K O C H I N

Working in KL at a time creates a need for a good break. In my case the need for a break is more frequent. Because I love to travel and explore new places and culture.

So Air Asia is truly a gift with their promotion seasons. As I was scrolling through the AirAsia site, Cochin was the only available destination at best buy. So together with my family we unanimously decided to book the tickets. Not knowing, what does Cochin looks like.





Getting to Cochin...

Well, there are plenty of flight options to Cochin. But me being from Malaysia, Air Asia gives you more money to spend in Cochin. No matter which flight you take, destination still remains the same ie Cochin International Airport.

The flight is 4 to 4.5 hours long from Kuala Lumpur excluding the journey to LCCT.



Trip Agenda:

Day - 1:

As we came out of Cochin Airport, we had our driver waiting for us at Toyota Innova. About 45 mins journey to our hotel in M.G. Road.

45 mins mainly because of traffic jam and small roads. But it is wonderful opportunity to capture the Cochin City life in your camera.





Day - 2:

We started our journey to Munnar Hill Station. A direct drive to Munnar would be about 1-2 hours. But it took us 4-5 hours to reach there. Expressways are not always the best ways of journey.
A beautiful drive up to Munnar with plenty of hops on the way taught us importance of slowing down in life.

Day - 3:

Our plan was to start our journey down from Munnar with plenty of pit-stops. Our final destination was Alleypey by checking in to a Sea View Challet Resort.

Our pit-stops on the way down included famous Spice Garden where we purchased spices like cardoman, cinnamon, vanilla, cloves and lot more that we use daily in our cooking. Not only that we also had a chance to see how they are grown.
Also on the way down we had a stop at a beautiful Echo point. More then the Echo, the nature is so beautiful. By taking few snaps of the nature here we managed to secure few screen savers for our computer.

From here we went to Matupatty dam. Another scenic nature and also a road side market to shop for souvenirs.


Day - 4:

We started our day-4, with a walk at sea-side. We were lucky to have our resort, right at the Alleypey beach. After breakfast we headed toward a famous back-waters boat-house ride.

Our package included lunch on the boat. A bit sceptical about the lunch cooked on-board. But well, it was truly one of the best banana leafs we ever had. Imagine taking rice 4 times in your banana leaf and yet feeling normal. Besides wonderful lunch, the entire journey was so relaxing. It was different as we saw water-bus with bus-stops on water. The river (or canal whatever you choose to call it) was like a road and is higher than the ground. Beautiful scene. Since we were 4 of us we also had a good relaxing time by playing some cards and uno on board.

Day - 5:


After our relaxing back-waters house boat ride, we headed back to Cochin City. Plan on day-5 was to walk around the city, do a little bit of shopping and sight-seeing.
During our shopping, thanks to our driver - truly a gift to have him as he was a wonderful person, we managed to exprience the local shopping fiesta. Pretty much similar to our MATTA fair atmosphere but with Cochin local delights.

For the sight-seeing, it was great to capture Vasco-da-gama grave stone, Santa Cruz Basilica - a 500 year old church as well as Chinese fishing nets and Musueum . As dull it sounded to us when we read about it, we realized it was great for us to be there to take a snap. Also it didn't took much time as we covered all these places with-in 3 hours.

Day - 6:

A little sad day for me as our break was coming to an end. We had a little time to visit one of the shopping malls called Gold Souk. Had our last meal in Cochin and headed back to KL. As much we were worried about our check-in at the airport, it was not the case. Our check-in was extremely fast and completely hassle free.

Weather:

Well, we were there in August. It was towards the end of monsoon. So we experienced light passing by showers. However, they claim that from September - February is a peak season for tourist. March - August is low peak. However, rain was not too much of an halt for us. It is recommended to take extra pair of thin clothings like t-shirts and shorts. Also Munnar as a hill station was little chilly but a pair of jacket with long trousers like jeans OR cargo pants were sufficient for us.




Food:

We took little pre-caution in taking water by purchasing filtered water as well as avoiding any road-side drinks no matter how tempting it was.

As for food there are plenty of options. We are vegetarians and we had ample choices of food. South Indian food was the best. Also we experienced their Pizza Hut twice. Being vegeterians we enjoyed the variety they offered.

Additionally the masala tea was heaven especially in rain as well as in cold of Munnar.

Shopping:

Cochin is known for:
1) Coir
2) Spices
3) Ayurvedic Medicine.

But we also liked the local choclates in Munnar. Besides these items, you can look in to purchasing some clothes and gold mainly for ladies. But this would depend on individual preferences.

Contact to know more:

Well, if you like to know more about the cost and trip feel free to drop an email to me at henik@live.com.

Do take note that I am not a trip organizer OR travel agent. But I am truly passionate about traveling would love to share my bit and also know your travel experiences.

Cheers from Rockbottom.
Follow your passion...