Day 30 - Kerala backwaters

This weekend, my roommates and I traveled 2 hours South to Alleppy to visit the Kerala backwaters. We rented a two bedroom houseboat and spent the night out on the water!


The Kerala backwaters are a network of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and lagoons lying parallel to the Arabian Sea coast.

Tiny villages are scattered throughout the backwaters.

A houseboat similar to ours.

This church was built on a sliver of land between two canals.

Sunset on the backwaters

Day 20 - Fort Cochin

I took the public ferry over to Fort Cochin this afternoon to check out the Chinese fishing nets. Chinese traders from the court of Kublai Khan are believed to have introduced these huge cantilevered fishing nets in the late14th century. The nets are built of teak wood and bamboo poles.

They are at least 30 ft high and twice as wide.

Fisherman lowering the net. Large stones suspended from ropes are used as counterweights.

It takes 5 or 6 men to raise the net

Day 16 - Munnar

On Sunday, we visited Kalyanamalai, home to the world's highest tea plantation. We took a jeep through the mountains to a tea factory which still operates using equipment from the 1930s. It's a completely manual process and the employees work for room and board. It's a very primitive lifestyle. Many of the people we met were 3rd or 4th generation tea farmers. Overall, this was my favorite part of the trip except I lost my wallet somewhere along the way. Whoever finds it is going to be one lucky tea farmer b/c I had around $150 in it. That is the equivalent of 7500 Rupees! Oh well, shit happens.

Now that's a lot of tea plant!

Tea plantation from afar

On the way to the tea plantation

L to R: a tea farmer and his son, driver, Will and Aaron

Day 15 - Munnar

Will and I picked up our new roommate, Aaron, at the airport at 4:00 am Saturday morning, stuffed our backpacks and took off on a road trip to Munnar. Munnar is a small tea town 4 hours east of Kochi nestled in the southwestern Indian Ghats. The temperature was cool and a bit chilly on Sunday morning, which was quite refreshing as it has been blazing hot and humid in Kochi.

Munnar - elevation approx. 6,000 ft.

Flower shop in Munnar

Photo from the Tata Tea Museum

We visited Rajamalai Wildlife Preserve, home to an endangered species, the Nilgiri Thar. We waited an hour in line to take a public bus up to the top of a mountain to look at a bunch of mountain goats. Ha! The views were amazing and the fresh air was rejuvinating so it was a good time.

Day 14 - Hindu Wedding

I attended my first Hindu wedding on Friday! I work with the newlyweds, Arun and Remya, and attended the wedding with my roommate, Will, and some colleagues. You could smell the jasmine as you walked through the door of the temple and hear the Hindu music from a block away! Tea was served during the ceremony and lunch on a banana leaf!

I can't tell you what everything else is, but for the most part it was really good. The fried thing on the left tastes like a tortilla chip!

Standing: Colleagues Kneeling: Gupreet (San Francisco), Will (Seattle) and myself


Left to Right: Murukadas, Sudeep, Joejo, Arun (groom), Remya (bride), Vinod and Matthew

Hindu wedding ceremony