Recently I spent four weeks traveling slowly around the state of Kerala in the south of India. It is very tropical there and maybe not what you think of for India. I moved from coastal towns with waterways and rice paddies up to forested hills and then mountains covered with tea gardens. A wonderful trip and finally I got to India.
One evening in Fort Kochi I shared a restaurant table with a young Irish backpacker who had been traveling for several months and was feeling a bit jaded about the vagabond life. He asked me if traveling lost its appeal even more when you are older. After thinking about it my answer was no. In fact, as we grow older, we pick up so many interests in things that we just passed over when we were young. When I was young, I was just traveling to see the sights. When you are older you are exploring things that now interest you like history or arts or religion. My acquired interest in plants and how people in other countries grow and use them gives extra depth to my travel experience. I enjoy learning from gardeners out in their yards and cooks in their kitchens. I also enjoy taking a few photos that I can share here with you. Click on any one of the photos to see them enlarged.
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| A house near my homestay in Fort Kochi/Cochin |
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| A vegetable store in Mattancherry |
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| These walls covered in small pot plants were very popular in crowded commercial areas and gave some green relief. |
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| Krishna playing on a flute in the public waterfront park at Ernakulam. |
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| Street view in Mattancherry |
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| A vegetable seed seller and his stall by the road. Alleppey/Alappuzha |
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| Flowers being sold for temple puja. Alleppey/Alappuzha |
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| Container garden at my homestay. Alleppey/Alappuzha |
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| A quiet home garden in the back lanes of Alleppey/Alappuzha |
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| Cardamom and using some old forest trees to give shade. These cardamom plantations could be seen for miles along the road through the hills near Kumily. |
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| A modern looking house and garden in Kumily. |
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| A fruit stall in the hill country town of Munnar. Passion fruit and tamarillos hanging in front. |
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| Tea gardens covered the hills around Munnar. |
