Dreaming of India

If you manage to make it to the southwestern tip of India, where the backwaters of Kerala lay, you can commission a houseboat and spend a day or two floating peacefully along the vast waterways that weave through fishing villages and paddy fields....

Cochin also called kochi is a bustling town with lots of places to sit back and enjoy. Take a boat ride at sunset and see the scenic fishing nets that line the shore.

A contemporary microhotel of three suites was created on the site where in 1740 the Dutch East India Company set up shop. It’s minimalist but with Indian exuberance: the odd jolting wall of electric blue, the judiciously chosen ornate antique....

Touring the Wayanad district of Kerala we came upon a temple where this folk dancer was performing Chakyarkoothu, a style of dance from in the area. This dancer is dressed as Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god. Five drummers thrummed a fast beat while...

We were promised a "sunset boat ride" with our romantic package at a resort in Cochin. The resort itself left much to be desired, but this boat ride was absolutely gorgeous. A 75+ year old man wearing a turban around his head and a twinkle in his...

I heard them before I saw them: twenty to thirty thousand ducks being herded downriver by duck farmers, a daily occurrence in the backwaters of Kerala.

While staying on a houseboat in the Kerala Backwaters (often called the "Venice of the East"), we were invited to join a local ceremony. Dressed in the southern, traditional sarees of plain linen, the women danced in a circle around an intricate...

After two weeks of being held hostage by the urban chaos of Mumbai and Kochi, I was in serious need of sensory detoxification. I hired a car and driver and went 250 kilometers south of Kochi to a small coastal village called Poovar. There flows...

On my plane from Hyderabad to Cochin I met these pilgrims going to Sabarimala. For 41 days they abstain from meat, sex, shaving... On their heads they carry a sheet which is their only bedding on the journey, wrapped around a coconut filled with...

The first of Fort Cochin's slew of heritage hotels, Malabar House has been in operation since 1996, though its history dates all the way back to 1755, when it was commissioned by a Dutchman. Today it's one of the most sought-after places to stay...

My family stayed at the Old Harbour Hotel in Fort Cochin in Kochi (Cochin), Kerala in late September 2012. An historic 300 year old building, now a boutique hotel, was a wonderful place to use as a base for exploring Fort Cochin and Kochi. The...