IX. Final destination

Captain’s Log: Saturday, 23 September 2017

Distance: Kumily – Kochin

The Hitel we stayed at qas quite interesting. It was in the middle of the forest in the hills, with an amazing view from the rooms and the terrace.

Because of the hills and the high humidity, the sun did not show herself in the early morning. And my frog was still asleep.

We then had a longer journey with the bus ahead of us. But it was very adventurous, driving with the big bus through the small mountain streets, especially if another big bus came towards us, behind a curve, where no one saw the other one, and a crash was only avoided because of the reaction skills of the drivers and the good brakes. I mean, it might sound more dangerous now than it actually was, but once we almost crashed into a cow as well, which was lying on the street. 

However, we managed to get to the next stop without damage.

We saw another church here. Since we changed fron the Bundesland Tamil Nadu to Kerala, there have been more churches. The differences between these two states are quite big. 

First  it looks far more cleaner here in Kerala. The people have more money, there are no little villages with houses with palm leaf roofs, no people are lying around of the ground sleeping, and here are far more cars and less motobikes than in Tamil Nadu. And I even saw traffic signs and speed limits. And in Kerala the motorcyclists have to wear helmets, the ones in Tamil Nadu do not have to wear one. So, every Bundesland can make their own rules. Even the language is different, but I think, I have told that already.

We drove through a lot of tea plantages.

In the background there are many little bushes which looked like little trees. These are the tea trees, and their leaves get picked by women. It depends on the handling of the leaves, if you get green, black or white tea. But every of these types comes from this one tree.

We had a few short stops on the way again, but there was nothing exiting then. And finally we arrived at our last Resort, the Soma Kerala Palace, which lies on an island. Our tour guide brought us to the boat and the Check-in, before we already had to say Goodbye to her. I admit, it was a bit sad because she was a really nice woman and she knew so much about everything here, we could ask her almost everything. But, every journey has an end, so this one as well.

Our Resort, where we will stay for 4 nights now, lies, as mentioned, on an island, which you can walk around on in like 10 minutes. It is a Wellness Resort, with many massages available and a very nice view.

In the afternoon, my Grandmother and I had already our first massage of the Ayurveda package we had already booked back in Vienna with this whole tour. It was an oil massage for the whole body, and even now after a couple of hours and a shower, I still feel a bit oily. I am not really sure what to think about it to be honest, but whatever. It is at least something new.

And they had a buffet for dinner, which was awesome.