Goa and Kerala
Even though most of you in the U.S. are getting out of the house more, sitting on your porches in the evenings, Chennai is swelteringly, drippingly hot, and so, I'm venturing out less and staying in more. So, it's a perfect time to post photos from a couple of cool vacations I took at the end of January. We hit the western coast of southern India (Click here for a map) for a couple of three- and four-day weekends to explore the South a little more.
Goa is known for it's clean beaches, Portuguese colonial history, and, unfortunately, the techno-partying European teenagers and their narco-issues. But our bed-and-breakfast-style hotel was well-removed from the closest speakers blasting nnn-tsa nnn-tsa beats, and we spent the weekend floating in the gentle surf on the shores of three separate beaches, eating spicy seafood, and touring a few relics of Portuguese Catholic culture in Panaji. Click here for Goa photos.
Most impressions of India revolve around the mind-boggling discrepancies and illogical co-existence, and Kerala is no exception. For the NGO/development crowd, it's known for it's levels of literacy over 90% (reading and writing is in Malayalam, a palindromic language you've likely never heard of but which has more speakers than all Scandinavian languages combined). But even a socialist-leaning state is learning to court Western tourist euros and dollars with its endless stretches of unspoiled beaches and coastal inland waterways We started and ended in the cities of Kochi and Ernakulam, with lots of walks through the old-town area by the Portuguese/Dutch fort, browsing the antique shops, eating great seafood, and inadvertently wandering through the chaotic streets of dock storehouses. Kerala has a significant Christian minority (missionaries seem to land on these shores, and St. Thomas supposedly spent the last decade of his life in India), and Christian names and churches were prolific. We floated inland on an overnight houseboat trip (with a biotank and solar power) through the backwaters, munching pineapple rings, and almost forgot that we had jobs waiting for us back in Chennai. Click here for Kerala photos.
Goa is known for it's clean beaches, Portuguese colonial history, and, unfortunately, the techno-partying European teenagers and their narco-issues. But our bed-and-breakfast-style hotel was well-removed from the closest speakers blasting nnn-tsa nnn-tsa beats, and we spent the weekend floating in the gentle surf on the shores of three separate beaches, eating spicy seafood, and touring a few relics of Portuguese Catholic culture in Panaji. Click here for Goa photos.
Most impressions of India revolve around the mind-boggling discrepancies and illogical co-existence, and Kerala is no exception. For the NGO/development crowd, it's known for it's levels of literacy over 90% (reading and writing is in Malayalam, a palindromic language you've likely never heard of but which has more speakers than all Scandinavian languages combined). But even a socialist-leaning state is learning to court Western tourist euros and dollars with its endless stretches of unspoiled beaches and coastal inland waterways We started and ended in the cities of Kochi and Ernakulam, with lots of walks through the old-town area by the Portuguese/Dutch fort, browsing the antique shops, eating great seafood, and inadvertently wandering through the chaotic streets of dock storehouses. Kerala has a significant Christian minority (missionaries seem to land on these shores, and St. Thomas supposedly spent the last decade of his life in India), and Christian names and churches were prolific. We floated inland on an overnight houseboat trip (with a biotank and solar power) through the backwaters, munching pineapple rings, and almost forgot that we had jobs waiting for us back in Chennai. Click here for Kerala photos.
posted by John at 10:09
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