Deep jungle : Periyar Sanctuary

We bused it to Kumily, a small town in the western part of the western ghats (mountains). Going from Kodaikanal, then to Munnar, we could tell that we were descending in altitude as things were starting to get hot again.  

Kumily's main attraction is the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, a huge natural area home to sambar, wild boar, langur, wild elephants and tigers. The place is more of a indian tourist destination than a local one. With this being said, menus did not cater to foreigners and so we were sweating curry, eating it three times a day. Sometimes, I miss granola with yogurt and blueberries in the morning. There were many honeymooners wearing their wedding bengals, limbs covered with henna, always accompanied by a photographer and getting their pictures taken with their newly found (most likely arranged) partner.

Leech-proof and reay to hike !

We took a morning hike and saw...

Cobra crib

Holy Sambar !

Hornet's nest...let's kick it !

It's like spider-india !

Charlotte...you look different...

Can you spot he elephant foot print? How about the elephant poop?

The best part was going on the evening boat ride along the river in the decrepit little two-tiered boats. Due to the elbow and pushing skills that I've learnt waiting in queues with Indian women at the train station, I was able to be one of the first 20 to buy a ticket, and we got seats on the upper deck. There we saw....

Geeks

 

Mama and baby



Baby just discovering how cool his trunk is

A big elephant reunion.  We were told that we were lucky to be on a boat and not on land close to them.  I didn't get it.  I always thought elephants were gentle giants.  They aren't.  They're more like bears, I'm told.  If they see you, they will charge and attempt to crush you.  Baby in toe or not.  I asked why.  They said that it's because they've all been somewhat disturbed by unfortunate events brought on my humans (poachers).  Either they've lost a friend or a family member.  Elephants never forget. They hate humans.

Wild pigs.  I love pigs, but these guys freak me out.  I think it has to do with a Lassie episode I saw when I was young.

Sambhar. Big whoop.  We've got loads in Canada.

Kingfisher !

Beautiful scenery

Big nests

And of course....monkeys.  Here they're considered a pest.  In some places, outdoor patios need to have enclosures, as the monkeys WILL steal your food.  And you don't want to challenge a monkey.  The monkey will win.

Some little kid is crying because he got his cone stolen by a monkey !

Stuffing her cheeks. Whenever I watch them I can really see the same mannerisms as humans.  It;s quite obvious that we are in the same family.  I wonder if they know that too and relate to us when they look at us...

And Kumily was our last destination in the Western Ghats. We had officially crossed  from the East coast the to West coast India. And what is India's west coast renowned for? Beach life!

Tea time : Munnar

Think British rule over India and a few things might come to mind: Gandhi, taxes, army, exploitation, tea and spice trades, revolution or peaceful marches. Many might think of  the East Indian Trading Company, British's exploitation machine, fueled mainly by spice, coffee and tea cultivation.  We hiked from Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu province)  to the hub of these cultivation fields, where we became engulfed in a sea of stunning green. Lolling hills covered by a thick carpet of tea-trees stretching out as far as the eye could see. This was Munnar, a small-yet-still industrial town in the western province of Kerala.

Tea trees everywhere

Our (fatigued) hiking team.  We hiked from Kodaikanal mountains to the beautiful tea plantations of Munnar.

Tea-patch kids

Looks like carpeting

Tea trees, they're tough

We also visited a spice farm.  The breeze smelt wonderful.   They had all kinds of beautiful things growing: pepper, vanilla, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves (which are, in fact, the leaves of a cinnamon plant.  Who knew !), nutmeg as well as Ayurvedic healing herbs.  Our guide knew her plants well and could suggest a healing plant for any kind of ailment.

Coffee beans....red, white and then brown

Laughing amidst cardamom plants

Pepper and vanilla, climbing the trees for sunlight

Pepper, before it's dried

Drying pepper and then collection

Being that we were now in the province of Kerala, we decided to take in a Kathakali performance. Kathakali, a traditional Keralan dance, began around the same time that Shakespeare was writing his plays, and is a dramatized presentation of a play, usually based on Hindu's epic legends. Themes such as righteousness, evil, frailty, courage poverty, prosperity, war and peace are usually presented. Actors (usually two) tell the stories through precise movements, particularly hand movements and facial expression. Dancers start training  for Kathakali at a very young as it is such a highly disciplined dance.  Paint, fantastic costumes and ornamental headpieces transform the actors into the Gods, heroes and demons they are about to play.  Drums and cymbals are played throughout the play by two musicians.

Getting their fancy costumes ready

Smitten face

Proud face

The play we saw was about a demon who was given the task to kidnap a Gods' son.  Once she met the son she was smitten and instead decided to disguise herself as a beautiful women and seduce him.

She was rejected.

Eventually she revealed her true identity. The son was furious and cut her arms and her boobs off!

To tell you the truth, this part was a little frightening.

We thought the performance was scary. Not the kind of scary that makes you put your hands in front of your eyes. It was disturbing as well as bizarre and only later did we think (and fear) that some of the images that we saw during the performances might haunt us in our dreams later on. 

