I am from Malaysia. It must have been a past life experience of sorts, to feel so much of a bond for a community and place far from where I live or grew up. This is my personal Local Guides experience and journey of a lifetime, which I would not trade for anything else. This whirlwind journey took me to over 11 places in 11 consecutive days over 1000kms locally, across multiple districts and towns in the state of Kerala, South India. This is my most unforgettable, memorable journey I have made with the Local Guides community. This is a short story of my incredible journey through Kerala, South India.
Kerala, one of the 29 Indian states, is located in the south of the Indian continent. There are 14 districts within the state. Kerala is renowned as an important tourist destination, and it’s known to many as the home of beautiful peaceful backwaters, tea plantations, hill stations, Chinese fishing nets, beaches, coconut trees and natural forest reserves. There are many cultural arts such as Kalaripayattu martial arts, Kathakali dance, Vallamkali boat races, and big festivals like Thrissur Pooram and more. Kerala is also well known for delicious Onasadhya feast, Malabar biryani, halwa and much more. People of native Kerala are Malayalis, and the language spoken here is Malayalam.
Throughout this journey locally in Kerala, I traveled mostly by myself, almost exclusively on all forms of local public transportation including local buses, trains, auto rickshaws, bike, local ferries, and short rides by fellow Local Guides. I was fortunate and grateful to be guided, supported, greeted and hosted by the amazing Local Guides community here in Kerala in each location. Special thanks to everyone.
It was just amazing connecting with all the local friends who live a very honest, simple, humble lifestyle. I am awed on how many make do with simple things and yet have big hearts to share knowledge and experiences to help visitors like myself. I can see why; many are helping each other build useful and usable local Maps on Google platform so many can benefit from each other’s knowledge and local experiences. And each of us know that whatever we share and keep up to date in Google Maps, we help local businesses grow, and ultimately help the country and place we call home. All of us have this opportunity to bring the world to where we live through Google Maps.
So my journey starts…
Day 1 (above): My journey started with me just having a backpack (I prefer to travel light), travelling from Malaysia and arriving at Nedumbassery (Kochi) airport in Kerala India. A quick transit of local auto rickshaw to the nearby Aluva train station, and soon I was on a local express train headed to the capital of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). It was a 230km local train journey. This is the administrative capital of the state, and many local main attractions are there.
In Thiruvananthapuram, Biju @ bijusreekumar our local Local Guides community lead had planned a get together at the Kanakakkunnu Palace, where I was able to learn so much about the place from wonderful friends there. I had the pleasure of riding with Antos @ antosmaman on his Royal Enfield bike, and I miss the sound of the roaring engine since. Many of us were just sitting by the road side sipping tea until the late evening. We had taken lots of photos, wrote many reviews and more.
Day 2 (above): Early in the morning, I left Thiruvanthapuram on local train via the TVC central train station and headed to town of Kollam, which was about 66km away. Kollam is a beautiful small city right by the sea. Today I was in high spirits, Arun @ ArunMuralidhar who is our Kerala community lead had hosted me in his home. We took the day exploring the Kollam light house which was amazing. And had an evening community meet up where a group of us explored walkways near the river and government building. Had a great time taking photos and learning about the place with the community. It was an incredible experience.
Day 3 (above): An early rise and after some short visits to nearby farms, Arun had dropped me off the Kollam bus station, and I caught a local bus headed towards Kayamkulam which was about 40km away. Kayamkulam is a very small town, unassuming, yet beautiful with natural features. It’s a great place to just come to relax. The bus ride went through some small towns whom many friends back home are from, it was nostalgic looking at all the simple life of simple folk. Local bus journeys are just amazing.
In Kayalamkulam, a surprisingly large Local Guides community group got together organized by Aslam @ aslamnazar, we were old friends, and it was just amazing seeing everyone again. We had tea and snacks in town, checked out the local museum, before heading to Azheekal Beach for exploration and spending time together. We were there until late evening. Watching amazing sights of the sunset over the ocean. I had wished the evening didn’t end.
Day 4 (above): I was feeling a little under the weather this day. I had hopped on a local train from town and headed towards Kottayam which was 60km away. Kottayam is one of the towns famous of Ayurveda treatments and also backwaters. I was struggling with some headache, possibly fatigue. We had a small get together with Local Guides near the main town temple, we chatted a bit and soon I was off in a longer trip all the way to Kozhikode which was 260km. I was fortunate to get a seat in one of the local trains, and managed to get some shut-eye.
