Aha! We have every reason to smile. At Poovar, the farthest point of our road trip
Continuing from the last post, here is the final ‘Postcard from Kerala 2026’. In this post, I describe the two high points of the road trip for us – Alappuzha & Poovar. Incidentally, both the high points came during the final leg of the trip as if we were destined to end our road trip on a high. What an incredible road trip we have had!
Alappuzha
The distance between Thattekad and Alappuzha was a little over 100 km – 3 hours by our SUV given the conditions of the road.
We were staying at the Pampa Heritage Villa, a homestay in a 111-year old house, that has modern units added to it. It is a boutique homestay with limited accommodation located on the banks of the Pampa river. The owner, Rajiv, was an IT professional earlier based out of Singapore who had now returned to Kerala to play the second innings of his life. We were staying on the first floor while he was staying on the ground floor with his family.
I must confess that since my childhood, I have had a weakness for waterbodies. Although I can’t swim, I love being near lakes, beaches, ponds, rivers, and oceans. I can spend endless hours at the beach just watching the waves crash into the rocks. There have been situations when we visited a city like Chennai and wanted to visit the beach but were strongly dissuaded by our hosts, ‘There is nothing there! It is just a beach!’ My wife too loves the water – and she can swim too – and whenever we have had our chance, we visited such waterbodies while keeping it a secret from our hosts – if and when we stayed with such folks. One of the many reasons I love my home in Bangalore is because it is located adjacent to the 23-acre Alahalli Lake. We go for regular walks around the lake and I get in touch with my waterbody-obsession every day.
At Alappuzha, we were up close with the river. Like an excited child, I kept running to the balcony to get the view. I didn’t seem to get enough of it.
My Quote #175 says, ‘I pray that the child in me survives for as long as I do.’
This river route was a particularly busy one with boats of all shapes and sizes – including houseboats – plying on this route. We spent all our time on the property facing the water – whether at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Even at tea…as you can see in the picture below:
In the evening, we enlisted the services of Rennichan, a Tata Magic driver and visited the famous Mullakkal Bhagawati Temple where the Mullakkal Chirappu festivities had just concluded but the signs were still there – a fair-like atmosphere with rows of small-time vendors selling a variety of things, and crowds of people of all ages thronging the bazaar. Surprisingly, we didn’t have to wait for the darshan – the temple was not crowded at all. We also visited the nearby Ganapathy Temple.
Happy New Year!
On Dec 31st, we rang in the New Year in a quiet and private manner. As the clock struck midnight, we saw fireworks in the skies across the river.
For Jan 1st, we had asked for a Shikara ride through the Alappuzha backwaters. I had been fascinated by this prospect for many years and this was my first opportunity to experience the backwaters.
Jyothi loves color. As we were having our morning coffee in the balcony overlooking the river, I saw a very colorful Shikara with a straw-colored top pull up at the property. The front pointed end of the Shikara was painted rust-red. Its rexine seats and cushions were an incandescent yellow and the bolsters were yellow and chocolate brown. I wished it were for us as Jyothi would have really loved it.
As luck would have it, it was indeed for us.
Over the next 2 hours, we were taken on the motorized Shikara on an incredible ride.
All in a day’s life
In his saffron-colored dhoti and a dark green full shirt, and the mandatory (in Kerala) moustache, Mani, the boatman could easily pass off as a Malayalam film hero. It is of course another matter that Malayalam films are so real that many of the actors in such movies resemble the common man or woman on the street – no ‘star features’.
The boat went about slowly and occasionally, Mani switched off the motor and we were enveloped in silence. At many points on our boat ride, we saw in the still water exact mirror images of what was on land. There was an air of tranquility.
We passed by small shops and kiosks set up on the banks as well as temples and schools, along the river. Although, for us, the palm-fringed backwaters are enchanting, for the simple folks living in these parts, it was life as usual. Like bus stops on a city street, we spotted boat stops where the local people were waiting for the boat to arrive. We saw women washing clothes in the river. Some were bathing their babies. Like a two-wheeler or a car parked near our homes, many of the residents here had their personal boats tied to the entrance to their homes. We saw fishermen in action. People were returning from a temple. We saw boat repair and boat making points.
