Kerala Trip A Week Of The Clan, Cafes and Culture

I just came back from a week-long Kerala trip last week. I have been to India before, to Hyderabad and Goa. Both were for cousins’ weddings, and both were weekend trips. So this Kerala trip felt like my first real India trip. I learned a lot about Kerala culture, ate a lot of Malabar food and hung out with the whole clan.

We reached the Kochi International Airport on Monday. The immigration guy, who reminded me of my Uni friend because of his thick moustache, asked what I was doing in India. “Visiting in-laws“, I said. He raised his unibrow but promptly chopped the passport.

Alleppey and Kochi

From Kochi, we drove two hours to Vandanam, where the in-laws live. Vandanam is beautiful. It reminded me of my hometown, Cirebon, though it’s definitely greener. My days in Vandanam were filled with visiting in-laws’ families, eating mother-in-law’s cooking and watching local TV shows.

We ate out once there; it was the only bad food I had during the Kerala trip. It’s in a restaurant called Brothers’ Hotel (not to be confused with Pai Brothers Fast Food which has been added to my list). We also made a short stop at Alleppey beach. I managed to get a few shells to add to my World Sea Jar back home.

The rest of the trip was spent in Kochi, the major port city on the South-West coast of India, where we rented 3 bedrooms on Airbnb. We also visited the famous Lulu Mall, various cafes and Fort Kochi.

Kerala Trip Highlights

There were so many new, outside comfort zone, experiences and sights during this Kerala trip. It was exhilarating. In Alleppey, we stayed houseboat one night, which was amazing. I am in love with Kerala food, Indian literature (I bought 12 books from Crossword) and cool cafes. Speaking of cafes, I met a movie star in Papaya Cafe and had a mini fangirl moment.

At the end of the week, I felt ready to go back (realizing I could only take India in small doses) and wanted to stay a little longer to explore more. I still want to visit the tea estate at Munnar, go to the Kerala fish market, stay at Fort Kochi, watch Kathakali dance, attend a Malabar cooking class, get ayurvedic treatment and have coffee at the Pepper House Library. The thing is unlike other travels when I usually feel bummed about leaving, I know there will be plenty of trips in the future as Kerala, God’s own country, has become my home too.

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