Day 5 (above): I had a much-needed sleep last night. And feeling all fresh again, I was in the big city of Kozhikode, main city of the Malabar coast. Kozhikode is on of the most important trade ports in olden times. Now it’s an important tourist destination famous of food. We had another large community meetup organized by Hyder @ Hyderali here at the Kozhikode beach and we were just spending time by the beach, chatting a lot of how to grow the Local Guides community and improve Maps for the city. Towards evening, we were walking around town, had snacks and tea until early night fall. Amazing people, amazing place. Kozhikode beach is amazing, a definite must visit. So much amazing food, snacks and sweets.
Day 6 (above): An early morning train from Kozhikode to Palakkad which is about 140km away. Palakkad is an important historical place and it’s also one of the connection gateways to Tamil Nadu. We got to go visit the historical Palakad Fort for our community meetup organized by Navaneeth @ Navaneeths. We spent time capturing videos and 360 photos of the historical fort. And towards the evening, some of us were just hanging out in town until late night. The sunset over the fort is just amazing.
Day 7 (above): Another early morning local train ride for 70km, from Palakkad to Thrissur, the cultural center of Kerala. This is the place where the most important event in Kerala the Thrissur Pooram takes place each April. Many visitors come here to take part in cultural events. Our Local Guides community in Thrissur (Augustine @ aachusa) arranged to meetup in the main town square, where one of the most important temples, Sri Vadakkunnathan Temple is located. We had a good group with possibly our eldest Local Guides member joining and chatting about all thing Google Maps and more. We explored around the walls of the main temple, and walked around Thrissur town, then headed to an Italian restaurant for some dinner.
Day 8 (above): My next stop was to be Mulanthuruthy, an unassuming small town just outside of Ernakulam. For this, I had to catch a local train to Ernakulam, and then a local bus to get here. Finally, after lugging around my backpack, I had ended up in Mulanthuruthy after kind of a long journey. I was happy tonight I would be staying with Varghese @ varghese who is one of the community leader. We had organized some Local Guides and Google apps training for the local community there, it was very fun seeing many people learn something new. We spent the day exploring the small town, trying out snacks and all.
Day 9 (above): It was like an off-road journey, as me and Varghese headed up to Kothamangalam 45km away to meet our student Local Guides community there organized by Rasi @ Rasi. It was an uphill journey as we headed to higher altitudes. We had met everyone in their college and we went out to explore the Mount of Ayappa, Ayappanmudi, where we sat and watched the sunset from the mountain. It was just amazing.
Day 10 (above): And finally, back to Ernakulam which was about a 60km journey away. My heart was already feeling a bit heavy as my journey was coming towards a close. However, Ernakulam in Kochi is where most of the Local Guides members are located, so I was extra excited to meet everyone again. Our community meetup was organized by Midhun @ Midhunhk. It was here that our community started in 2016 with our first meetup. I was really overjoyed to meet everyone again, and we spent a big chunk of the afternoon and evening exploring, and capturing photos around Broadway and Marine Drive. Here is really the best place for bargain shopping, and we visited so many stalls in our photo walk.
Day 11 (above): Last day as I headed off back to the airport in Nedumbassery, we had our final meetup for some of our members living in the vicinity. We had tea and snacks at one of the airport Palace food court. Our community members from Angamaly had join and it was my final day in Kerala. I had then boarded the flight back home thereafter, back to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
[Picture above, all the glorious food!] Whirlwind journey aside, I must have sampled so many delicious foods, that photos just cannot do justice to. Biryani rice, set vegetarian sadhyas, grilled & roast meats, snacks, dosas, uttapams, puttus, porottas, kappam sweets and so much more. Every visitor must try at least these when visiting Kerala.
This is my most unforgettable, memorable journey I have made with the Local Guides community. Throughout the 11 days, it has been just amazing travelling on public transportation and connecting with all the local people who lives a very honest, simple, humble lifestyle. I would do this all over again, anytime. Thank you everyone for being a part of my life.
[Below] Here is a short video journey with the close to 200 community members I was able to meet throughout this journey, amazing.
Note: all photos and videos in this post are all self-taken on personal mobile or camera.
Thank you everyone again, continue to be a shining beacon of bringing the beauty of Kerala to the rest of the world.
#LocalGuides #LocalGuidesConnect #KeralaLocalGuides #Kerala #Unforgettable