently Kerala means land of coconuts. So we were obliged to drink coconut water (straight from the coconut!)0. Even though Pooja hates all things coconut except for the chutney, the water was actually quite refresing. It was fun and a bit nerve-racking to watch our boat guide cut the coconut with that big knife.
 
Once you finish drinking the water, you can use part of the coconut as a spoon to eat the inside. What a practical item. Coconut is also used for medicinal purposes and hair oil (to keep it looking black, and it appears to work as most Keralans have stark black hair).
 
 

 
 
 
 

More churches!
 
After many year rivalry between Pooja and Banana, a truce was made. We had fresh banana chips from a shop in Trivandrum and they were so yummy. They had different flavours. The best ones were the masala banana chips. The sweet ones were not bad, but the plain ones were just blah.
 
How could you not photograph a giant sumo wrestler cutout next to a huge lot of toilets?
 
This is what we look like when we get up in the morning.
 

These are still backwater photos!

 
 
 
 

Kerala - Day 2

Day 2 was an especially nice break from Delhi because we went to a remote hill station (i.e. village). We got to see scenery and nature on the way. Imagine that. Can't see that in Delhi.
 
 
Who knew ginger plants looked like this? At least our driver claimed it was ginger...
 
Pooja had to get wet on the hike we went on. Yes, we got to go hiking in an Indian jungle!!