INDIA TRAVEL NET

Quilon is nestled among cashew plantations and red-roofed wooden house set among winding streets. It has Portuguese and Dutch and English influences. The boat cruise here consists of passing through the cashew processing factories. There are lots of birds to watch out for - Brahminy kites, egrets, kingfishers, and bee-eaters. You can tickle your taste buds with some sumptuous seafood. Prawn farming, fish catching, copra drying and matchstick making are the main occupations here. After the cruise you can get off at the Government Guest house at Ashtamudi center by the water's edge. There are large Chinese pickle jars, old lithographs of British times, old willow pattern plates that give you feel of its past. Matha Restaurant near the jetty is really cheap and serves up spiced chicken to the local laborers. Jala Subhiksha is Kollam's floating restaurant. The KTDC Yatri Niwas is a great riverside hotel with a pleasant water front lawn. Palm Lagoon is an idyllic resort offering cottages on the shores of Ashtamudi Lake. There are more backwater tours and ayurvedic massages.
Kollam is well serviced by road and rail. Seats in express buses must be reserved in advance, otherwise seats are a problem. Super express Services take11/2 hours to Thiruvanathapuram and a littl e longer to Allapuzha. The Trivandrum Mail from Chennai goes through Kollam as does the Mumbai to Kanyakumari Express and the Mangalore to Thiruvannathapuram coastal service. For a wonderfully relaxing trip across the Western Ghats, take the Quilon Express.

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