We started our vacation with our first stop at Mahabalipuram, which is now famous for its spectacular Shore Temple (We were in Chennai for a couple of days before we left for Kerala and we made a trip to Mahabalipuram in one of those days). This is our second time in Mahabalipuram,the full display of marvellous sculptures has pulled us again to visit this beaufiful place. 
You can see the waves thrashing against the wall of the shore temple, which is surrounded by Nandi Bulls overlooking the sea.When we walked down the streets, we found a number of sculptors fully engaged in stone carving. In the return, we stopped at Adayar Ananda Bhavan near Mahabalipuram for lunch. We reached Chennai by 4 PM. In the evening, we went to Express Avenue, a shopping mall that has come up recently. Sumu bought a lightning Mc Queen for himself and he was very happy with that car.Next day morning, we went to Pondy Bazar, which is famous for shopping clothes and jewellery. We went to Chennai Silks and RMKV and did some shopping.
In the evening, we took the train to Kottayam. We arrived in Kottayam at 7:30 AM, the next day. Kottayam, the first town in India to achieve 100% literary is an important commercial center for the near by tiny villages. We took a taxi to go to Kumarakom. The road was really in a bad shape and it took 1 hour to reach there, which is 20 Kms away. We went straight to the Green Garden Homes. This time, we have selected the option of home stay. We waited in the reception for a couple of hours to have our room ready. It was very quiet and serene.
We got ready in an hour and went to the dining hall for lunch. After having lunch, we took a car to see in and around Kottayam.
First, we went to St.Orthodox Church of Cheriapally (which means small church). This is one of the old churches that still exist in its near original state. This church has an impressive facade and 400-year old vegetable dye paintings on the ceiling and walls.These paintings are as old as the church. The wood work is remarkable. Nilavilakku, which was placed in the middle of the church is a fine piece of work.
From there, we went to Thirukkara Shiva temple. We waited until the temple was opened at 5 PM. This temple was built in typical Keralan architecture. It is well known for its tradional Kutiyattam. We returned back by 7 PM. After having some tea, we relaxed in the quite atmosphere of the sleepy little Kumarakom. 
Next day, we woke up early, had breakfast and we were planning for the day. We planned to have a day cruise in the houseboat. Christmas is the peak season with lot of tourists and obviously the prices were sky rocketing. The receptioninst enquired some travel people and told us that a 4-hour day cruise costs 10000 rupees. I observed the other families who were staying in the homestay were also making enquiries for house boat. I immediately gathered those 2 other families and worked out a shared model. We later went to the receptionist and negotiated for 12000 that included welcome drink, lunch, tea and snacks during the 5 hour day cruise through the huge vembanad lake.A car had come to pick us up and transferred us to the boat jetty.
There we saw a lot of house boats stationed. The house boats are very huge in size and have all the facilities like Dish TV, AC bed rooms(s), kitchen, dining area etc.We saw the rice boats and small ships plying in these back waters, carrying bananas, coconuts and spices to other places for trading. It was surpsing to see that even today, these waterways are playing a major role for trading in the state. We stopped at some point to take some break. We had some coconut water,it was very expensive in the land of coconuts.We had our lunch and we were surprised to know that it was the cook's first cooking experience, ofcourse it was shown in the food. We some how managed and continued to explore the back waters. I took lot of pictures with my Nikon D60. The weather was perfect for photography.
At around 4 PM, we had our snacks (bananas fried in coconut oil)and Tea. Suddenly, the weather got changed. It became cloudy and started raining, we were almost done by then. We returned by 6 PM. It was an incredibly different experience to cruise in the back waters in house boat, absorbing the beauty of the villages. After having another tea, I went for a walk. It was so dark and there were no street lights on the road.
Next day, I thought of visiting the 16 acre bird sanctuary, another major attraction in Kumarakom. I was told that there were no birds and the migratory birds can be found during summer. So, I dropped the idea of going inside and came back to the room. The cook served us the Kerala Special breakfast. It was good. We just stayed home and watched the highlights of India vs South Africa test cricket match. We had an early lunch and were ready to checkout. The receptionist came with another breaking news and she told us that the taxi drivers were in an indefinite strike since last night and there were no taxis available. We were shocked. We had to board our train from Aleppey to go to Trivandrum in the evening and the journey from Kumarakom to Aleppey is about 90 mins. Somehow, we were able to get a car and reached Aleppey. We waited for more than 2 hours to board the Janashatabdi train. We arrived in Trivandrum at around 9 PM. There was no power in Pavan's flat, where everyone else had. We tried various options and one person helped us in locating the mains in the cellar and we found that the mains were turned off.
Next day morning, I went to see if we can get any bus ticket to go to Chennai. All the buses were booked.Our train ticket from Trivandrum to Chennai was in Waiting List 1 and 2 since last 2 weeks, and from Chennai we have a confirmed flight to go to Hyderabad. In the evening, we went to Sankhumugam beach near Trivandrum airport. 
The major attraction near the beach is 'Matsya Kanyaka', a gigantic 35 m long sculpture of a mermaid. Sumu enjoyed a lot in the beach. The beach was very neat but crowded, may be due to the new year eve. I wanted to see the sunset but in vain. All of a sudden, it started raining. We rushed home. There was a huge traffic congestion, but surprisingly people were following the lanes and very disciplined. I found the city is very clean and has the walkways for most of the roads. I'm very impressed. We saw the fireworks from the balcony at the zero hour. Late in the night, I took a decision to book a direct flight from Cochin to Hyderabad for 1st of January and cancelled the waitlisted train ticket and confirmed flight ticket from Chennai.
The new year started interestingly. Early in the morning, I went to the Kerala RTC booking counter and booked a ticket for 10:30 AM Ernakulam bus. Later we went to Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple. There was a huge rush due to the New Year day. We had a quick darshan and reached home by 10 AM. It was a rush hour, we locked the house and reached the bus station by 10:45, and we missed the bus. We took the 11 AM bus as there was no other option. Since we were already 30 mins behind, I started making enquiries with the driver and conductor. They told me that the journey to Ernakulam will take 6 hours. I was upset, it would be 5 PM if we continue in this bus and the flight will depart at 5:40(The journey from Ernakulam bus station to the Cochin airport itself is more than an hour). I called up some taxi drivers and also took the help of my fellow passenger and quickly assessed the situation. We decided to get down at Kollam to take a taxi to Cochin airport directly. He is a local of Kollam and he booked an Innova and it was waiting for us at Kollam. We immediately moved into the car and the driver is too good, he drove too fast. I stopped for a while to print the e-ticket. We reached the Cochin airport at 4:50 PM, just 50 mins prior to the departure! There was only one line for security check. We got in to the flight and it was full. It departed on time and arrived in Hyderabad 20 mins ahead of schedule. We reached home by 8 PM. A happy ending!This is a long cherishable vacation and we will never forget this trip to God's own contry. We had a great vacation.
Written and photographed by Sasikant Adiraju (saadiraju@yahoo.com)
