God’s own country, too

WHAT do the residents of Kerala and Yorkshire have in common?

Both insist they inhabit God’s Own Country, although anyone beamed from a barge at Bingley to a houseboat in Alleppey would find them worlds apart.

Kerala, in south-west India, is perhaps best known for its serene backwaters. But it also has spectacular mountains, the Western Ghats, and golden beaches, providing a rich variety of landscape which all but the proudest Yorkshireman would envy.

Throw in a couple of vibrant cities, with their Portuguese, Dutch and British legacies, and variety becomes the greatest spice of a tour of India’s premier spice-growing region.

The cuisine is another big attraction, especially with delicious fish curries available for about £3. Then there’s the guaranteed sunshine at the time of our English winter, with temperatures in the 90s, and a laid-back culture which embraces ayuverdic massage and yoga, as well as the innate friendliness of the locals.

“Where are you from?” is usually their first question. On being told “England”, one aged gentleman responded: “Ah, Sherlock Holmes, Baker Street.”

It took only a couple of days to dispel the doubts about whether the cost and aggravation involved in obtaining a visa would be worth it.

In fact, I shouldn’t really be writing this because, having given “writer” as my profession in the three-page visa application form, I was required to submit a signed declaration that I would be visiting purely for tourism purposes.

The application to the Indian embassy has to be completed online, then printed and posted, together with passports and specially-sized photographs. There’s also an agent’s fee on top of the basic £80, so with the special delivery postage costs it all comes to around £115 each.

We met Americans and other Europeans who had encountered the same problems, but we all agreed it was worth the trouble. The cost of living remains very low in India, highlighted by the all-you-can-eat buffet at the Cherai Beach Resort for 400 rupees (£4).

Houseboats made from bound planks of jackfruit wood

It included a choice of soups and sweets, as well as the vast array of generally quite mild curries and accompaniments. Vegetarians are well catered for and only meat lovers might be disappointed, although there is always chicken.

Coconut is widely used in cooking and we found that coconut water lives up to its reputation for keeping the stomach settled.

Flights are to either Cochin or Trivandrum, close to the more popular beach areas further south. We opted for the former and spent the first three nights at the Old Courtyard Hotel, in Fort Cochin, an old Dutch house of great character.

There was a mango tree in the middle of the courtyard, where it was a delight to eat breakfast, whether opting for scrambled eggs or dosa – a crepe or pancake of rice or lentils – and sambar – a vegetable and coconut broth.

The fort area was a pleasant introduction, being relatively peaceful by the usual standards of Indian bustle. There were no cows in the streets, but a few goats wandered among the fish vendors on the nearby waterfront, with its huge, cantilevered nets.

Cochin, said to be one of the world’s great natural harbours, is a city of 1.5 million people occupying a large area, including four islands.

Places to visit include the Dutch Palace and Jewish Synagogue, both dating from the mid- 16th Century. The former features murals depicting Hindu temple art, plus portraits and exhibits of the Rajas of Cochin. Also worth seeing is the Hill Palace, Kerala’s first heritage museum, set amid lush gardens outside the city. We saw no accidents or any hint of road rage, but India’s traffic systems are utter chaos to us, so we had a driver for our tour. It took a good four hours to climb into the mountains, where we stayed in a small, modern hotel called the Swiss County, 12km from Munnar.

The Kerala landscape

Although we travelled the last few miles through tea plantations to reach this Alpine setting, the teabags in the room were Tetley’s.

It was still a welcome cuppa as we took in the jaw-dropping scenery, which made the balcony breakfast a holiday highlight.

The real benefit of having a driver was that he took us off the beaten tourist track to a traditional village called Yellapetty, on the border with Tamil Nadu. The locals grew their own food and probably never ventured far, so would not be aware they were in one of the world’s most beautiful places.

There’s a national park nearby, set up mainly to preserve the habitat of the nilghiri tahr, a cross between a deer and a goat. It has probably been frightened off by the thousands of visitors as the lack of wildlife on our visit prompted the locals to treat tourists as the rare species.

The variety continued once we descended to the backwaters as we stayed first in a manicured resort on the shores of Lake Vembanad, then spent a night on a houseboat and finally had two days in a homestay. The houseboats are made from planks of jackfruit wood, bound together without recourse to nails. We embarked at noon and were served a gargantuan lunch an hour later before cruising gently until mooring to watch the sunset.

A delicious dinner was served at 7.30pm, prior to retiring to the air-conditioned cabin for the night. The 90-minute cruise back to base in the early morning sunlight, observing life on the banks, provided a lovely finale to a memorable experience.

We had originally requested homestay accommodation, but were told the general standard was not very good. The one we were booked into, the Maria Heritage, turned out to be more upmarket than expected, full of antique furniture. The house, said to be of traditional Kerala design, had a square, pebble-filled soakaway in the middle, into which rainwater runs through a mesh in the roof before draining away to the paddy fields at the back.

Fishing nets at Fort Cochin

The food was again superb, nor did we have any complaints about the buffets at our final stay, at the Cherai Beach resort, 20km north of Cochin. The beach was long, straight and lacking in character, but the Arabian Sea was warm and the sunsets spectacular. The cost of the visa was long forgotten.

Travel Facts

TIM Wellock booked flights with Etihad Airways from Manchester via Abu Dhabi at £388 each. He chose the itinerary offered by Indian Panorama because they offered better accommodation at a similar price to the other three Indian travel agencies he looked at. It was all air-conditioned and breakfasts, with a choice of European or Indian, were part of the package. A car with driver was provided for ten of the 14 days, including airport pick-up and drop-of. The total cost for two was just over £1,000. The cost also covered lunch and dinner on the houseboat (one night) and at Maria Heritage Homestay, near Alleppey (two nights). The other accommodation used was the Old Courtyard Hotel, Fort Cochin; Swiss County Hotel, Munnar; Eastend Lakesong Resort, Kumarakom; Cherai Beach Resort.