Similarity #1: Canals (Obviously)

Similarity #2: Busy Busy Busy

Similarity #3: Religious Sites

Difference #1: Well, They are Very Different (Obviously)

Difference #2: In Alappuzha You Can Actually Relax

While the jewel of the Adriatic is one of the most visit sites in the world, Alapuzzha is far more of an undiscovered gem. The crush of tourists can make Venice almost impossible to enjoy, although the commotion on the canals can be fun for a while. However, just a short trip out of Alappuzha’s centre and you can reach a mesmerising paradise and floating towards Kerala’s backwaters is like descending into a dream of peaceful beauty. This is India at its best, and while it’s not Venice, it’s wonderful in its own right.
 
Don’t take our word for it though, you should see Kerala’s “Venice of the East” for yourself! The best way to visit Alappuzha is to join the Malabar Rampage 2017 rickshaw adventure. The minimal assistance rally travels from Trivandrum to Panaji, in a week of discovery, laughs, and over 1000km! You’ll explore the incredible food, scenery, and culture, that make South India so special.
 

Cardamon

 
Both green and black cardamom seeds are essential South Indian spices and are popular all over the region. Green cardamom is the most popular, and most versatile,  used in everything from spice mixes (like garam masala) to desserts. Black cardamom has a powerful, smoky taste, and the pod can be incredibly spicy. As well as its delicious flavour, cardamom is revered for its health benefits: it’s said to possess numerous favourable qualities, including being anti-carcinogenic, anti-depressant, a detoxicant, and a cure for gum disease! By weight, it is the world’s third most expensive spice.
 

Tamarind

 
Tamarind is actually a fruit, whose insides are sour though they can become sweeter, depending on ripeness. Often used as a paste, it’s an important feature of South Indian cuisine, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, where it’s mixed with chilli powder, and Tamilnadu, where it is the most commonly used souring agent. Used in everything from stews to sauces, desserts to drinks, it’s also prominent in the West as an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce.
 
 

Red Chilli

 
Perhaps the most famous of all essential South Indian spices is red chilli. Brought to India by the Portuguese, their former colony of Goa is still known for its chilli-based curries like Vindaloo. However, chilli is now an important part of cooking all over South India, and three-quarters of chillis exported from India actually come from Andhra Pradesh, not coincidentally known as home to the spiciest food on the subcontinent. Chillis are usually dried and ground up into a powder, though can be used whole, for example in tadka. If you can handle the spice, they also regarded as good for your health.
 
 

Turmeric

Black Pepper

 
Though popular worldwide, black pepper is native to South India, originating in the Western Ghats and the Malabar Coast. The heavy, regular, rainfall of the region provides the perfect conditions for growing the spice, which the area still exports to much of the world. Usually ground straight onto dishes, black pepper is also very good for your health: it speeding up the metabolism, strengthening bones, and protects the liver!
 
 

Clove

 
Though originally found on Indonesia’s Maluku islands, cloves are now one of the essential South Indian spices. The dried flower buds provide a characteristicly warm flavour, and the whole bud is often cooked in oil or ghee to spice a dish, though too much can overpower other flavours. Cloves have long be known to be healthy, and play a role in tradition Indian Ayurvedic medicine.
 
 

Nutmeg

 
Nutmeg is the seed of the Myristica fragrans tree, which also originated in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia; another spice, mace, is derived from the seed’s dark red shell. Ground then dried, nutmeg adds warth to a dish and is often used in biryanis, although, unlike in Western cuisine, South Indians rarely add it to desserts. While nutmeg contains many healthy nutrients, and in medium doses is an effective anti-depressant, avoid consuming large quantities: it’s actually a dangerously powerful hallucinogenic!
 
 

Cassia (or cinnamon)

 
Cassia, derived from the bark of a Chinese evergreen tree, is one of the essential South Indian spices, and is often sold abroad by the name cinnamon. True (Ceylon) cinnamon, derived from Sri Lanka, is rarer. Cassia, sometimes known as Chinese cinnamon, has a slightly sweeter taste than its namesake and is another spice that Indians use to flavour savoury dishes, while being a popular dessert topping in the West.
 

Taste the essential South Indian spices!

If you want to experience true South Indian food, as well the region’s glorious scenery and thriving culture, why not join us for a Rickshaw Challenge adventure rally? The next race is the Classic Run, a week long trip from Chennai to Trivandrum, beginning on December 28th 2016. You’ll have the chance to experience the wonderful cuisines — and essential South Indian spices — of Tamilnadu and Kerala, while having the adventure of a lifetime!
 

Beaches

The Promenade

The Cuisine

The French and Tamil Quarters

 

One of the greatest joys of Pondichery is to explore the French quarter, formerly known as “White Town”, with its French street names and colonial architecture. Like a proper European city it’s laid out in a grid system. It even has a Notre Dame (des Anges) which offers mass in French, Tamil, and English. Many locals still speak French, and the unusual laid-back attitude here attracts many bohemian types away from the high-paced cities. The Tamil Quarter, previously called “Black Town”, is an interesting comparison though it too retains French influence. However, the difference is clear to see: the streets are narrower and more disordered, the area dotted with temples and the occasional grand colonial mansion.
 

Cathedrals and Temples

Auroville

Visit Pondicherry with a Rickshaw Challenge!

