Kumarakom Backwaters
Vembanad Lake is one of the longest lakes in India and the largest in Kerala. It touches three districts in Kerala. So when we thought of exploring Kerala, we wanted to start with nature, and backwaters were the first thing that came to mind, besides beaches. We chose Kumarakom as it seemed to have nicer places to stay. Maybe next time we can stay in Alleppey.
We left early to avoid traffic. The drive from Thrissur to Kumarakom is not long, but it takes time. We also took a slight diversion and visited Fort Kochi for breakfast. I wanted to see a couple of cafes in Fort Kochi, but we spent all our time at Lila Art Cafe. I liked the location, food, and ambience. The idea was just to have coffee, but we all ate a heavy breakfast. I also took some pictures of the post office next to it and did some mapping.
We reached Kumarakom by lunchtime, checked in, and spent the evening walking around within the Taj, Kumarakom Resort. Taj shares the boundary wall with the Vembanad Lake. You can watch the sunset or the houseboats from there. The property is also big enough for toddlers to walk and run around, and it is beautiful.
The next day, we had plans to visit the bird sanctuary and take a ride in the houseboat. But the bird sanctuary is closed for maintenance. So we woke up late and had a lazy, long breakfast. Uma walked around the property quite a bit, talking to everyone she met. I also found a post office nearby to post the cards and add them to the OpenPostboxIndia project.
We took the houseboat around 2 PM to go around the lake for the next four hours. Folks on the boat also served a very good sadhya with fish and meat. Uma seemed a bit scared by the “big water” at first, but then she calmed down. We spend most of the time watching things or looking for birds and other things. I also got a cake.
We came back by 6, had dinner, and then went to bed early after spending some time at the resort’s lake. We initially planned to visit water lilies, but we woke up late and had a lazy, long breakfast. Then drove to Kottayam to see some old churches. We did that and then drove back to Thrissur.
Below is our drive path except inside water which is house boat path.
And that’s how my 45th birthday was spent. It was lazy, slow, but fun.
