Miki & Misho: Kerala

I'm going to be posting pictures by location, but not necessarily in chronological order. I'm starting with Kerala, where Colin, Lynn, Fred and I spent about a week, after Rohan and Lauren's wedding. We first went to the highlands (Munnar), where we enjoyed some cooler weather, a wonderful hike (except for the traumatizing leeches!) and the beautiful vistas of tea plantations. Then we went to Kumarakom, where we floated down the canals and backwaters of Kerala. We spent a couple of days on a houseboat. It was a lovely experience, except for the $250 USD that were stolen from Colin's wallet. We even know who did it, but so far haven't been able to recover the money. After Kumarakom, Colin headed back to Seattle, while Lynn, Fred and I spent a few days in Fort Cochin.

Plantation workers picking tea leaves in Munnar

Munnar, Kerala

Wild elephants in Kerala

Tea plantation in Munnar, Kerala

Young couple capturing the view of the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border

Fields in the Munnar area

Smiles

Soaked hikers, keeping their eyes open for wild (single, male) elephants, tigers and other jungle dangers. It was both a disappointment and a relief that the only close encounter with wild life we had was the countless leeches!

Despite our diligent efforts in removing leeches from our legs, a few ended up hiding under Colin's pants and got a free ride back to our guesthouse. Colin kept bleeding for a couple of days after he removed them, but I was traumatized for longer than that :-)

One of the Kumarakom guesthouse staff going down the canal to run an errand in town. He later gave the four of us a ride on the boat. Supposedly, until about 20 years ago, roads were inexistent in that area so the only way to get around was by water.