I've been back in the states for about a month now and I realized today that I still hadn't put together my little Kerala guide that I had intended to create. The purpose of the guide is just to give my review of places I stayed and ate. While it is true that you can find most of these places reviewed at other sources (LP cough cough), I wanted to provide slightly more detailed account in a forum with more space then say, a guide book. So this is mainly for anyone planning on traveling in Kerala, although there will be some description of my travels too.
So, first off Fort Cochin (central Kerala).
I flew into the Cochin area which was pretty easy, however the airport is about an hour out from the ft Cochin Beach area/ my favorite named town, Jew town. You pass through Ernakulam to get there, which seems to be a very city area similar to Hyderabad, though much smaller from what I gather. You can take a cab from the airport all the way there or you can go to the ferry and then take it across from Ernakulam to Cochin. Our friends stayed at a place which they said was cheap and reasonable right next to the ferry. Where we stayed was about 1.5km from the ferry.
Accomodations: Elite Hotel on Princess street- The rooms are tolerably clean. We stayed for 4 nights without any real problems. The room had a tv and the bathroom was reasonably clean. Not a terrible place to stay but not amazing either. There is a restaurant downstairs which has a great little bakery. The location is what really sells this place because it is right in the center of everything. Hotels line the streets all around there as do shops and places to eat and the water is a 2 minute walk away. Off-season is pretty laid back.
Eating: Kashi Art Cafe - Probably the best place I've eaten western food in India. No it wasn't Indian and yes I enjoyed it but the value is incredible. This place is open for breakfast and lunch only and has one item on the menu per day for each meal in addition to an assortment of cakes and drinks. For 85 rupees I had a bowl of the best cream of mushroom soup I've ever eaten and an epically huge slice of quiche with fruit slices. This place also boasts by far the greatest ice tea I've ever tasted which is served with sugar syrup and fresh lime to be added at your discretion. The breakfast omelets are wonderful as are the cake and fruit platters.
There are many places to eat in the area including our Elite hotel restaurant which had pretty good food at fairly good prices. Notable also is the Calm Cafe across the street with debatably calm music. The prices at Calm are a little higher than some budget places but as we found out, it is generally worth it to pay a little more for higher quality seafood.
Other notes and observations on Kerala/Cochin: It is dreadfully humid!! From the moment we got there we were drenched in sweat. It was not nearly as hot as the dry heat in Hyderabad but the humidity was killer. It was definitely worth it though because Kerala is gorgeous. Kerala is highly Christian and there is an interesting fusion of Indian culture and Christianity in the many churches you find in Cochin. There are large and colorful statues of saints in front of most churches which are reminiscent of Hindu temple statues.
Goats are everywhere roaming about in addition to the usual dogs. There is no Hindi script almost anywhere in the region. The whole state is a giant garden of greenery, thus earning it the nickname "God's Country". The local dance for is Katekali, which is closer to a play than a dance and is worth seeing because it is quite bizarre and fascinating. Kerala in general seems to have a high proportion of Aruvedic treatments. I got a full body massage for a pretty hefty sum by Indian standards, but if you can handle a bit of invasion of privacy its actually a pretty great deal.
During the off season the vendors are incredibly tame by Indian standards, barely even bothering to ask you more than once to have a look in their shop. They are also far more willing to cut deals in order to sell something.
Still to come: Allepey, Munnar, Varkala
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