My friends and I went to Kochi and Munnar for a 4 days 3 nights trip after our short semester break in February. We arrived India late at night and stayed at Castle Rock Hotel on the same day.
Day 1 of our trip started with the excitement of staying in a boat known as House Boat. YES! It is indeed a large boat being modified to be home-like with 3 rooms inside, totally corresponded to our group of 7 persons.
It was a never-before experience as we spent the whole day on the boat, listening to the call of nature, the melody of waves and the soft wind which kisses our face. Such an enjoyable moment after our long struggle with the tight syllabus for the previous semester.
The next day we traveled by van to a place known as Munnar. It is situated uphill with a cold climate and resembles Cameron Highlands in Pahang, Malaysia. Tea plantations could be seen along the slopes and varieties of plants are beautifully displayed, welcoming us as we drove uphill.
Before we reach the peak, our driver stopped halfway at an elephant park. It is managed by the locals and instead of riding the elephants for a round, the elephant bought us across the jungle, only for a short distance, but still the experience is vastly difference compared to what we have in Malaysia.
The fun and relaxing time I had in Munnar is the one I appreciated the most. People said you only realised and enjoy the free time you have once you have experienced the busy schedule which could make you go mad anytime. This is incredibly true as I have been striving very hard for the past 6 months in order to achieve a good result for my studies.
I have a few other friends who did not join us for the trip due to the reason that study is more important and this is not the time to play. However, I strongly believes that study is a never ending process and the few days of relaxing is actually crucial for our cramped brain as our studies will definitely not be affected by these few days of vacation that we spent.
Late at night around 6pm, we went for Kathakali cultural show for an hour. The show depicts a few god and goddess of the Hindus imitating actions as Kathakali means the God of Art. I am not a fan of all these show and I felt quite bored for this traditional cultural show.
After the show, we went to see Martial Arts just beside the podium for Kathakali. This time it is a completely different show from the one we watched just now. It involved true fighting scenes as all the skills demonstrated are real and one of the fighters actually got injured and there was bleeding on his shoulder.
The next day we travelled along River Road and the beach of Kochi. One of the shop that gave me a deep impression was Saga Departmental Store. It is actually a mansion selling antiques, furnitures, carpets and jewellery. Knowing that young students like us could not afford any of the above mentioned stuff which can cost up to 1,000,000 rupees, the promoter which is Mr Wani Mir still consistently explained each and every details of the goods there.
He is from Kashmir and the shop is owned by his family. He explained to us that carpets actually have investment value and the longer you keep a good quality carpet, the higher will the price be. I salute his professionalism which I think is something I could not even encounter in Kuala Lumpur.
Thank you friends who made my trip a memorable and wonderful one. It is definitely an eye-opening experience for a city boy like me~ =)
Phuah Sheng
Benjamin Gan
Jonathan Ngo
Jing Yang
Samuel Tiong
Siong Keat
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