YOU HAVE TO VISIT this palace!

"YOU HAVE TO VISIT this palace!", I kept telling my parents, ever since I visited Padmanabhapuram palace as part of a school trip.

Padmanabhapuram Palace

In Padmanabhapuram palace grounds with school friends

Around that time, more than two decades ago, this palace was featured in an Indian regional  movie, "His Highness, Abdullah". Walking through the same places as shown in the movie; viewing the buildings constructed in an architectural style so typical to Kerala; appreciating the exquisite artistry and ingenuity in construction; having a fun time with school friends - all this made a tour of the palace a delightful experience. I wished my parents could visit it too.

Parents relaxing on the steps of the palace

Couple of times when my parents tried to visit, it happened to be a holiday. The palace was not open for public viewing on Mondays and certain public holidays. By the time they visited, it had become a bigger tourist attraction, thanks to another popular movie "Manichithrathazhu" shot in numerous locations within the palace.






When I got married, I had one more person to pester with my dialog. My husband too had not visited this palace. It was only this year, during a quickly planned trip, that we were able to stop by. If you are interested to know about the rest of our trip, read A trip to the tip of India. Though it is worth visiting by itself, this palace is mostly a part of a tour itinerary to Kanyakumari, a town at the southern-most tip of India. On our way back from Kanyakumari, we stopped at Thuckalay for a tour of this historic site, which was home to the kings of old Travancore province. Other than the palace and its premises, that are maintained by Kerala State Government, the town and surrounding areas are now part of the state of Tamil Nadu.

A palace building showing typical Kerala architecture

After buying tickets and storing our shoes, as footwear is not allowed inside the palace, we went on the self-guided tour. The guides posted at various places throughout the palace grounds could explain the historic and architectural details in multiple languages: Malayalam, Tamil, English. The intricately carved wooden ceilings, bronze lamps and figurines at the entrance were a small preview of the splendor of this royal abode. In traditional Kerala architecture, the grandeur is not depicted through gaudiness but through earthy yet elegant designs.

Bronze lamp with figurine

 

Intricately carved ceilings

A carved wooden chair and a granite seat

Many rooms in the palace had wooden ceilings and windows that provided excellent cross-ventilation, keeping them cool, without any air-conditioning. The king's meeting room, known as "Durbar Hall", had windows, referred to as "kilivathil", with exquisite glass work. When I had visited long back, we were able to walk up to the main window that looked out into the front courtyard. Like many sections of the palace, this too was now roped off and kept out of bounds, in an attempt to preserve the aging buildings.

The meeting room with wooden ceilings and stained glass windows

Windows with beautiful woodwork

Throughout the palace, there were fine carvings in wood and stone. In the building which used to be the residence of the queen mother, referred to as "Thaikottaram", there was a room with an intricately carved pillar and ceiling. This was the room where many traditional rituals used to be conducted.

Top of a carved pillar

Another ceiling with carved flowers

The king's and queen's sleeping chambers were high up. I felt the high steep stairs in various sections of the palace, the tiny old-style toilet and the low doors and ceilings would have made the life of royalty in those days tougher than that of a middle-class family of these days.

King's and Queen's sleeping chambers and the tiny toilet

Compared to the buildings which housed the royalty, the adjacent guest house, Indra Vilasom, had larger rooms with  huge doors and high ceilings to accommodate the bigger built visitors from foreign lands.

The guest house with bigger rooms and taller ceilings

As we walked out of the guest house, there was a diversion to a small museum. Exhausted after two days of traveling, we decided to skip that, and walked to the kitchen, passing a huge pond.

The palace pond

The massive kitchen had lots of non-motorized equipments. The dining hall, which we saw in earlier section of the tour, was also huge.

Kitchen with huge stone mortar and pestle

Dining hall

Finally, we reached the famous dance hall, which is all the more famous now because of an interesting dance scene from the movie "Manichithrathazhu". The floor of this dance hall shone like a mirror and was referred to as "Kannadi Thara" (Mirror Floor). We walked around the hall and the adjacent temple of an Indian Goddess. Both the hall and the temple were carved out of stone and were very different from the rest of the palace, where wood was used more profoundly.

View of main palace building, stone-carved temple and watch tower

The dance hall

Near the ticket counter, there was another small museum with various historic artifacts and mural paintings.

Historic artifacts on display in the museum

As we stepped out of the museum, I felt happy to have taken another tour of this palace and to have spent some time imagining the life of another era - how it would have been to be born as royalty or a commoner in those days. The way the queens had to peek into the dance hall through tiny windows in the roof; the pedestal, where the king could stand and listen to the complaints from his subjects; the secret passage, leading to another palace, that was used to escape when threatened; the watch tower and windowless armory room used to safely store weapons; the huge dining hall where thousands could enjoy a meal together - all of this had fascinated me during that first visit in my school days. To me, the visit was a way to walk through and experience a part of history.

