Flying into Cochin in the early evening. Foggy, but you can immediately tell the climate here is much different than Hyderabad.
IndiGo has some funny looking safety guides
First meal in Cochin
Empty street at night - usually this area is filled with vendors and shoppers
The harbor still looks busy
One of the many waterfalls I saw on the drive around the region. Looks like a good place to cool off!
Nelson organized the trip for me. Thanks!
Another waterfall behind the one pictured before
Starting to see lots of farmland and palm trees
Airtel is everywhere
Scenic views like this were found throughout the trip - so gorgeous
Entering the tea estates in Munnar, where endless tea plantations are owned by Tata's tea company
Tea plants dominate the landscape
Heading towards the Eravikulam National Park in the High Ranges of the Idukki district
You take a bus up a small and windy road
And head through the Rajamallay tea estate.
At the top you're treated with more scenic landscapes
This waterfall falls over 1000ft down the mountainside
The bus drops you off at the stand below, and you can take a stroll up the road
One thing I found out is that the park holds the world's largest viable population of the endangered Nilgiri Tahr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilgiri_Tahr)
Blocking traffic
No more
Gathering tea - sorry for blurriness - taken from the bus on the way downhill
Went to a Tea Museum in Munnar - no pictures were allowed inside (we saw a demo on how they make tea, some machines used, and how the British turned the land into all these tea estates).
Nearby school - looks like it's recess time
105mm macro time
ugh picasa conversion from NEF to jpg is horrible
Next stop was a scenic lake
Which was created by this dam
Definitely a tourist trip with all the shops on the waterfront
Another lake
At Top Station, near the border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu
Actually now in Tamil Nadu - the resolution in this picture sucks, but these stairs led through plenty of fog
Foggy but very nice lookout point of the surrounding area
Time to head back up
Blue sky peaking through the clouds
One of my favorite pictures of the trip
View from our resort
That's the car we took around Kerla on the bottom left
Foods
Endless tea
Waterfalls
Nelson with our driver
In Thekkady
Streets weren't too busy in Thekkady right now
Here's where we spent the night - it wasn't very personal :p
At the Periyar tiger Reserve
We took a boat ride around the lake
Had over 30 minutes to kill before the boat left so I took some pictures
Off we go
First sign of wildlife
Not sure what Dies meant
A few school groups were on the ship next to us
Some bad German tourists were feeding the animals =(
Some Love Birds at a spice garden we visited
Spices for sale (so cheap, too!)
Pepper
At a Kalari Martial Arts show
A girl came out at the end and did some dancing too
Getting some banana chips, a local favorite
Cooking the chips in coconut oil
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
Whoosh
Throwing more in
Chicken 65 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_65
Yet another waterfall
Local market - check out all that fruit!
Houseboats on the backwaters of Kerala
Our guide told us there were >1000 houseboats operating around the backwaters
The boats passed through local homes
Bathing, washing, etc
A few boats were used as local transporation
Authentic Kerala food - the cabbage with coconut was particularly tasty
I stupidly picked it up this fallen coconut and found a zillion ants crawling around
Black Tea and French Fries for an afternoon snack
Taking his bicycle on the boat
Bathing
Waterfront churches
Surprisingly the furniture did not fall in the water
After I took his picture, this kid ran alongside the boat for a bit :)
These guys were blasting some music and partying it up
Soccer...err..football!
Time to anchor the ship as it turns to dusk
Dinner
At Alappuzha Beach - Indira Gandhi spoke from this platform many years ago
Sadly there was a lot of trash on the beach
Railroad tracks that used to run from a busy dock into town and beyond
Kids being kids
The end
