Today's lunch

Today's demonstration and following lunch (including dishes beyond those we saw cooked) was again enjoyable.




One of today's dishes - ash-melon and moong beans.  And the inevitable coconut.  Today's meal was vegetarian. 

 The complete meal.

Down to Kumarakom

Today we continued our descent from Kumily in the mountains to the coast, more specifically the backwaters for which the coastal region around Kochi is famous for. The land utilisation changed from the tea and spices of the mountains slopes to rubber, betel nut palms and later even rice.

Lunch was another sumptuous "native feast" as someone described, at a richly decorated large household that also serves as home-stay. The hostess and her mother put out an Anglo-Indian spread including fishcakes, chicken, sandwiches Indian style, mulligatawny soup. A dessert of cake, pineapple tart and fruits provided the appropriate finish. Every dish was prepared with local produce, down to coffee gown and roasted in the large property. Equally remarkable was the furnishings and decorations all from recycled materials tastefully assembled.

We found a Christine Manfield connection to the local organisation of this and another visit, which explains the quality of the culinary programs in this part of the tour.

 Lunch hostess - and her mother. 

The table setting for lunch

 First course - Mulligawtawny soup.  Vegetable soup with yoghurt.
 

Second course - starters. Sandwich of coriander/mint/coconut paste; fish cutlet; onions in ,what else, coconut milk.
 

Main course buffet


 And dessert.




It was a long drive to Kumarakom, our final stay of the tour where we will spend the last 3 days,. through one village or town after another, some quite congested. Passing observation from our coach convinced us that the south is definitely more vibrant than the north, with many signs of tourism taking off, with newish roadside stalls and especially eco or more appropriately Agri-tourism attracting tourists to spice "gardens" . KM and photos by K

And one more food item.  Today we had morning tea at an Ayurveda Centre.   The best description I can give is Indian traditional medicine.  The food was banana chips (nothing like  the ones at Coles), tapioca chips and a vegetarian cutlet.

Spicy Kimuly

Leaving our hotel in an array of Jeeps to meet up with our bus.

The means of securing hubcaps should have warned us about what was ahead.

This morning we descended from the mountains that included the highest peak in Southern India,on a narrow road through numerous hair-raising bends, between high cliffs on one side and deep ravines on the other. Our coach built to take 40 passengers squeezed its way, sometimes inching past other large lorries and buses, often the only way was to move to the outer edge on the wrong side to achieve the turning circle. We had to trust the driver and the firmness of the road edge but with the thick fog as well we could only know how deep the ravines were it the coach were to roll off. It didn't.

We are staying at a hotel called the Spice Village another member of the CGH Earth chain (not Changi General Hospital!) like the one we stayed at Kochi. The buffet lunch was course up to the usual high standard, down to the manual frothing of my coffee (south India or Malaysian"Tarik" style) when I asked for cappuccino.  It was Kay's birthday so the management upgraded us to a better "room" meaning that we run the danger of leaving things behind in this bungalow house size accommodation tomorrow morning when we checkout.

Kumily is a bustling town famous for its spice trade, but mainly cardamon ,pepper, and turmeric. The heavy rain eased enough for us to take a walk through a "spice park" making real contacts with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, pepper and even coffee.  KM

Cardamom pods at the root of the plant.

Piles of cardamom after drying.

 Then being sorted

and finally in bags.  And I pay $5.00 for about 20gm in Sydney. Imagine the value of this lot.

 Yet one more spice - nutmeg.  The nutmeg we use is inside the black shell, which is the seed of the fruit.  The red mace is attached.  It is used by cooks -  and the police.

Munnar - tea and more tea UPDATED

The internet dropped out last night so could not post, and this morning just a quick dash to the wifi before leaving.  We are well, yesterday was tea plantations.  We had a walk, saw the processing and saw an NGO involved in printing and paper making.  The only shopping experience on this tour, which normally refuses to have shopping included.
The mountain air is humid and cool, today we go to Kumily and see a spice plantation.


More later.

Tea and tea harvesters.  We had to go to an alternative plantation because the (usually women) had staged a strike and had successfully improved their wages and bonuses.  A change from the trade union scandals back home, and one for the sisterhood as well.

 Walking through a tea plantation.

Tea arriving for processing.

First stage of processing - drying.

Didn't post anything about the drinking!

Bus to Munnar

Checked out of Brunton Boatyard Hotel and left Kochi in heavy rain and heavier but still orderly traffic. We can't avoid comparison all the time with the country's north, namely Rajasthan. Apart from the obvious difference in the climatic types, Kerala seems not as poor. We were told the human development index is higher, with better education and health. Whether that was credit to the social support from the significant church presence or the lengthy Marxist regime, we still don't know.

The winding road through dense tropical jungle to Munnar reminded us of Malaya, especially the Cameron Highlands. The rain eased as we climbed higher and went on by jeeps to the Windermere Estate, a cardamon and coffee farm among tea plantations which also serves as a tourist resort. At 1600 metres it is a cool respite  from the humid heat of Kochi.   Did we learn that the temperature drops l deg F every 800 feet? I have forgotten.  KM

Dinner was Anglo-Indian food - green pea soup, curries, and bread & butter pudding.  But not the bred and butter pudding of boarding school - this had a variety of fruit and cardamom.
Piccies below.

