Incredible
India
To quote UCLA Professor
Stanley Wolpert in the opening paragraph to his masterful
work, India, “India
is at once the oldest and most sorrowful as well as the
happiest and most beautiful civilization on earth.”
 I confess,
I am hopelessly enchanted and ensnared by the wonderful
mystery that is India. I feel compelled to visit India
again to continue my personal discovery of this fascinating,
ancient, visually splendid, surprising and deeply affecting
destination. I promise that anyone with the desire and
the opportunity to travel to India will be rewarded with
an unforgettable host of experiences, impressions and images.
And key among those will be the open and welcoming faces
of Indian people, and the warm hospitality that the gentle
traveler will surely receive.
The following are notes from
a two-week long journey I took through South India with a
small group of intrepid travelers, during the Monsoon season.
The trip was provided by SITA Tours—the number one
tour operator in India. It was designed for travel agents,
so the trip was rigorous and fast-paced, with many overnight
hotel stays and visits to other hotels as well as tourist
sites. However, I found that this did not stop me from absorbing
an avalanche of sights and sensations as we traveled through
the region of southern India between the Bay of Bengal and
the Arabian Sea.
Part 1: Trans-Pacific flight-Singapore, Cochin, Kumarakom, Thekkady
Days 1 Trans-Pacific
flight-Singapore.
A long flight brought me to Singapore, where we had an eight-hour
layover. Rather than hang around the airport, a colleague
and I had made arrangements to relax and have a fine lunch
at the stylish and luxurious riverfront Hotel Fullerton.
I took a walk along Orchard Street to get a feel for modern
and urbane Singapore, and to visit the famous 100-year-old
colonial landmark, Raffles Hotel. It’s easy to enjoy
a day in Singapore if you have a long layover, as many
trans-Pacific travelers do, before a night flight onward.
Day 2-3 Cochin.
We arrive Cochin, an old (very old—over 1000 years
old) port city on the Malabar Coast, the Western coast of
the south India state of Kerala. Cochin is a cluster of
islands surrounded by a network of rivers, lakes and estuaries.
The Jews arrived fleeing Babylon in the 6th century B.C.
and the Jewish community had a long presence here. The Portuguese
were here in the 15th and 16th centuries, controlling the
important spice trade until the late 1700’s when power
passed to the Dutch and then the British East India Company.
At Indian Independence in 1947 Cochin became a leading port
and naval base. Cochin expresses the eclecticism of Kerala
with its old European buildings and beautiful synagogue
, the oldest in the British Commonwealth, its palaces, its
Mosques, its Chinese fishing nets from times when Kerala
traded with the Chinese court. We walked the streets of
Jew Town and wandered through wonderful curio shops crammed
with handcrafts and antiques. Our hotel was the Taj Malabar,
the first of many lovely Taj hotels that we would enjoy
on this trip.
Day 4 Kumarakom. Before
breakfast I had a swim in the infinity pool that gave me
the illusion of swimming into the Arabian Sea.
Then on to Kumarakom, an enchanting village on the banks
of Vembanad Lake and jumping off point for the lush backwaters
area. In Kumarakom we were shown to our accommodations at
the Taj Garden Retreat, strolling through lush gardens and
lagoons en route to our units. These were a bit rustic and
showing signs of tropical decay, but were also charming and
spacious cottages with high ceilings, old Kerala style furniture,
outdoor bathtub and shower, and a verandah overlooking a
pond. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch with shrimp and fish and
spicy dishes. Toward sunset we met at the hotel’s pier
to and went out on a wooden open-air boat. As dusk came and
the sky filled with color, a tabla player and a flutist lulled
us into the moment. Our talk ceased, and our group of jet-lagged
travelers relaxed and began to realize where we had arrived,
so many air miles from home.