Viewing the dance floor through small windows

The platform used by king to view his subjects

If you have read this far, and enjoyed this post, let me tell you one last thing: "YOU HAVE TO VISIT this palace!" (if you haven't yet visited). I hope you like it as much as I do.

For more details about location and hours, see https://www.keralatourism.org/destination/padmanabhapuram-palace/244 

Bats in town ???

Yes! The bats are in town now. Lots and lots of them! They are in downtown Austin, hanging under the Congress Avenue bridge, waiting for the sun to set. As they set flight from their hideout, they amaze people who gather above the bridge, on the banks of the lake, in boats, or those who are simply walking or driving through downtown. In addition to being a tourist attraction, these nocturnal flying mammals help the environment by eating insects and pests, and if left alone, are harmless. With this realization, and with the efforts from bat conservation and other local groups, Austin now has the largest urban colony of bats in North America, sheltering around 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats from March to October.

When we had shifted to Austin a decade ago, we had read about this, and were fascinated. Now that we may be living here for a while, let's settle down first, and wait for next spring to go see these bats. So we thought! Many springs came by and went away. The bats too must have come and gone. It was only this year, when we went for an evening stroll on the boardwalk on Lady Bird Lake, that we actually saw these flying visitors of Austin.

View of Austin skyline from the boardwalk

As we were walking back enjoying the setting sun, which was reflecting beautiful colors on the lake and highlighting the Austin skyline, we noticed a flurry of black objects moving across. "Birds! Birds!", the kids shouted. A lady walking by smiled and said those are bats, not birds.

The black lines in the sky are the bats

Well, we should have known it. These are the bats Austin is famous for! We continued to walk back, watching the black stream, and explaining the yearly migration and daily routine of these tiny mammals, to the kids and my parents, who were visiting us from India.

A week later, the topic of bats came up again. We were visiting our family friends, Jay/Shanthi, long-time residents of Austin. They mentioned how they had taken their out-of-town visitors to the Congress Avenue bridge, earlier that week, to see the bats. As with any topic, they gave us ample information along with motivation to head out to finally witness the amazing bat flight. If one cannot get on a boat and be on the lake, the center of the bridge seemed to be the best and easiest place for this. It was the end of August and it seems in August/September, there would be more bats. The babies born earlier in the season learn to fly and head out, adding to the numbers, making it close to two million bats.

After a cup of refreshing masala chai (spiced Indian tea), and spending some time in their beautiful yard, it was the perfect time to head out to the bridge. 

Feeding fish - an interesting activity for the kids

Open your eyes, be alert! It's the busy Congress Avenue Bridge

We parked behind the Austin American Statesman building, and walked by the lake, past the Statesman Bat Observation Center, which was already packed with people. We climbed the steps leading to the street and saw people lined up on the east side of the bridge. We were able to squeeze into some spots at the center. It was a cool evening and as the wind blew, we could smell bat guano or bat poop, which is supposed to be a very good fertilizer. In a short while, we saw cruise boats and paddlers heading towards the bridge, indicating it was almost time for the bats to head out.


Once the bats started flying out, it felt just like how our friends described - a giant bubble machine spitting out black objects instead of the usual white bubbles. It was as if the machine was non-stop. The bats quickly got into lines and started flying up and away. In the low light, these looked like black smoke rising out of buildings. Coincidentally, it was full moon that day, making it a lovelier sight.

Bats flying out - again the picture is not very clear and only shows black lines

View of full moon from the trail

Bats in a busy pathway

Like our friend said, we could have seen these tiny creatures better, if  the flight happened a little earlier, when there was more daylight. Surprisingly, a couple of weeks later, when we visited White Sands National Monument, we got a close-up view of bats, on the roof of a pathway in the visitor center. They were comfortably resting in spite of the heavy foot traffic beneath them.



Writing about the bats in Austin, I am reminded of the bats in my hometown, a small town named Cherthala in the state of Kerala in India. We used to watch bats hanging upside down on a tree across a canal. I am guessing these were fruit bats as we used to collect the seeds of a fruit which were apparently eaten by them. These seeds had a hard shell and we took great efforts to crack them open with stones to get the white nut that looked and tasted like an almond. I believe these nuts, called "bibbayi" in local language, are actually Indian or Sea almonds. Thinking of it now, I am not sure if it was safe to handle things left by a bat. There are numerous warnings about not touching or handling a bat, as they are potential carriers of many dangerous diseases including rabies.

Just be aware of the warnings and precautions but do not miss this if you are in Austin or if you plan to visit during months of March to October. This bat flight at night is an amazing sight, sure to delight.

Ski lessons in summer? Visit Ski Cloudcroft!

Ever thought of taking a ski lesson in summer? Well, these days, with indoor ski resorts such as Ski Dubai, one can ski pretty much any time of the year. That aside, we never thought the kids could try skiing when we went on a summer road trip to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. I would have never thought there would be a natural winter ski destination so close to the Chihuahuan desert. Nestled in the little town of Cloudcroft within Lincoln National Forest, Ski Cloudcroft is the southern most ski resort in the United States. In summer, they offer indoor ski lessons on an endless slope ski simulator.

