Into the Western Ghats: Kodagu/Coorg Hill Station

After some fun in the sun, it was time to move inland, to The Western Ghats. From Kannur, we drove many hours over very bad roads to reach our first stop in the Ghats, the town of Kodagu, or as the English knew it, Coorg.

This is an example of one of the Indian superhighways that we drove on to get there.

Here are some shots from the area around our hotel, the Palace Estate Homestay.

...which was also a coffee and cardamom plantation. Here's a coffee plant and some coffee bean pods drying out in the sun.

A papaya plant...

A curry plant...

A lime tree...

The forest and waterfall were a 5 minute walk from the lodge.

A pepper vine...

Some Indian bryopytes! (aka moss and liverworts)

Some new friends we met along the way...

The Palace that our hotel is named for, which was used as hideout for the last Raja of Kodagu, when it became clear that the British were going to try to take over his lands...

Tadiandamola 


Pictures from our hike up the tallest peak in Kodagu, the 1700-meter Tadiandamola.

This guy was chilling out at the side of the trail...

More hiking, more nature pictures...

Backwaters on a Ballin' Basketboat

We left the comforts of the Kannur Beachhouse and drove a couple hours north along the coast to some of Kerala's backwaters (the name of which, after many failed attempts, we could not understand)

Here's our basket boat.

...and here are some other vessels and some of the sights along the backwaters.

We stopped to visit a spot where it seems several troops of monkeys hang out. They're so cute...but also vicious.

These are some kids that were extremely stoked to see us and ask every one of us 'What is your name?!!'

We stopped to walk along part of this pristine 25km long beach, that if it were anywhere else would have been packed with luxary homes or hotel, but as it was there were just a few village homes.

The sunset was wonderful to watch, but little did we know that before it rose again we would be awaken from our slumber at 4am by loud drumming and chanting from the local temple, followed by even louder hindi music, all of which lasted for about 2 hours.

The say that when you travel its the people that make the biggest impression on you. This is true for the crazy little man named Krishnan who worked our boat. Usually in India yes is indicated by a head waggle, but for Krishnan it was more of a vibration.

His hyperactive tendancies were most evident as he attempted to stall us while a very late dinner was being prepared. After announcing that he knew magic to whipped out a deck of cards and shuffled them frantically, emploring us to cut the deck twice and then 'magically' telling us what the bottom card of each pile was.

This was made more hilarious both by the beers we were drinking and his excellent pronunciation of the word 'ace'. Shown is a picture of Krishnan holding 'ass, ass, nine'!