Health Village Ayurvedic Hospital

Here we are back at the Health Village, just for few days for a tune up and to make sure my shoulder is healing. We see lots of positive changes as this Health Village Hospital location is coming up to its six month anniversary, since moving from the original location which was established in 1945. The word must be getting out regarding this great Ayruvada Hospital because it's filled to the brim with patients from all corners of the globe, Chile, China, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, U.S.A. and Australia just to name a few. We arrived to a warm welcome and started a short regime of treatments the next day. Yoga in the morning, pranayama in the afternoon. The best vegetarian food. This is time to regroup and plan the next leg of our journey. We will be travelling north towards the Himalayas in a few days, with our initial destination being Darjeeling located at the eastern border region of Nepal. We shall take several weeks stopping along the way to visit Ooty, Wayanard, Mysore, Hyderabad and few more select cities

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We got he same room and the treatments were great. My shoulder feels back to normal. I had a Sekam treatment with hot oil poured on my joints continuously for an hour. I'm feeling the benefits more every day. What a great healing centre this is. My Doc,  Dr Karthik is the most caring person. He really takes time to listen, always willing to assist us with knowledge and understanding regarding India, ayruvada or suggestions to ensure we are travelling to the right places using the most appropriate modes of transportation as well.

The whole staff here continuously go above and beyond, whether it be the daily cleaning and sanitizing of our room to preparing and delivering afternoon tea, to the offering of sound advice by who Lisa and I call the Happiness coordinator, Sheba.

Munnar , Kerala

We are staying at the Olive Brook Retreat about 1000 meters above sea level nestled in the Western Ghats. As we have done in the past, we just came across this place as we searched along the higher roads using a Auto rickshaw /Tuk Tuk and as chance would have it, here we are for a few days. Olive Brook Retreat has a similiar ambience as did the Lake Palace on Periyar Lake in the Thekkady Tiger reserve. The rooms here are nicely appointed with beds we have been dreaming of.  The staff are professionally trained in Hotel management and practice GhandiGi directive regarding Guests in India.

I'm recuperating in the mountains. I think my shoulder is almost healed from my crash in the waves last month. The cool fresh mountain air and the aroma of the surrounding cardamom plants is intoxicating the gardener here is fantastic and the most varieties of beautiful flowers. We woke to the sound of birds singing. One elusive bird sounds like a person whistling. Rob is getting up tomorrow to video and record the sounds at 5:30. He is in love with the birds. Watch for it on Facebook 

Yesterday we walked 5 km into the valley below throught the tea plantation.

Giant boulders are everywhere. They plant white oak trees for shade for the tea.

Rob's nickname in Kumily is rockman, due to his need to build barbecues here in Kerala. 

Rob can't help himself, he really likes gardening.

We walked all through this valley of tea.

This whole valley is tea plantations in the lower areas and cardamom higher up. Coffee and Cocoa here and there.

Poinsettia are everywhere as are over 500  indigenous flowers and 500 different bird species adding to our visual and listening experiences.

More adventures in Tekkady

The elephant camp was next door to Koshys B&B on the perimeter of Thekkady Tiger Forest Reserve and tribal area. The two of us decided to hop aboard and spend sometime roaming through the forest atop Bena, our 4 ton hostess.

After the elephant ride some boys asked Rob to play cricket.

We did a day trip on a boat to tour Lake Periyar so we could have lunch at the old Kerala's Kings palace hunting retreat. It was used also as his summer home. 

We had a 5 course lunch at the palace and spent the afternoon looking at elephants, wild boar and samba deer grazing near the waters edge across the way and witnessed a wild dog moving in for the kill.

Rob built a huge BBQ and we had a party on the last night. 

There were about 20 people, a women who sat down and made baskets for us. 

Then Ramani's cousin translated her story... Married  at 13 to a 35 year old man. When she was about to give birth, she had to climb a tree and give birth by herself. Cut the cord and then after all that climb down the tree to get water to clean the baby and herself .

She has 3 sons and 9 grandchildren now. We gave her the head flashlight so she can make baskets at night .

A business man, sebastin the organic herb farmer, the family next door with 3 generations of girls who sang to us like angels. 

As Zachary would say, it was quite a program. 

We cooked BBQ chicken and butter fish.

It was all delicious !   Ramani and Omana cooked curried fish, 

and many dishes

Living in Tekkady

We ended up staying in Kumily, Tekkady Forest region for 10 days. We felt at home in our 3 bedroom apartment. Although the kitchen was just a kettle and sink, I had the opportunity to cook with Ramani  here at Koshys homestay . I made some classic Kerala dishes under her guidance and shared a few of my own. This is homemade bread. Sooo yummy!

 Zac and Ramani started this bed and breakfast 8 years ago, deciding that after so many years in the heat in Kottayam they would prefer to find relief by relocating to Kumily in the mountainous Western Ghats region bordering Tamilnadu state. Their children helped them get it started. He is a minister and worked in the hospital as the Chaplin until last year when he had a stroke in March. This year has been a challenge and when Ramani called Zachary to tell him she had meet us on the bus, he told her that god just gave him a message that he would send someone. 

I made hummus and veggies, buffalo burgers and potato salad

Then she showed me how to make chicken briyani. See video on Facebook 

We went to an Ayurvedic herb and spice garden Muthuplackal Aroma with Sebastion as our guide. He has worked this farm for over 35 years. He is adamant about organics. Right up my ally. 

Coffee beans

He made us smell, taste and guess what each thing was. Did you know bay leaf is the same family as cinnamon?

We saw cloves,  cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, curry leaves, ginger , turmeric and many more

This is nutmeg