We only stayed a couple of nights in Munnar and then headed on a bus for Kumily, a small town a little lower in the hills, to check out an animal sanctuary nearby. On the way there I noticed that cardamom grows wild EVERYWHERE.  At one point, the bus stopped on the side of the road and the driver's assistant went out a grabbed a handful of cardamom pods.  I guess he needed them for tonight's curry !

Getting curried away : South Indian cuisine

If there is one thing that I love the most about India, it's the food.  Being a vegetarian in Europe was hard enough (come on France, eat your vegetables !), but it did get easier as we were going east.  Now, in India, I'm in heaven.  Finding "veg" restaurants is much easier than finding a "non-veg" restaurant.  Street food is all veg, so I don't even have to ask !  Menues have a huge list of veg dishes and a tiny selection of meat dishes (if they have any at all. Bliss. 

Food manners include eating with your right hand only!! The left is for dirty things such as wiping your behind.  You will get looks if you eat with your left hand (and it's insulting to offer your left hand in a handshake).  Of course, before and after eating a meal, it's good manners to wash your hands.  EVERY eating establishment will have a place to wash your hands.  Even the littlest hole-in-the-wall street vendor.  Once your meal is served, you mix the food with your fingers, make little balls with the rice or chapati and scoop into your mouth.  Fun.

We've been in the south and we really got a mouthful of Indian cuisine.  Here are a few samples of what you'll find the the south:  think coconut and spice spice spice.  Here are a few of our favorite things:


Breakfest

Curry?  For breakfast?  Yessir (head wobble).  No matter what time of day, how old you are...curry is always good for you (and it's a natural mosquitoes repellent too.  Mosquitoes HATE the smell of curry coming out of your pores).

This is Pongal, It's got rice,. cashews, coconut and cumin.  Serve it with chutneys and sambhar

This is an oothappam.which is like a superstuffed pancake.  It is served with sambar (lentil dish with cubed veggies) and coconut chutney.

This is Puri, which is thin, fried, puffed bread. It's delicious and what most indians eat on street stalls.  It's the fast food breakfest.  It's their version of and Egg McMuffin.  Served, again, with sambar,

And then there's this dish, Puttu, my favorite south Indian (Keralan) breakfast.. It's made of rice, coconut, cardamom and you can add spices and other little specialties if you want. You need a puttukutty to make it. It's a special cooker.   

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And of course, the famous dosas.  A large savory crepe like breakfest.  It's thin and crispy and inside you'll fin different fillings, depending on what kind you ordered.  Masala dosa, tomato dosa, ghee dosa....the list goes on.  The funnest thing to eat with your hands.  Served with chutney and sambar. 

 

Dinner 

It always takes me a super-long time to order as every menu has dozens of curries on offer.  But by far, my favorite (and rest assured that most restaurants will offer it) is the Thali.  Most thalis are all-you-can-eat so if you run out of something they quickly come and feel your meal up.  We've often had the fortune (or misfortune) of constantly getting refills due to a language barrier. And then we eat, and eat, and eat, until we can't bear looking at another grain of rice.  Whenever we run into a street stall and don't really know what they serve, we either look at what the locals are having, point to that or say "thali" and they'll know what we're talking about.  Many places only serve one thing : the veg thali.

You get to try many different kinds of curries as well as a butter dish to add richness to your curry or curd (yogurt) in case it's too spicy.  They'll come with ice, chapathi (thin naan-like bread).  And, a papadom (that crispy bread on top). 

Preparing a day's worth of chapatis.

Fruit

We're also a big fan of the fresh fruit that you can find at the markets and fruit stands.  Bananas, coconuts, pineapples..they'll even put them in a blender to make you a fruit juice smoothie !

Friendly vendor giving me some of his coconuts !

Desserts
Sweet shops are a plenty here and although they may look odd at first sight, all wrapped up in edible aluminum, they're pretty delicious. 

This little ball frightened us a little bit as we both thought "oh crap, it's got the curry color".  It was DELICIOUS. It's called ladoos and are sweet balls made of gram flour and semolina. 

I got this thing from a street vendor.  It's got jelly candies and mint and syrups and a mixture of I don't know what on a leaf.  You fold the leaf over and gulp.  I did not like it so much.

We decided to take a south Indian cooking course. The food is loaded with coconut: ground coconut, coconut oil and coconut water.  Our teacher was fantastic and showed us the many tricks of cooking with Indian spices and making the perfect masala spice. We made 5 different curries, including parrathas, papadoms and masala tea.  This course was one of my favorite things that I did in India (so far).

Are you ready to cook?

Prep work

Chris, getting all the goods out of a coconut with a special device that made it real easy.  We'll have to figure out how to make a concoction like that.

The perfect spices for the perfect curry.  Aniseed, cumin, masala, turmeric, chilli and salt (optional)

Trying to master the art of parrathas-making

 He makes it look easy, but it's not.

Our teacher. He was good. Real good.

ready to eat !

Bon appetit !  The wonderful dishes we learned to make (including masala tea).

 

 Get your sarees and right hands ready folks ! We're gonna have a theme supper when we get home !