Kerala - any insight?

pink_rabbit

The hotel was just as the tripadvisor review described, the staff, food, facilities were all brilliant.We had room 616 which was on the first floor, rooms on the ground floor by the pool were not so private, most people kept the curtains closed to stop folk looking in! Maybe you can email the hotel and request a specific room. There was a issue with sunbeds being reserved at the crack of dawn by brits.There are some sunbeds belonging to the UDS on the sea wall, a great place to watch the fisherman landing their catch.
We booked trips to Ponmundi(waterfall,tea plantation,hill station)& Cape Cormorin with the agent in the hotel's reception. We had one night on a rice barge in Allepey which we booked with Matthew(next to 3rd Rock Restaurant on the beach)We asked for a boat for 2, but ended up with one for 4.It was £120 which was the going rate for an A/C taxi and boat(we held onto £20 until we got back just incase!) but it was brilliant..take mossie spray. The travel agent on the lhs of the main entrance quoted £95 for non A/C. We also caught a train to Varkala from Trivandrum (good experience, only takes 30mins)...local bus from outside the Leela Hotel to Trivandrum, walked from bus stn.to railway stn. then tuk tuk to the beach at Varkala. Can give train times etc if you are interested. Total cost was 126Rs. compared to 1000Rs by taxi, OH was pleased! There is a good tourist info. office just inside the entrance to the Leela where you can get maps of Trivandrum/Kerala.
Re food/drink, the cocktails at Coconut Grove on Lighthouse Beach are good,75Rs.(ask for the cocktail menu)and the tiger prawns are to die for! All the restaurants on Samudra beach are good.
There is a liquor shop about 10mins walk uphill from the hotel where the beer is 44Rs,(hotel 100Rs) some people hired a tuk-tuk & bought a couple of cases!
We brought back loads of spices, the Samudra Beach restaurant sell some of them. Vanilla pods are very cheap.
The tailors next to the Waters Edge has a Next catalogue, just choose what you fancy & it will be ready in a couple of days. Re sarongs,wrap around trousers,use the tailors on the rhs of the UDS main entrance(not across the road),don't pay more than 150Rs!
A few people bought glasses,about one third of UK price,take prescription.
We took loads of pens/sweets to give away,there is a tiny village about 15mins walk along the beach past the Seagull restaurant,the kids loved them! Donated half used toileteries+food+drink to the ladies outside the hotel breaking up stones in the 35C heat,they earned 40Rs a day(52p!!)

Any other questions, just ask, have a brilliant time.

lynzpower

My folks just came back from Kerala ( they were there for NYE) and they said the funniest thing about it was it was a "dry state" ie no booze, interstringly enforced. They call booze/ beer "pop" and my dad lost count of the times he was served a beer in resturaunts in a teapot with cup & saucer, or in a plastic bag kept by his chair leg over dinner.
He also said that the wait for food was a bit of a pain, go to the restuaunt before you are ready to eat, most times the food took almost an hour to arrive as everything, bread included are made to order from scratch. he said its the best food hes ever had there, and they have been all over india as well as europe, middle east, USA etc.

Also to say, my dad was nealy crying on the phone, telling me how beautiful it was, they are Very well travelled with 5+ foreign holidays a year and he said it was outstanding.

HAve a fantastic time!!

researcher

Thanks for all your information - everything here makes me more and more convinced that we're in for a brilliant trip.

Pink_rabbit, I would be very interested in the train times - we're much more likely to do those types of trip's independently. And we had our eyetest yesterday (via a free D&A voucher found here) - last time we bought glasses was in Bangkok - and they were 25% of uk prices too, and we are definitely going to buy some there - the type of prices D&A quote would pay for another holiday! Regarding clothes - I've already sorted out a couple of 'old favorites' for the tailors to copy, and I'm also taking out 4 pairs of trousers to have the length altered! I'm packing all tolietries etc in plastic containers - what's not needed can be given away and the containers can be filled with all the various spices I'll buy. That'll save me a fair amount as I use a lot of spices in my cooking. We got an amazing deal on this holiday, and upgraded the seats - so we have 30k each baggage allowance! I intend to use it all on my return!