We kept requesting Mani to stop for tea but we didn’t spot any sign that he was actively looking for an eatery or a kiosk along the way. He seemed to be a pleasant man but his face betrayed no emotions. Only later when he pulled up to the side to leap off the boat to enquire did we realize that he did plan to get us tea. However, he was unsuccessful during the first attempt but finally, he did find the right eatery for us.
Overall, there were several times during the Shikara ride that we felt on top of the world. It was a unique experience for us and something I had specifically looked forward to for decades.
My Insta360 camera seemed to understand my ‘top-of-the-world’ feeling. It gave me this picture.
Ambalapuzha
In the afternoon, we got a frantic call from Manoj, our travel curator. He had arranged for us to receive Palpayasam, the famous divine offering from the Ambalapuzha Temple. This creamy, slow-cooked rice pudding, made with cow’s milk and sugar, is offered daily as Prasadam to Lord Krishna, the presiding deity at the Ambalapuzha Temple. It is a 400-year-old tradition at the temple.
We quickly summoned Rennichan and rushed to the temple. We had a great darshan and were abundantly blessed – we were holding 2 tins of the coveted trophy – the Ambalapuzha Palpayasam – on our return.
For the next couple of days, we savored the Palpayasam in stainless steel bowls borrowed from Pampa Heritage Villa’s kitchen. Divine!
Manoj himself hailed from Alappuzha and we paid a visit to his parents who lived there. It was great meeting them and we handed over a tin of the Palpayasam to them. I immediately sent our picture with Manoj’s parents to him as evidence.
We returned to the hotel and rested.
Varkala
On Dec 2nd, we bid farewell to Rajiv and headed to Varkala, a distance of 115 km – 3 hours.
The highlight of our Varkala visit was Cafe Sarwaa. It seemed to be in much demand. People, mostly young, were waiting at the entry point to be let in. The ‘manager’ was calling out people’s names to be seated. Only upon being let in by the ‘manager’ could the order be placed. The vibe there was very youthful. The menu was both local and international. I was stunned by the scenery. It was located on a cliff and offered a breathtaking view of the Arabian Sea.
Dec 3rd was a relaxing day for Jyothi. I had 2 major client calls to take and I stayed at the hotel while Jyothi went about Varkala.
Thiruvananthapuram
On Dec 4th, after breakfast, we left Varkala for Thiruvananthapuram – a short distance of 40 km. We checked into the well-appointed Hotel Dimora, which is centrally located. Mr T S Mahesh of Naturezone, Munnar had already spoken to the General Manager at this hotel and we received special attention in addition to Manoj’s personalised arrangements.
At Thiruvananthapuram, I was busy with my calls while Jyothi visited the Padmanabha Swamy Temple & the Pazhavangadi Temple.
We met Sreedhar, Jyothi’s cousin, Prema’s husband. Sreedhar is a railway official posted at Thiruvananthapuram. We invited him to Hotel Dimora for breakfast so that we could spend time with him before he went to work. It is always a pleasure to interact with the multitalented Sreedhar. He is a seasoned cricket player and also a bhajan singer. His bhajan CDs are already in the market and are very popular. 
Poovar
On the next day, we left for Poovar, an hour’s distance (31 km).
At Poovar, we were to stay at the Poovar Island Resort. However, it was a challenge to reach the property. The Google Map provided by the property folks led us to the main gate of the Estuary Sarovar building. An old man wearing a Security Guard’s uniform was manning the gate and lent a sympathetic ear to us and tried to re-direct us to the Poovar Island Resort. He gave us detailed directions but he was explaining the route to me as if I were a local. It wasn’t helping. I then called the folks at the Poovar Island and they sent me another Google Map link. I thanked the old man at the Estuary Sarovar building who seemed quite relieved as I drove away. However, within a few minutes, I reached the same place via another route to face the by-now-exasperated old man. He also seemed quite upset that I couldn’t follow his ‘simple’ directions.
