Time Travel: Tea Fields & Houseboats of Kerala, India in 2006
Travel back in time to the dramatic backwaters of Southern India
By Gray Shealy, Commentary by Erin Washington
TRAVEL JOURNAL: A SHORT PODCAST
It’s March of 2006, I’m finishing my final year of graduate school, and after a week of research in Delhi, Fox – my friend and crush (Gen Z would call this a “situationship”) – travels with me to Kerala for a week to traverse the wild landscapes of spice country. With opposite travel styles, he plans the first half – roughing it with backpacks, bucket showers, and bus travel – while I firmly place us in luxurious accommodations at the end.
We start in the mountainous tea fields high in Munnar, look for tigers on safari in Periyar National Park, sail on a dramatic houseboat in the backwaters of the Indian Ocean, and finally conclude our stay at a canal-side luxury resort and spa. The contrasts of the trip are almost jarring as they are remote. The trip was sweeping, breathtaking, and sensual in every sense, and I long for such a voyage again.
Listen to the story here:
From top left: A tea picker in Munnar; a houseboat on the Backwaters of Kumarakom; Fox on the houseboat at morning light; houseboat captain; on one of many busses; Munnar village; a tea break; on safari in Periyar National Park; Coconut Lagoon Resort. At top: the tea fields in Munnar. Below: journal entry with a postcard from Coconut Lagoon and dried tea leaves from Munnar.
Leaving a travel legacy: I started writing a journal of my travels when I was a teenager. From my first trip overseas to today (where I have travelled to over 100 countries and territories), listen and watch as I open up these writings for the first time in years and re-live the experiences that helped shape my travel legacy. Travel back in time with us in each edition as we reminisce upon a past adventure.
