Kerala day 0:

We officialy start tomorrow, today we’re still waiting for few more bloggers to come, so KBE people decided to keep us entertained by taking us around to see resorts in the area. Kovala and Varkala areas are known for their beautiful, neverending beaches. There are many luxury hotels by Kovala Beach, while Varkala is more a backpackers’ destination. We’ll get to Varkala later on, today we focused on Kovala area hotels.

Hotels are close to each other. We walked to the first one leaving our resort by some back gate. To reach next one however we had to take our bus, and to reach the bus we had to take a boat. Thus we had another opportunity to enjoy Kerala backwaters

All the resorts we visited were by the beach, all had perfect-blue swimming pools, service was responding quickly to our every request before we could even think it, there were yoga studios, even a dentist - they told us that dental treatment here was cheaper than in other countries (although price they gave - 100 USD per root canal treatment sounded a bit like in Poland , but I guess it’s nicer to have your root canal treated in Kerala sun instead of, let’s say November rain, in grey Warsaw). 

What they all had in common and what seems to be their specialty is Ayurveda. Each hotel has its Ayurveda doctor, you can get a single massage or a whole package. They say the packages are really popular and all the hotels are full year round, even during the Monsun season.

Ayurveda massage table

Ayurveda massage, as we found out in theory and a few days later in practice, is different from what we are used to. Instead of painful squeezing of muscles massuer (who, as a rule, is the same sex as the patient) rubs in a huge amount of warm seasame oil. It was very relaxing. I fell asleep half way through.

What I really like about the resorts here is that they are not tall ugly buildings. They are usually small houses or bungalows that try to hide among the palm trees. Not too much concrete, lots of wooden elements instead. Hammocks are swinging, swimming pools are tempting and restaurant area is always with a sea view. What more do you need?

Poovar Island Resort

If I ever decided to go on vacation like that I would probably choose Poovar Island Resort with little houses built on platforms on the water, with huge windows. Another beautiful place with breathtaking swimming pools was Leela where we went to see sunset. It's the oldest and the most famous hotel on the coast.

Anywhere we went we got royal treatment. We were welcomed by general managers, we would get a dot painted on our foreheads by beautifully dressed hostess, each of us would get a neckless made of flowers, palm leaves, cardamon seeds or sea shells.

All that would often be accompanied by Katahakali dancers and a glass of lemonade, pinapple or watermelon juice (those who know my affection for watermelon can imagine how much I enjoy it) or fresh coco. Sometimes we also get some paparazzi - either from local press or from the hotel.

KBE bloggers in a local newspaper

In all the places we go to we eat. Lunch, snack, tea (after all we're almost in England). We went to Leela for tea so on top of drinks there were snacks, all beautifully served: little canappes, fruit and typical Kerala sweets. The one I liked the most was sweet snack made of cashew nuts that are grown here. And I have to thank to Leela waiters for not even blinking when I managed to knock down two glass trays full of food when I was trying to retrieve the above mentioned cashew cookie I dropped between them:)

Sunset in Leela

As I mentioned earlier I am not really a target of this kind of places, just like my fellow-travellers, so half way through this resort-hopping and despite this fantastic welcome we got everywhere, people started being a bit unpatient and on our way to one of the resorts few of them disappeared misteriously. Probably any other hotel we see we don't sleep or eat in will cause some kind of rebellion Luckily tomorrow the real Kerala journey starts. Can't wait!