When I called the Poovar Island Resort for the second time, they were insisting that the Google Map was correct. Anyway, I lost my temper and gave them a piece of my mind. Within a few minutes, George from the resort showed up on his two-wheeler and I followed him in my car. The property was on the other side of the road and not as shown in the Google Map but it didn’t matter any longer as I was being led to the right location by George.
In Life, one needs to know which battles to fight…and when.
George led us to a pier and asked me to park my car at the parking lot there. As we were to discover, the Poovar Island Resort was accessible only by a 10-minute boat ride on the river. We were to take our bags and go by boat.
1534 km – the farthest point from Bangalore on this road trip
On Jan 5th, when I parked the car at Poovar, I quickly noted the reading on the odometer. We had done 1534 km from Bangalore and we were now at the farthest point from Bangalore on this road trip. We had begun our road trip on Dec 10th and from Poovar, we would be on our way back home. Both Jyothi and I shook hands to acknowledge our feat.
Poovar Island Resort
We took the boat with our bags and reached the sprawling Poovar Island Resort and were met by the staff with welcoming smiles. After checking in, we were taking on a golf cart to our room. We were to stay at the Floating Cottage. However, a surprise awaited us as we had been upgraded to the Deluxe Floating Cottage with a separate living area.
I made a video of our accommodation.
The Poovar Island Resort was very well appointed. Spread across 25 acres, they had made very good use of the space. The resort boasted of all modern facilities but for both Jyothi & I, it was the room’s proximity to the water that was the prime feature. We spent hours in the balcony. Being January, the weather was just great.
The highlight of our stay at Poovar was the boat ride through the mangrove forest. Our boatman was Parameswaran, an enterprising middle-aged man. He offered us his commentary along the way as the scenic ride navigated narrow, lush, and protected mangrove channels, allowing for views of exotic flora, wildlife, and the unique, quiet ecosystem of the area.
The sun filtered through the canopy but in most places, the canopy of trees was impenetrable even for the sunshine and such places were dark. The water was various shades of green matching with what was around.
I did anticipate that I would run out of words to describe the experience and therefore, I shot a video with my Insta360 camera and added some music.
Here’s a picture that, in my view, best represents a snapshot of our Poovar backwaters experience.
Our experience at the Poovar backwaters told us why Kerala is God’s Own Country. There can be no better caption for Kerala Tourism.
Return
The drive from Poovar was our return journey. We were to go to Kalady to attend Jyothi’s uncle’s Sadhabhishekam (80th birthday).
We had a great time at Kalady – interacting with our relatives and friends and having some great food. We also made a minor change to the plan. Instead of spending a couple of days at Nurani, we decided to head to Jyothi’s ancestral home at Puduruthy and unwind.
On the way from Puduruthy, we stopped at Coimbatore and met Mohan, Padma, and Pooja (please refer to Postcard from Kerala 2026 – 1 for the backstory) and her newborn, Nachiket. It was a great finale of our trip as we headed back to Bangalore from Coimbatore.
Postscript
By the time, we reached our Bangalore home, we had done 2305 km.
Our journey had begun on Dec 10th, 2025 and it ended on Jan 12th, 2026. By the way, this was our longest vacation in our lives together in terms of time duration and our second longest road trip in terms of distance covered – the top slot is taken by our Bangalore to Rann of Kutch (Gujarat) trip some years ago.
My Quote #222 says. ‘Travel past your preferences and you will enjoy travel.’
As I end this final post on our Kerala road trip, both Jyothi & I have scores of people – some known and many unknown – to thank for making this trip an incredible one. We now have some great memories to recall and as I have a habit of writing travelogues, we could always revisit these posts and relive these experiences.
Well, just to let you know, travelers like us are always between trips.
Something seems to be brewing…and it is not coffee.
