Lush, prosperous Kerela

We had two good flights down to Kerela from Port Blair.  At both check in desks we were asked if we had any seat preferences, to which himself said, yes please, first if poss, otherwise extra leg room seats, and we got them.  We had meals on both flights,  Chicken Korma, Wild rice & dhal with a chapatti and coffee gateau on the one.  We were a bit close with the flight timings and when we explained it to the Air India staff they sent us a buggy to take us from one terminal to the other.  What brilliant service, and on an infrastructure note, both Chennai and Trivandrum airports make Birmingham & Manchester look like third world airports! 

The picture above is of richest temple in India.  Shri Padnanabhaswany Temple is 260 years old and in the cellars was found 8 vaults full of gold bullion.  Only one has been audited and was found to contain £11billion  worth of gold. This was accumulated by the King being weighed every year and his weight being deposited in gold. Now same thing is done - but in bananas!

We are staying with Colonel Roy at the Varikatt Heritage Homestay, which is just wonderful.  Huge airy bedroom and sitting room , a super king size bed with springy mattress!!!!, and yes hot water in a big wet room.  Roy greeted us with a big smile and coldbeer.  Dinner was cooked by his wife and was delicious.

Thursday

After a very relaxing excellent nights sleep, we had a quick look at a Hindu temple which is the richest in India, and also the Maharajas Palace Museum which was just amazing.  Sorry no pics, the Indians tried to take some and had their camera confiscated! 

We met three Canadians who are staying, one of whom is a chef.  Jay and himself have spent hours talking recipes, cookery programmes etc etc., yawn.  On that note, we decided to go to the market with Roy this morning to see unusual fruits and fish.  It was quite an eye opener, the fish was super fresh and we’re having some for dinner tonight.  Roy showed us the Mutton Shop – well, himself said “do they slaughter overnight and bring it in the morning?” Roy said that if you look to the left the goats are tied up ready for when they need more meat! Don’t come much fresher than that!

We saw 20 different types of bananas, 10 assorted varieties of rice, fruit and veg we have never seen and cant pronounce the names of.  The cost of the fish in the market was very cheap a kg of King prawns was £2 and ordinary prawns £1 a kg.  Himself bought another load of spices, the cases are getting heavier and heavier and weve been over our baggage allowance on every flight, but never been charged- yet!

 Himself and I are amazed by the friendliness of the Indian people.   We are often stopped in the street by strangers, who shake hands and say where are you from?  School children are always chatty, we met some yesterday at the Botanical Gardens and all of them wanted to talk to practice their English, in no time we were surrounded by dozens of happy Indian children.

Friday

Day off today, we went to the beach after saying goodbye to our Canadian chums who were on route to Thailand and Cambodia.