Not my best photo - but this is one of the jeeps that took us to Windermere Estate.

 Tea explanation and tasting.

 And also needs a spittoon - just like wine.

 Landscape around our hotel complex.  Damp, but cooler than Kochi.

KM ventured to the lookout.  We were literally in the clouds.

More food - and spices, synagogue and dancers - by KM and K

Last night we had Portuguese style Fernandez pork. After the heavy lunch on Biriyani we were spared the gluttony of yet heavy meal when the organiser mercifully cancelled a dish. We burnt off some of the stored energy through a vigorous discussion of range of issues with WA and QLD participants traveling in the group.

Today went off with the roar of six "rickshaws", the tuk-tuk style efficient transport for short distances everywhere in India. We visited a ginger drying warehouse in the Spice Market locality.

Then we called at the local synagogue. Religious tolerance had attracted Jews from western Europe, adding to the long term residents said to date back to the time of Christ. Their population growing to as much as 70,000 but today only five Jewish families remain and they keep the practices going even without a rabbi. Pictures not permitted inside.

Lunch was another cooking demo

covering a range of dishes including fish molee (means it has coconut in it) and a rice pancake,

prawns,

and a chicken and  a beef curry and a delicious vegetable dish with it.

We had trouble keeping awake, and even through the loud drums and cymbals of a classical India theatre not unlike what we saw decades ago in Bali.  This is preparation for the performance

and these are the dancers. (not Kay with them).

With all the food we had consumed over the past few days, we are so pleased that tonight's dinner is "independent", meaning we will have little more than a lettuce leaf.

I (Kay) couldn't resist posting these pictures of our breakfast - dosai - an Indian pancake.  Coffee, juice and toast are still there!

Sweating out on food

We had a walking tour in humid conditions, looking at historical sites including the Chinese Fishing Nets (yes, they were here before Vasco Da Gama), a method of fishing that the Chinese left behind involving massive timber frames to bring nets into and out of the water. Observing this morning that only a few tiny fish were caught, it was not surprising that the Chinese gave up the copyright and left the method behind.

 

We walked on to visit old colonial relics including the Dutch cemetery and St Francis Cathedral the latter where VDG was buried for a while (until his wife took his remains back to Portugal).

Food is the theme of this tour and we have not been disappointed. Last night's highlight for me (KMK) was the prawns dusted with tea leaves.

 and today the fish biriyani was exquisite. First the demonstration

 

 and then the eating.

Dessert was egg strings cooked in syrup with scrambled bananas and nuts.

 More to come!

Day 1 - Bits and pieces

We are still recovering from the fact that Kerala is so different to Rajasthan.  Beef is widely eaten (so we were told), and 35% of the population is christian, mainly Roman Catholic.  We saw so many churches and statues that we could have been in Rome.  There was no on-coming traffic on the roads last night, but we will see what today brings.

Our hotel is lovely and spacious.  Breakfast was a dilemma between western breakfasts (vegetarian) and dosa and idli.  We had both.  The tour begins in earnest this afternoon. 

Some piccies from our walk this morning.

Hotel menu - we found out tonight that it is a Keralan favourite.  Anything can get stuffed.  Not just the racing industry.

Even with all those colonial connotations, KM had a go at the "punka". (Cloth fans moved by hand)  It reminded him of bell-ringing!  I had read about them but never actually seen them before. Mechanical fans had been installed.

And saw this.  I assume chat (or chaat) is street food.

And for those of us old enough to remember Longreach many years ago.  This is where the goats went.

Kochi here we come

Arrived finally after a long drive from Kochi Airport through dark unlit roads of questionable quality, at a very comfortable hotel at Fort Kochi.

Even more interesting was the chat along the way with the guide Sindhi who seemed very happy with the Communist victory at local elections yesterday. He was certainly not a supporter of "that Right wing" BJP central government under Modi and claimed to have organised a "beef eating" party in protest against the northern "obsession" with avoidance of beef in the diet, a party that was attended by Hindus as well! The north-south divide is certainly more deadly than the State of Origin game back home.

Weeks earlier I had congratulated myself for getting a visa in a few hours online when Kay had to make 2 treks into the city, only to find at the airport that I had to spend 20 minutes being finger printed and image scanned. IT may takeoff, but humans can still drag it back to earth.

And our tour of Kerala hasn't even started yet!
Kin Mun

Singapore

I arrived here on 6th November, Kin Mun earlier on Wednesday.  Ah Pa (KM's father) is still in Rehab and doing well.  He  is not keen on standing just yet, but cheerfully does all the exercises prescribed for him and is regaining his appetite.  He is due home in a week and the OT has been to the house to advise.

Below are Wai Zin, Chin Siong and Kin Mun with Ah Pa.  Together with BL, they have a regular schedule of visiting and WZ has taken a keen interest in Ah Pa's rehabilitation.  She is a gem.

 
Then BL took us to the airport.  Our trip is finally beginning.  This is the first time we have had this tag on our luggage.  And we are leaving from SIN.