God's Own Country

Location: 8.3 degrees north latitude, 77.2 degrees east longitude
Elevation: sea level

"God's Own Country" seems to be the official slogan of Kerala. I suspect that it was coined by the Kerala tourism board just a few years back, but let's pretend that the natives have had this saying for hundreds if not thousands of years. It's much more magical that way. But no matter what or when the origin of the slogan, it is richly deserved in this little slice of tropical paradise. The Kerala coast may only be a 1.5 hour flight due south from Bangalore, but it definitely feels a world apart.

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The Arrival

Here is our mode of transportation from Bangalore to Trivandrum, the Kerala state capital. I suspect that I have a few more turboprop airplane rides in my near future. But as long as it gets me from point A to point B, without incident mind you, I cannot and will not complain.


I am certain that the Tivandrum airport is the smallest airport into which I've ever flown. It has just a single runway, and the pilot actually did a u-turn on the runway to get back to the terminal (the word "terminal" is being used very loosely here).

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The Leela

Our base of operations was the spectacular Leela Kempinski Kovalam Beach Hotel in Kovalam, a little seaside town at the very southern end of Kerala. Most of the hotel sits on a rocky peninsula overlooking the Arabian Sea, but they also have a small set of beach bungalows down at beach side, which is where our rooms were. The Leela was an excellent choice.







The weather could not have been better. Technically it is still monsoon season over here, albeit very close to the end, so there was a chance that it was going to rain for three days. It did not: nothing but warm sunshine and a light ocean breeze. A little humidity to be sure, but nothing to cause any discomfort.


The grounds of the Leela Hotel are lush, with lots and lots and lots of palm trees. I have a hunch that they are native to this region of the world. But that's just a hunch. I have no facts to back up that claim.

This is the view from my beachside bungalow.


You can't call yourself a decent hotel these days if you don't have a life-size chess board set amidst a manicured garden on a bluff overlooking the ocean. I guess the Leela Kempinski Kovalam Beach Hotel qualifies. . .



The hotel beach on the north side of the little peninsula. Those are the beach bungalows set amidst the palm trees. Mine is/was the one pretty much in the center of frame. No. . .not that one. . .the one just to the left of that one.


The beaches are public land here in India, so the Leela beach doubled as the local fishermen's headquarters as well, although they were kind enough (or maybe waved and whistled at by security enough) to leave part of the beach solely for us hotel guests.




Two feet in the Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean. My two feet!

The water was tropically warm. I will guess the water temperature was right around 75 degrees Farenheit (24 degrees Celsius). Probably a little cooler than Hawaii, but definitely a lot warmer than the Pacific Ocean back home in Hermosa Beach. I went swimming all three days, a couple of days more than once.

I love the ocean. It's one of the things I miss the most living in Bangalore.

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You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead — your next stop. . .

With a tip of the hat to Rod Serling, those words (or at least the few I could actually remember) popped into my head the moment I saw this signpost on the hotel grounds. It was one of those "I'm seriously far from home" moments. But also a moment to be grateful that I have the chance to visit a part of the world such as this. I wish everyone could.

The end of another perfect day at the Leela Kempinski Kovalam Beach Hotel, Kerala, India.

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Kovalam

We wandered around a small tourist village in a little cove just south of the Leela for a couple of hours on Monday. The village itself felt a little tired and neglected, possibly because the real high season was yet to begin.






If you ever find yourself in Kovalam, I heartily recommend the Coconut Grove restaurant, both for the fresh seafood. . .


and the view. . .


After lunch it was on to the Kovalam lighthouse.


144 steps and a 14-rung ladder later. . .


(with a quick stop about half way up to snap the quintessential lighthouse photo. . .)


The top of the lighthouse with the always-spectacular views. This photo looks north and shows the little coastal village from whence we came.


These two photos show the view to the south, with the second a closer-up view of the temples out on that little finger of rock.

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Trivandrum

We had just an hour or so left before having to be at the aiport so we toured Trivandrum.

The Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple is the heart of Trivandrum. The main entrance is the seven-tier gopuram (gateway tower) shown here. The temple is open only to Hindus, so this was the only view we could get. Granted we wouldn't have been able to take photos inside the temple anyway. However, according to my Lonely Planet India guidebook, the inner sanctum has a sculpture of the deity Padmanabha reclining ona sacred serpent and is made from 10,000 sacred stones (salagramam) that were reportedly transported from Nepal by elephant. It's definitely one of those "I wish we could have seen that" types of things.




A street corner temple.


and finally. . .just in case you ladies were wondering about the latest fall fashions in Kerala.

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It was a very quick but very worthwhile three days, and that's without mention of our Sunday trip down to Kanyakumari, the very southern tip of the continent. But do not fret, I have it on good authority that our adventures at "Land's End" will be the subject of the next blog entry. Please stay tuned. . .

Land's End

Location: 8.08 degrees north latitude, 77.54 degrees east longitude
Elevation: sea level.

Kanyakumari, also known as Cape Comorin, is the city at the very southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. Kanyakumari is spiritually important to Hindus and is dedicated to the goddess Devi Kanya. Kanyakumari is also the confluence point for the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal.

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There are two rocky islands that sit offshore to the south of Kanyakumari. The island on the left is dedicated to Swami Vivekanandra who came to the island to meditate in 1892. The Swami became one of India's most important religious crusaders. The island on the right and the huge statue that sits on it are dedicated to Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. The below picture certainly doesn't do the scale of the memorial and statue justice, as hopefully you will see when we get closer.

The Thiruvalluvar statue is considered India's "Statue of Liberty" and was the work of more than 5000 sculptors. It rises to a height of 133 feet which honors the poet's 133 chapter work Thirukural. The statue was just completed in 2000, but was actually undergoing a surface refinishing or something when we were there so the island was actually closed to visitors. We had to be content with our views from afar.

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Obviously, travel to the Vivekanandra Memorial island required a ferry boat ride. Now. . .I know what you're thinking, because I had the exact same thought: don't ferry boat rides in faraway places usually end in disaster and with significant loss of life?

Fortunately, the travel gods/goddesses smiled upon us this day and we arrived on the island (and got back to the mainland) without incident. Although some people had a real adventure trying to get off the boat at the island. The sea was, at times, really heaving the ferry to and fro. Lurches of 5 or 6 feet up, down, right, and left were commonplace for the 5 minutes or so it took to unlaod everyone. I am pleased to report that everyone disembarked without ending up in the sea and/or being crushed between the boat the the dock, which I actually thought had a better than even chance of happening.

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Views of Kanyakumari from the island:


You may be able to just make out one of the huge wind farms that sit just offshore outside the city proper: those litle things on the right edge of the photo.

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The Vivekananda Memorial


Inside the memorial (again no photos allowed) there is a footprint embedded in the rock that is said to be that of the goddess Devi Kanya, and is why Swami Vivekananda chose this place for his deep meditation.







Also on this rock next to the memorial, there is a smaller Dhyana mandapam or structure set aside for meditation.

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Thiruvalluvar Statue

The following are mostly the only, and therefore also the best, views we had of the Thiruvalluvar memorial statue. These photos don't really do it's size justice: it was immense. Hopefully the combination of the previous photos of the Vivekanadra Memorial with the very first photo of the two islands together will give you some sense of scale.

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The confluence point of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean. That point. . .right there!

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Kumari Amman Temple

According to legend Devi Kanya single-handedly conquered demons and secured freedom for the world. This is the exterior of the temple, with the familiar mutli-tiered gopuram (entry gate) dedicated to her. This temple was: no photos, no shoes, and no shirts (at least for the men)! When in Rome (or in this case Kanyakumari). . .

The entrance gateway shown is really just the entrance. The actual temple complex behind it covers a huge amount of area, with a myriad of smaller temples and spaces carved out inside for worshiping and honoring Parvati, Shiva, and Hanuman (the Indian monkey god) just to name a few. I do wish there were photos that could go along with this inadequate description. . .

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A whirlwind tour of another very small part of this country; this time Kanyakumari, but again well worth the effort.

I have stood at Land's End of the Indian subcontinent.

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Sai Paryavaran

Let us speak the name Sobha Rose no more. . .forever.

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I moved into a new apartment yesterday.

Let's just say that there were some issues (insert involuntary shudder here) with that Other Place and leave it at that.

