My stay at The Raviz’shing Raviz Spa and Resort, Ashtamudi, Kollam, Kerala, India in collaboration with *Panache

Continued from Raviz Ashtamudi – Part 1-an overview

As I mentioned in the earlier post, The Raviz Spa and Resort, Ashtamudi is an exquisitely picturesque location and I personally would be content just spending my entire time just soaking in the sheer beauty of the surroundings and maybe soaking in some of that massage oil too 😀

However the travel desk of the resort has a range of activities that one can opt for, of which a 30 minute evening house boat cruise and a late evening cultural performance, is included as a part of the stay.

Water sports enthusiasts have many choices that include kayaking, pedal boating, stand up paddling and banana and speed boat rides.

A one hour traditional boat ride covers the Ayiramthengu mangrove forest and there is also the 60 km backwater cruise from Kollam to Alappuzha that is considered one of the best cruises here.

One can also go on a gentle canoe ride on the narrow backwater canals of Munroe island which is around 40 minutes by road from the resort.

There are short road trips that cover near by locations like the Kollam beach, the Thankasseri fort and the Lighthouse that one can enter and climb to the top for a view of the breakwater.

Those who are game for wildlife (no pun intended), can visit the Shenduruney wildlife sanctuary or the Puthenkulam elephant village which are a couple of hours away.

Those who need even more action can  travel a couple of hours to go trekking to Chadayamangalam Jadayupara to get to the huge concrete structure of the Jatayu, the bird from the Ramayana that is believed to have collapsed at that spot after failing to thwart Sita’s abduction. Thenmala the eco tourism destination also offers trekking and camping.

If picnicking peacefully is your thing, then the Palaruvi waterfalls 2 hours away, would be your ideal spot.

Aside from all these curated activities, one can also ask the helpful resort staff to assist with any specific local interests.

I had limited time at my disposal (which sounds better than, I was too lazy for any hard core adventure), so I was quite clear about the few things that I wanted to engage in.

Being a seafood enthusiast, a visit to the local fishing docks was a must for me and on my first afternoon after lunch, I was escorted to the harbor at Vaddy beach. Rows of colorful and interestingly named fishing craft were moored by shore and it was very entertaining to watch the hustle and bustle of fishermen bring in catch that glistened with freshness.

One might swoon either at the sight or the smell 😀 depending on whether one is a fish lover or not. Being clearly in the former category, I was ecstatic at the vision of this bounty.

Here huge baskets full of prawns, squid and varieties of fish come in at various times of the day and are auctioned off at lightning speed and whisked away even before you can whip out your camera. However the fishermen are quite friendly and comical too and there was one who was willing to pose for me in dramatic ways 😀

From here we drove on to the Lighthouse which was unfortunately closed. I would suggest that one generally should check out timings/holidays before setting out.

The Kollam beach is a couple of kms away from the resort but since it was the hotter part of the day, I preferred instead to visit the estuary at Paravur, about 20 kms away. This is a point where the backwaters meet the sea but due to insufficient rains, the confluence had been interrupted by a strip of land in between. There was not much to do here and apart from a few shacks, there was not too much activity either.

After this we sped back to the resort for the houseboat cruise that leaves at a fixed time every evening.

Do not miss the the cruise, for it is here that one can sail away to a distance and get unhindered pictures of the beautiful resort.

The 30 min cruise starts at 4.30 PM and hence does not include views of the setting sun but I was thrilled to get some fabulous shots of the gorgeous Raviz.

There was much to photograph and apart from the addictive waterscape, there were various types of birds to shoot. The place is definitely an Ornithologist’s and  photographer’s paradise.

Birds perching on the boat, kept us company and I was told that if we were lucky we could spot them swooping down on their fishy prey. Our avian companions for the evening however, were more interested in preening for us than hunting for fish, which suited me fine for they stayed still and posed obligingly for the camera.

The houseboat glided past fishing craft and other local people going about their daily commute across the water and we watched the fishermen operate their large Chinese fishing nets that dotted the banks.

We also sailed past an impressive, huge white statue of Vilakamma, who is considered to be the goddess of light and holds up a lamp to symbolically brighten the place.

Once back, I had a little time to freshen up before being gently reminded by the staff to get to the lobby on time for the 7.30 PM cultural program where a talented young girl  performed the Bharathnatyam for us.

I ended my day with dinner and plans for the next morning.

If you are nuts about cashews like I am, the Cashew factory is a must visit. Kollam is one of the top centers in the country for cashew trading and has many processing units both private and government run.

We visited the unit at Souparnika enterprises where the friendly owner Mr Vasantha Kumar spent time with us taking us around through the various processes that the cashew undergoes.

From roasting the entire shell in large furnaces to extracting the nut by individually cracking every single one, to boiling the shelled kernel, to peeling off the layer of skin and filling them into large sacks to be taken to the packing center, we were led through the fascinating flow in a few minutes.

Never being able to resist popping in a few while I cook, I thought it would need a lot of will power from the workers to abstain from doing the same 😀 but the many many women who were employed there including a really old lady who gave me a bright toothless smile, seemed to be extremely disciplined and dedicated.

The packaging center was at another near by location where the final sorting, segregating and packing of the end product takes place before it is shipped off to national and international markets.

This tour took us a couple of hours and I returned to the resort with a sample pack of the nuts that Mr Vasantha Kumar was kind enough to gift me.

On my return I was invited to the Favorite Kerala Ayurveda Spa on the topmost floor of the resort.

This had to be visited before having lunch, since many of the facilities are to not be undergone on a full stomach.

