Thrissur & Cherai Beach

Wedding of a colleague took me to Trissur on 22nd of November. Subbu, Charan, Rohit and I left Bangalore on Friday night in an Airavata bus. I had a very funny experience on the way with an auto driver; a man in his mid fifties. He was in the mood of telling stories. He started with « The Man-eater » that he had read in seventh standard that told how a tiger first tasted human blood. He also narrated another story that was called -Under the cable of the sea. I think he had two words jumbled up there. Well, this one told how difficult it was to lay cables under the sea during the times of telegraph. In spite of that, he made sure to drop me at the bus stand before time.

Bus journey was uneventful. We reached Trissur at around 7 AM. Our colleagues friend drove us to the hotel. For my morning tea we stopped at a small tea stall in front of the hotel. I was very impressed by the way hygiene was maintained here. The shop keeper cleaned the glass with hot water. Then added milk, then pulled out a small container with decoction and added it to the milk, Added some sugar and stirred it well before handing it over to me. He cleaned the spoon in hot water every time he reused it. I was so happy to have a tea made exactly how i make it at home. Other wise in Bangalore the tea would be boiling for hours together until a weird taste of milk dominates it.

After freshening up and having the complimentary breakfast at the hotel we walked to Vadakanathan Temple. This is my third visit to this temple and the serene atmosphere around here makes this place a very beautiful place to pass time at. The temple architecture and the wall murals are just fantastic. 

Before returning to the hotel, we stopped at a store to buy Dhotis. On our way, we saw a restaurant by name Udupi Brahmin’s hotel. Suddenly Subbu smelled Mangalore buns and we thought lets check it out. However we found ourselves stuck with 4 inedible idlis, two extra sweet teas and a bunch of old waiters who had connection to Udupi.

We then went to the Church to attend the wedding. This is the third Malayali catholic wedding that I am attending and they are so different from how one might have perceived a christian wedding to be. Some of the traditional Hindu rituals are still practiced. We met other colleagues who had driven on a TT. They narrated their mishaps with a broken vehicle that had delayed their journey. 

We drove to another Church - Lourdes where the food was arranged. A beautiful Church.

After a good meal, we wished the couples, said bye to others and drove back to the hotel. Packed in fifteen minutes, we left Trissur and drove directly to Cherai Beach.

Cherai is a thin strip of land between the sea and backwaters. We checked in at the Amabdi’s service villa. Once you reach Cherai beach, take right and drive about 1.5 kms to reach the hotel Eden. Hotel Eden is run by the same group and it is sea facing. We had preferred the backwater facing home stay called Ambadi’s service villa which I strongly recommend. They have three rooms constructed in traditional Kerala style, whose front doors open to a beautiful lawn and garden which ends at the banks of the backwater. The backwater is filled with Chinese fishing nets. Since this place is attached to their house, drinking is not allowed. So if you wish to arrange alcohol, you must book Hotel Eden on the main road. But really, this place is much better. 

Link to their website - http://www.edensservicevilla.com/backwater-heritage/
Contact # - Mr Ambady - 09605262499

At the hotel, we met a Kannada care taker who is from Hubli and had lived in Malpe for 8 years. It was also surprising that in 8 months of his stay in Kerala he had learnt the local language. We were happy to have him as a mediator. We requested aunty for dinner and decided to take a walk by the beach. We took a long walk till the Cherai beach central area which was as crowded as a mall in Bangalore. We had some road side snacks and returned back. On our way, we stopped at a Bhuvaneshwari temple that was beautifully lit during that hour of dusk. Rohit also enquired about Kerala massage. Massages are priced from Rs1500 onwards. Amabdi’s are also gonna start massage centre at their place soon but as of now only one place seems popular. However, inspite of all that excitement about a massage long before the trip, Rohit decided not to have one. 

We returned back to the hotel and sat by the banks of backwater observing the fishermen modulate the Chinese fishing nets. It was a beautiful sight as in dark, we observed the bulb attached to the pivot point of the sticks that hold the fishing net, being lowered and pulled up. Mahesh told us about some of the happenings around. He told us how there were several foreign visitors in this area whom he referred as « Saips ». They would want to settle here so, they buy land by having a joint ventures with locals. One of the recent was by a London tourist with a joint venture between him and an auto rickshaw driver he had befriended during his visits. He also told that the house in the same compound was also owned by Mr.Amabadi and normally couples come and stay there for several months. Currently a German guy and his Indian wife with their kids were vacationing there. Aunty cooked some delicious meal for us - Chapati, Cabbage Subji, Rice, A curry made of coconut and buttermilk, papad and fish fry for the non-vegetarians. 

After that good meal, we chatted for a while and went to bed. The interiors of the house is all very traditional with Red oxide floors, Mangalore tiles for roof, coconut leaf chapara for the roofs near sit outs. Everything here seemed well thought of and and neat. I looked forward for the next day, as I new it was going to be adventurous. I had just unearthed a interesting plan to get to Cochin.

Continued Here  - Cherai Beach To Ernakulam

Photo Credits - Rohit Badhya, Charan Kumar, Subashchandra Rai & Ajeya Rao