Later we went by boat to another
unique hotel property, the Coconut Lagoon, part of CGH Earth
Casino Group of Hotels. This Kumarakom resort, accessible
only by water, is an eco-resort, and a place with a particular
vision, and a particular loveliness. Accommodations are in
theravads, traditional wooden bungalows and mansions, old
Kerala-style homes, some of them more than 400 years old,
that have been moved and carefully preserved and made into
beautiful, rustic accommodations. The resort also offers
an Ayurveda spa, a yoga and meditation center, and a butterfly
sanctuary. We enjoyed a fabulous buffet featuring Kerala
cuisine, which is remarkably varied and delicious, and very
surprising for my palate. The beauty of our open air restaurant,
a restored traditional tile and timber mansion, the fantastic
food, our gracious host, the wonderful friendly service of
the wait staff, the sounds and fragrance of the tropical
evening—this was a very memorable evening
at a unique hotel.
Day 5 Kumarakom—Backwaters.
This morning we took a boat ride through the Backwaters,
an isolated and beautiful treasure of South India. The Backwaters
is a series of canals and lagoons that snake their way through
tropical forests, rice paddies and tiny villages on the water.
I snapped photo after photo, trying to capture the sights
of people going about their daily life on the water’s
banks: a woman cleaning fish with a cat worrying; a man paddling
a boat full of silver fish; workers wearing brilliant colors
in the green expanse of a rice paddy. We saw the luxury houseboats
that can be rented to travelers who wish to spend a night
or two on the backwaters—these are quite spacious and
look like they would be quite comfortable and great fun for
a group of friends traveling together. Air conditioning would
be essential, however.
For lunch this day we were hosted by Kumarakom Lake Resort,
the finest luxury heritage resort in India. Set
on 25 breathtaking acres of lush gardens and lagoons, its
villas and suites are exquisite reproductions of 16th century
Kerala royal opulence. The resort features modern comforts
and New Age amenities including Ayurveda spa and meditation
center, health club, multi-cuisine restaurants and many other
luxuries, all in a one-of-a-kind ambiance that will astonish
and delight the fortunate guest of such a place.
For dinner
we were guests of the other 5-star, world class resort on
Vembanad Lake, the Radisson Spa & Resort. This is another
dazzling Kumarakom property, and it boasts one of the very
finest spas in India—definitely a world class spa and
the best we saw in India. The resort is built on 18
acres and features villas with private pools, spacious lagoon
view cottages, and all modern amenities.
 Click
here to view more photos of the Kumarakom and Backwaters
segment of my trip.
Day 6 Thekkady. Back
on the winding road in our 8-passenger van with our “Master
Pilot,” our excellent driver Manozh at the wheel and
Alex, our tour guide riding shotgun. We travel rough mountain
roads, stopping at a tea shop en route, a little place at
the edge of a gorge choked with tropical forest, and on the
mountain walls in the distance many cascades. We leave Kerala
and enter Tamil Nadu provide to arrive Thekkady.
Thekkady
is a unique 300 square mile wildlife sanctuary, surrounding
a lake fed by the Periyar River. Here we visit another ecolodge-type
property with a unique setting and atmosphere—and I
realize it is another of the CGH Earth Casino Group of Hotels
properties—this one called Spice
Village. Set in the Periyar wilderness it truly is a nature
resort, a quiet extension of the rainforests and plantations
of the area. Modeled after the jungle dwellings of the local
tribes, the cottages are built of split bamboo and elephant
grass. The extensive organic gardens and spice trees provide
us with perhaps the best, most delicious and beautifully
presented vegetarian lunch buffet I have ever had the pleasure
of enjoying. This was Kerala cuisine made with the freshest
of ingredients and spices. The resort offers boat safaris
in Lake Periyar, trekking, spice plantation visits, Ayurveda
spa, yoga and meditation, and culinary programs.
Again I sense
the unique vision that seems to pervade the CGH Earth Casino
Group of Hotels properties that I have seen.
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PAGE | Madurai, Tanjore, Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram,
Kanchipuram and Chennai (Madras)
Incredible India | 1, 2, 3 |