The spa boasts of a qualified ayurvedic doctor and staff who are well versed in the art of Kerala oil massage and also in the art of persuasion 😀 for they managed to convince a reluctant me to undergo one. Hesitant due to never having had a massage before, I was assured that Maya the masseuse would work her magic on me and with her extremely professional and gentle but firm strokes, she put me at ease and made sure I underwent no discomfort.

Late afternoon after lunch I was whisked away to the bank of the lake to don a life jacket and speed away  on a thrilling speed boat ride. Terrifying and exhilarating at the same time, this 30 min ride makes you hang on for dear life with the wind whipping your face and hair and an unseen power making sure that your phone is not flying off while you bravely click your selfies !!!

In the last few minutes before returning to the shore, the speed boat driver shows off his stunts as he spins the boat rapidly around, churning through the water as your stomach churns alongside and your screams are drowned out by the roaring motor 😀 And strangely despite your shrieking, you do not want the ride to end !!!

After all the action of the day, my evening was spent relaxing and after a delightful dinner (that you will read about in the next post), I returned to my room to rest and be prepared for my next adventure on my last day at the resort.

My flight on the third day was at 5 pm in the evening which meant that I would have to leave back to Trivandrum at 1 pm to be on the safer side. The trip that had been planned to Munroe island, would take around 4 hours in total and hence I had to set out by 8 am in order to be back by 12 so that I would have time for lunch. Well you did not think I would miss food, did you ?

This jaunt to the island was so entertaining, that it would need a post of its own. But in the interests of being brief, I will restrain myself from getting into a full fledged narration 😀

The 40 minute trip to Munroe island by car,  includes a 10 minute sail across the water and one just drives onto the deck of the ferry, car and all. A Car’ry is what I would call a ferry that carries a car 😀

Available every 15 minutes, there is a timetable helpfully displayed at the pier.

Munroe island is named after Col Munroe, who was the Deewan of the erstwhile Travancore state.

Once on the island, my driver arranged the boat ride for me and I opted for an hour’s duration since I needed to get back soon. One can ask for as long a ride as one wishes and they will charge accordingly.

From this point on it was just my boatman and me and though he knew as much English as I knew Malayalam, we managed to hit it off quite well.

In fact so well, that half way through he plucked a flower and offered it to me, while meaningfully pointing out at a nearby building and excitedly saying ‘Marryiage hall Marriyage hall’ 😀

I did please him by taking several pictures of the flower but that was just to test my new camera skills … but ssh he did not have to know that.

Kidding apart, though language was a barrier and prevented him from explaining many things that I wanted to understand, I managed to get him to take me to one of the houses to view the coir making process which this island is known for.

The couple from that house obligingly and deftly spun out a coir rope from coconut husk, using a wheel contraption and very sweetly offered me that bit of rope which I accepted and kept very carefully as a memento of the place.

The island is also known for its prawn farms and with my passion for prawns, I was very keen to visit one. The farm is a water body into which the prawn larva are released and then bred until they can be harvested.

Large nets were spread over the water and while I thought they probably did it in anticipation of my arrival, my boatman assured me with many swooping actions that ‘crow coming crow eating’ was the purpose and I felt less guilty knowing that there were other predators that were more dangerous to prawn welfare than I was 😀

As the canoe gently glided down the canal, the boatman also pointed out various birds and trees and I was highly excited to spot what I thought was an avocado tree laden with easily accessible fruit. A quick ‘poison poison’ from the boatman, dashed all my hopes and I was disappointed to know that this fruit that looked like a cross between an avocado and a mango, was actually inedible.

Sensing my disappointment, my boatman attempted to console me by handing over the oars to me and saying Do boat do boat and I wondered where he got the idea that performing hard labor was going to cheer me up. Anyway he did click pictures of me pretending to row and no one really needs to know the direction that the boat took 😀

We came back to the car within the stipulated time of an hour and after getting off the canoe, the boatman showed me his house and garden full of tapioca, pepper and coconut.

Had time permitted, I would have loved to visit his home and I realized that I should have planned a more leisurely trip and not when I had a plane to catch.

I was lucky though that on this day, the weather was kind and cloudy but be aware that it can get very hot and sunny in the open boat, so use sunscreen and carry a cap and sunglasses.

On the return ride, I was hoping to spot fishermen catching oysters since I had heard a lot about how easily available they were. Luckily my driver was smart enough to notice a few folk sitting with their fresh haul, right at the ferry landing.

I watched fascinated as the rock like shellfish were skillfully shucked using a flat knife like tool and then washed in water and packed for local sale. Oh Shucks !!! is all that I could say when I was told that the cleaned fresh meat was being sold at a ridiculously low Rs 150 a kg. In fact every evening there are stalls selling buckets full of them within walking distance from the Raviz itself and my greatest regret was that I could not transport them back home !!!

However, the consolation was that the obliging chefs at the Raviz, catered to my every seafood whim and fancy, including the most luscious of oysters and made sure that there no wish of mine went unfulfilled in that short span of 3 days.

Speaking of food, I think it is about time we pay it due attention and move on to the cuisine !!!

Up next – Raviz Ashtamudi – Part 3-Cuisine

Pl note – This trip was made in collaboration with Panache and The Raviz, Ashtamudi. The narration is based on my own personal experiences.

If you want to weave in the Raviz in between your Kerala experience or design your own dream trip, Panache can be contacted at info@panacheworld.com

*Calling Panache a travel agency or even a travel consultancy, will not do it justice. The experiences that they passionately curate to lands less explored, would urge me to label them a Travel Styling or Travel Design company.

I was privileged to debut my travel blogging adventures under their wing and I hope to continue forth with them as they discover newer trails to be traversed and more secret destinations to unearth … with a Dash of Panache and style !!!