I did email the hotel last week - asking for an upper floor room - this was to avoid any mossies - so hopefully we'll get one - if not we'll ask - very nicely - to be moved.
Thank you all again for you time and effort - greatly appreciated
:beer:

pink_rabbit

Hi researcher,
Wish I had been so organised. Guess if you've been to Bangkok then you'll know what to expect, although I reckon the traffic in Trivandrum is worse!

Re bus/train times, you need to catch the blue fast bus from the outside the Leela hotel, they leave every 10/15mins to East Fort in Trivandrum which is the end of the line(8 Rs.single).Cross over the road and its about a 10min. walk to the railway station. There's an info.booth on the station platform, although they told us the train to Verkala was at 11.55am, it arrived at 12.55! ( maybe there's one at 10.55?) We bought sleeper tickets(a padded seat rather than wood )for 94Rs return for 2.
They have just opened a new food court in the station with emphasis on hygiene, the samosas were good!
Verkala is approx.30/40mins, tuk-tuk to beach, 50Rs each way. Opposite the station in Varkala on the lhs. is a dispensing booth if you need any prescription drugs which are really cheap.
According to the timetable in the station the return trains were at 17.00,17.14, but we were told only the 17.45 was running! The buses back to Kovalam seemed to run every 20mins.
Re mossies, we used 50% deet spray, the only time I didn't use it I was attacked! We also bought a fly spray at Lighthouse beach, Cobra Fast for 100Rs because we found that mossies were getting into our room whilst it was being cleaned.
On the spice front, there are a couple of places to buy on Lighthouse but I reckon that the local restaurants on Samudra are better value, saffron is also cheap.
Re glasses, one couple bought high index lenses from Iris in Trivandrum and were really pleased, but because the Zeiss lenses were imported from Germany they were not ready when they were supposed to be so they spent a fortune on taxi fares going to and fro into Trivandrum, but then they could have used the bus!
Finally a couple of points, you need a torch...eating skin on/ bone in fresh fish is not easy in the moonlight if there's a power cut and be prepared for the odd cloudy day, although you can still get burnt!

researcher

Your brilliant - thanks for all this.

pink_rabbit

Hi, researcher

Now that we've mastered the trains, next time we plan to visit Cochin, only takes 3.5 hrs.
plus Matthew had a 3 day 2 night trip to the Maldives all incl. excl. drinks for £90 each including flights...can't wait!

Oh and on the way to the railway station you pass the red brick spiral India Coffee House which is good for ...coffee and local food at local prices.
http://www.answers.com/topic/indian-coffee-house

Enjoy your upgrade.

shajanscaria

Nice to hear good word about Kerala.
I am a Keralite, now living in shrewsbury and a moneysavingexpertfan.
If you are still in kerala I could advice you and help you.
Do not miss
Trivandrum side
1. Kovalam beaches and sorruonding areas
2. Varkala beach 30 miles from Trivandrum
3. Sree Padmanabha temple
Then stay a night in kanyakumari, which is Tamilnadu near to Trivandrm.
Then head to Alleppy
1. Travel in house boat.
Stay in a nice resort. If you got enough money stay in Kumarkam lake resorts. Do not forget to eat the fish- 'Karimeen',( better if it is 'pollichathu' ) and drink cocunut toddy, which is a natural liquer.

Then go to Idukky distrcit
1. Thekkaday wild life sanctury, there you should havea boat riding
2. Munnar hilly area
These are the best places of kerala.
If you really want to enjoy a village life, you could go to my home, which is 40 miles form Kottayam, near to your boating places.
I will give the number of my brother or my frineds.
Don't worry, don't need to pay as we keralites always welcomes to the other culture.
If you want contact me