Thekkady - Tuesday 17th December 2013

Today we took another 3 hour drive to the next stop of our tour - Thekkady. Thekkady (also known as Periyar) is South India's largest wildlife sanctuary. But before we arrived at the park, we stopped at a spice plantation called Hindustan Spices. We were given a tour of the spice gardens and saw many different plants, including cardamom, black pepper, cloves and other medicinal plants. It was interesting looking at the different spice plants to see how they're grown. It was especially intriguing for Mum, who looked like she was in heaven when we went to the spice shop afterwards, and decided to buy a selection of spices and Ayurvedic medicines (although she was a little deterred by New Zealand's strict customs laws).










Sajan standing next to a cardamom plant


A nutmeg tree


We then set off for Thekkady. While Dad and Sajan went to check out the Periyar wildlife sanctuary, Mum and I went for an Ayurvedic massage which included Shirodara (the dripping of hot oil onto the forehead) and a steam bath. It was especially new for me as it was my first proper full-body massage. Overall it was very relaxing and I would definitely recommend it to anyone (but my hair was very oily in the end - and it stunk as well!).







Unfortunately for Dad and Sajan, they missed the boat tour of the wildlife sanctuary, and decided not to wait for the next one. After our massage we found them in the reception chilling on the couches - quite typical of them.

We stayed the night at a four star hotel called Spice Grove, five minutes out of Thekkady. It was pretty flash and even had 2 TV's and a separate lounge area.

That night we ordered room service of tandoori chicken, murgh tikka and fish tikka for dinner - it was Yum!!!


- Posted by Alisha Devi Patel using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Thekkady