When we started the road trip, we didn't know any of these details other than the fact that Ski Cloudcroft offered great pizzas during summer. After a hot morning, walking and sledding among the sparkling white sand dunes, we drove along the pine covered tree slopes, breathing in the crisp cool air of the mountains, in anticipation of good food.

Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico

From one of the view points near a tunnel, we could see a white patch as if someone had dropped truck loads of white sand onto the desert floor, thus creating the beautiful landscape of White Sands National Monument.

View of White Sands National Monument

A picture taken within White Sands

Further along the scenic road, we stopped to view the restored Mexican railroad trestle, an old wooden structure, which could be viewed up close by hiking down.

Restored Mexican railroad trestle

As we did not have time for any hiking, we stretched our legs and relaxed on the benches made out of old railroad ties, watching hikers down below close to the trestle.

Relaxing on a bench made from old railroad ties

Passing a busy area filled with restaurants and motels, we thought we would return to this place that looked like the town center, if we did not find the pizza restaurant. Finally, there it was - a signboard for Ski Cloudcroft! It diverted us to a narrow unpaved road heading up to a small building on a hill side with blue ski lifts.

Slopes with blue ski lifts

Just like the reviews said, the cozy restaurant served really good wood-fired pizzas. Unlike the pizza chains, this place did not use any canned ingredients - the red peppers, onions, pineapples and jalapenos were all fresh. And the cheese tasted so good.

Restaurant at Ski Cloudcroft

With our six year old who had a loose tooth, I had to cut up the pizza into small pieces using a plastic fork and knife, something I find tough. But it was worth the effort! The little guy skipped the dessert pizza opting to eat the one with veggies. "I'm choosing the healthy pizza", he kept telling us, when in fact he liked its taste and wanted to continue eating it. No one had any complaints as the rest of us were ready to grab his share of the yummy dessert pizza dusted with cinnamon sugar and topped with toasty pecans !

Though the restaurant had a sign board asking to check out the endless slope ski lesson, we were too hungry and tired to notice it. Seeing a person in ski boots, my husband jokingly asked him if he was going to ski. He turned out to be the director of the ski school, Rick, who demonstrated the endless slope saying the kids could try it if they were interested. Our eight year old was ready for it.

Ready to ski wearing shorts!

At first, it was difficult for her to balance and we could see she was really tensed. As Rick started to encourage her, telling her that the machine would run well only if she smiled, she started enjoying it. He was very patient and considerate giving her time to take a break, mentioning she can retry, if she wanted to.

Getting good instructions

While she rested, my husband gave it a try.

A fun pose with skis

It seems a practice on the endless slope prepared a novice for the skiing experience without having to worry about falling down in the cold snow. As for experts, they used variants of the simulator to improve their skills.

After a brief break, our daughter was eager to retry and was so happy when she got the hang of it.

Smiling to make the endless slope work :)

A big thanks to Rick for this interesting and wonderful activity. Hope we can visit again and try the real slopes in these beautiful mountains.

Follow these links for more details of Ski Cloudcroft:
Website: http://www.skicloudcroft.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ski-Cloudcroft-117907148296071/

Big Bend: An Adventure for the Perceptions

An information board in a visitor center described the journey through Big Bend National park as "an adventure for the perceptions". The phrase sounded quite elusive, and I could not fathom this until a recent visit. Looking back, it was indeed an adventure for the perceptions! Here is my attempt to capture this in a poem.

I stare into the distance and feel the emptiness,
I think this desert is barren due to its harshness,
Then, I see plants growing out of rocks and animals appear,
And I sense,
The amazing adaptations that withstand conditions so severe.

Barren desert

Desert flora and fauna

I see the mountains stand tall against the sky,
I think they are quite close by,
Then, I travel for miles across the openness,
And I sense,
The great visibility that feigns nearness.

Mountains not so far away

Great visibility in the land of distances

 
I feel the hot air of the desert against my face,
I think I'll be consumed by the heat in this place,
Then, I head up the mountains that form a basin,
And I sense,
The refreshing coolness offered by the elevation.

Feeling the heat on the desert floor

The cool Chisos Basin

I spot a line in the huge wall ahead,
I think it is a tiny crack instead,
Then, I cross the sprawling desert to arrive at this wall,
And I sense,
The perpetual forces that carved a canyon over the long haul.

Seems like a thin line even from across the creek

At base of Santa Elena Canyon

I wade across the creek by the gentle muddy river,
I think it is meek and has no power,
Then, I hear the gritting sound of water with dirt,
And I sense,
The hidden potential that continues to transform the inert.

Walking along the gentle, muddy river filled with grit

Wading back after hiking to base of Santa Elena Canyon

I reach a mountain base hiking a tough trail,
I think I am powerful and will prevail,
Then, I look up and see the towering mass so strong,
And I sense,
The adventure for the perceptions that I have been taken along.

Boquillas Canyon trail

Can you spot me ?