 
If you like the sound of Pondicherry (and rickshaws!) then come along for a rickshaw challenge adventure rally! The Tamilnadu run leaves in two days time, with participants racing for a week including a night’s stop in Pondicherry. If that’s too soon, consider the Classic Run, beginning December 28th from Chennai. Over ten days the auto tuk tuk race will make its way South to Trivandrum, and there’ll be a chance to explore Pondi on the way. It’s a wacky way to explore the South of India, and you’re guaranteed to have a laugh, as well as a great adventure.
 

 

Karimeen Pollichathu

Fish Curry

Parotta and Beef Fry

Kerala Biryani

Unniyappam

Banana Fritters

Puttu with Kadala Curry

Idiyappam with Egg Roast

Appam with Stew

Sadhya

Colaba Causeway

Crawford Market

Chor Bazaar

Zaveri Bazaar

Dadar Flower Market

 

Dadar Flower market — also known as “Phool Gully”, meaning flower street — is a flower lover’s dream, whatever your favourite variety. It’s a wholesale market, so is generally liveliest early in the morning. While your purchase might not survive the journey home, the prices are so cheap you might as well surprise your favourite travel companion with a bouquet!
 

Fashion Street

Linking Road

Kochi

The city of Kochi (also known as Cochin) is a major port, and has earned the nicknames the Queen of the Arabia Sea and the Gateway to Kerala. Its status as hub for trading spices, which it has maintained for hundreds of years, has ensured wealth and prosperity in addition to much immigration (from elsewhere in India and abroad). While almost half of those living in Kochi are Hindu, there are also sizeable Christian and Muslim populations. In smaller numbers you will find Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and – famously – Jews.
 

The history of India’s Oldest Jewish community

The origins of Kochi’s Jewish past are disputed. Some historians have theorised that the first Jewish arrivals in Kerala came only in the early middle ages. However, it is often suggested that Jews emigrated to India after the destruction of the Second Temple, in 70 AD. An earlier claim is that the Cochin Jews descend from Israel’s Ten Lost Tribes, having left at the time of the Assyrian Exile in 722 BCE. However, many believe that Jews first reached the Malabar Coast as traders at the time of King Solomon, who lived in the 11th Century BCE. They are said to have returned to his temple with many spices, ivory, and even monkeys.

The other Cochin Jews

Here is where the story of the oldest Jewish community gets more complicated. There is in fact another Jewish community in the same area, who arrived in the 15th and 16th centuries, Sephardi jews fleeing persecution in Spain and Portugal. These newcomers became known as the Paradesi, the local word for foreigner. The original Jewish community were the Madamalabari Jews, having long inhabited the Malabar coast.

The exodus of the Kerala Jews

For hundreds of years the Cochin Jews thrived and despite some leaving for bigger cities, by the 1950s Kerala had 2500 Jews,with eight synagogues. Remarkably though, in all that time the Malabari and Paradesi Jews never saw eye to eye. They shared the same interpretation of Judaism, flavoured by Indian custom. Compared to traditional Judaism, Cochin Jews have a greater emphasis on singing, and women are permitted to sing in public, and together with men. They have no rabbis, only community elders. And they enter the synagogue with bare feet, while their colourful festival clothing bears much similarity to Hindu style.

The remaining Cochin Jews

Only very few remain to this day. The leader of the Malabari community is Babu, caretaker of the historical Kadavumbagam synagogue, out of use since the ’70s. There are not the required ten men for shabat service, and he only managed to celebrate shabat recently when a tour group from Israel came over specially. He too plans to move to Israel in the near future.

Rickshaw Challenge

If you’re intrigued by Kochi, and Kerala generally, you’re in luck: the Malabar Rampage rickshaw challenge passes right through! Next taking place in April 2017, a month sure to have a pleasant climate, the adventure rally will cover a route of over 1000km, from Trivandrum to Panaji. On the way you’ll see a lot of history and plenty of jaw-dropping scenery, whilst navigating Indian traffic on your tuk tuks (maximum speed 60 km/h)! From Kerala, across Karnataka, to Goa, it’ll be a crazy (and beautiful) week…
 

To Thomas Kuhnelt, 30, an employee of an aerospace company in Munich, Germany, being caught in the Mumbai traffic was “thrilling. ” What made it even more “fun” for him was that he was driving an auto rickshaw in one of the most congested cities in the world, and not merely travelling in one as one would normally expect.
Kuhnelt is no ordinary tourist, a racer like the dozen others from the UK, USA, Germany, Canada, Australia and Switzerland, who have arrived in the country to drive the noisy, hardly roomy, humble auto across its dusty roads and highways in the ‘Rickshaw Challenge — Mumbai Xpress’, an adventure rally from Mumbai to Chennai. “This is not simply an adventure trip, but a learning experience as we are getting to know so much about the tradition and culture of the people of India,” said Dr Erik Jentges, 30, of Zurich, Switzerland.
Pia Brasher, 31, and Alisha Hughes, 29, of Australia, who share an autorickshaw with Ruth Brown, 30, of the UK are teachers from Dubai. They hope to make use of the journey to campaign for educating the people of rural India. Having enjoyed their journey so far, the women are grateful for the friendly reception they have received everywhere.
The racers are also contributing to the fund raising programme of the Round Table India through their trip round the country, having already raised US $80,000 for the club’s projects in India through the Rickshaw Challenge. The grateful Round Tablers were there to greet them in Hosur before they set off on the next leg of their journey to Chennai, where they are scheduled to arrive on Friday.
Via: deccan chronicle
More Mumbai Xpress 2012 press:
The Firangi auto pilots
Rides to hinterlands
A bit of India on three wheels