The new place is the Sai Paryavaran House, also known by the much less poetic name of Transtree Suites. The new place is located in Brookefields, which is a reasonably-sized-village (as far as sizes of villages go) in the vicinity of Whitefield and the International Technology Park Limited (I.T.P.L.), a.k.a. the workplace. It's about 15 minutes from I.T.P.L. during what passes for light traffic around here and probably 30 minutes (or greater) with more typical morning and evening traffic. As the crow flies, however, it can't be more than 5 miles away.

Let's take a brief tour of the new place. . .

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The Exterior

The Sai Paryavaran House would appear to be relatively new construction. A brick exterior is not very common around these parts, so at least the building has a bit of character to it.

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The Interior

Looking at the main living area from the front door wall. This unit is a two-bedroom, but it's set up so the two bedrooms can be rented out separately and the main living area becomes the common room. . .room. . .room. . .




Looking back at the front door. . .door. . .door. . .


High ceilings, but not a whole lot of furniture. . .furniture. . .furniture. . .
Did I mention the fact that it echoes in here. . .here. . .here?

Let's take a glimpse into the kitchen:


Small but functional. The red gas tank looking object hiding in the corner in the above picture is, in fact, a liquid propane tank. It fuels the countertop/portable 3-burner cook top.

Looking at the main kitchen area. I'm standing next to a small refrigerator that's on the opposite wall. They actually had the refrigerator located out in the living area when I first moved in because there was no extra wall outlet in which to plug it in. The microwave was using the one and only outlet. They managed to install an extra one for me. Now, you may be wondering where all the cabinets are. Me? I don't ask those kinds of questions any more.


The standard, common cold-water-only kitchen faucet. Again, I've given up asking those kinds of questions. I'm not sure the answer would make me feel better or worse. . .but I do think maybe someone needs to come glue down the sink again.


Bedroom #1: the one being used.



Ignore those dirty socks on the floor. No washer and dryer in this unit. The building has laundry pick-up services. It's generally a second-day return (i.e. laundry is picked up Monday morning before 10a.m., it's ready Tuesday night). Generally. Not always. A little bit of thought and planning needs to be involved. And some crossing of fingers never hurts either.

Bedroom #2: a somewhat smaller version of the first.


Each bedroom has it's own in-suite bathroom. Again, the bedrooms are often rented out to separate individuals. Each bathroom comes with a large plastic bucket and smaller plastic bucket under the sink. Again. . .not sure I want to know the whole story behind the buckets.


What's with the extra sink in the living area? Why did I put the toaster out here instead of in the kitchen? We'll consider those unasked (and hence unanswered) questions #6 and #7.


All the bathrooms share a common, modern design. Each one has a separate, small hot water tank called a geyser (pronounced "geezer"). These tanks would appear to be even smaller here than at the other place, as I find showering in one bathroom and shaving in another is a necessity in the mornings. Of course, I'm considering hot water to be a necessity for those two activities.

All in all - a definite upgrade to the living arrangements.

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The Neighborhood

These are photos of the village of Brookefields and all within a few blocks of the apartment.







M.K. Retail - the neighborhood grocery store, and a halfway decent one compared to most of the other food stores in the general Indian subcontinent area. (The Hermosa Beach Von's may not be much relative to some other supermarkets in the states, but I am really really looking forward to walking back in there upon my return! I will never complain about it again.) M.K. Retail is about a 5 minute walk away. They had Metallica playing on the store audio system today. A little random. A little bizarre. But certainly not unwelcome.


The neighborhood hardware store:

The neighborhood pharmacy (hopefully you can make out the "chemists" & "druggists" signs painted on the storefront):

The neighborhood 7-11:

The neighborhood bakery (Ragam Bakery & Sweets):

The neighborhood department store:
The funny-looking vehicle in the above photo is the ubiquitous auto-rickshaw. It's the Bangalore version of the taxi. 3 wheels. Lawnmower motor. Cost-to-destination is mostly just agreed to beforehand (a little haggling is usually required).

The other neighborhood 7-11 on the corner:

The neighborhood has everything! What more could one want!

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So that's the Sai Paryavaran House and Brookefields: home for the next couple of months.