This area of India is perfect for growing spices. It is the few places in the world where you can grow Cardamon. You can also grow pepper (black peppercorn) Tea, Coffee, Vanilla and a whole bunch of other great spices. We went on a spice farm tour. It was great, really informative and fun. We [...]
Distance: 36km
Roads: Great until the very end, then rough
Traffic: Light
It was cold this morning (yay) because we are so high in elevation, I was actually cold riding for a good portion of the morning (as compared to yesterday where I don’t think I’ve sweat so much in my life). We started with a few kilometers [...]
After our houseboat we caught a ferry to Kottayam. There was a few slight differences between this ferry and the house boat. It was a lot cheaper, and we shared it with about 40 other people. Bikes go on the roof, which was really easy.
Kottayam is a pretty prosperous town, due to the rubber plantation [...]
We treaded ourselves to a couple of days of house boating. We decided to go with the American couple on the houseboat (you save money that way) and we went for two days not one. It was great. Our boat was huge, the bedroom was very nice, the crew was friendly, the beer was cold, [...]
Today we thought we’d check out a Kathakali performance, which is a very traditional form of art in Kerala. Kathakali as an art form that began when Shakespear was writing plays. It is basically a play but there are very few words and you get all of your understanding of what is going [...]
Distance: 58km
Roads: 50% the best roads ever, 40% good and 10% awful.
Traffic: very light
Today was one of the best days yet. Amazing, because last night was the worst sleep we had thus far. This all changed as soon as we left the guest house.
Fort Kochin doesn’t really have a lot a traffic at the busiest [...]
It is hard to describe the motivation behind waking up early on a Sunday. With the lure of Chinese fishing nets and the best light of the day I headed out of the guest house at 5:30am. As soon as I step out, I hear India, awake and doing its religious thing. In the distance [...]
Our first day in Fort Cochin we actually spent in the big shiny city across the jetty called Ernakulam. We went in search of cheap brand- name peanut butter (which we eventually found 3 days later!),
we also checked out a couple of the many art galleries located in both Ernakulam and Fort Cochin. We went [...]
To Kodungalllor
Distance: 75km
Roads: Great (a shoulder most of the way)
Traffic: Took the NH, traffic was good unitl 9, from 9-11 it was really bad, and we were done by 11:30
To Kochi
Distance: 35km
Roads: Good
Traffic: Pretty busy, we avoided the NH
The last two days have been pretty good, however not without the usual sores one gets [...]
Distance: 70km
Roads: Amazing, first time seeing a paved shoulder in India
Traffic: Moderate (since there was a shoulder we could ride on, we didn’t notice the traffic so much).
Today was a long day, both of us had sore muscles from the previous days rides, I was getting over a cold and Tanya was coming down with [...]
