There are places that appeal to all your senses and there are some special places that touch your heart straight. One such place is where I am today - the Spice Village Resort (Thekkady, Kerala) an eco-friendly resort owned by the CGH Earth Group of Hotels. CGH Earth could very well be called Clean, Green, Healthy Earth. (Visit - http://www.cghearth.com/)
For the first time I am in a place which met and surpassed my philosophy of life in all respects. A day in the Spice Village Resort begins with sounds of hundreds of bird species chirping in almost a rhythmic pattern, listening to which you can walk towards the Periyar wild life sanctuary, the entrance gate of which is just a kilometer away from the Spice Village. After a 2 hour jungle trek, a warm, heathy and flavorful breakfast awaits you at the resort. After which you can stroll endlessly inside the property where every herb, shrub & tree is named, these include a lot of spice plants that this particular area (Thekkady) is famous for. For serious spice plantation tours one can hop on a mini bus and ride to many plantations within a few minutes drive accompanied by highly knowledgeable and experienced naturalists botanists who can educate you with life time worth of information. Yoga classes are offered on the premises as well for those interested.
You can spend the afternoons lazing around the pool or take Ayurvedic massages & treatments in the in-house Ayurvedic center where most herbs & roots used are grown within the resort premises. Following which you can take a tour of the organic vegetable garden, paper factory (100% recycled artistic paper is produced here), compost plant or water treatment plant. Or take the bullock cart ride, boat ride or the raft ride around the Thekkady village & Periyar lake. Evening time is time for fun filled cooking classes taught by resident chefs, that follow tasting too!. While sun goes down the village we see young dancers from the local area showcase Mohiattam & Bharathanatyam performance with their intricate foot work to live music around a campfire. The live Carnatic music continues through dinner time where one can choose to eat at the main village cafe or go over to the other side of the resort to a restaurant called the 50 mile diet. Where every ingredient used in the menu (that changes everyday) is grown organically within 50 miles of the resort. While you do all this in a day you will meet (once every 30 min) a very friendly & warm staff member of spice village who does something special very for you. This is a place where guests are family, local people are the vendors, artists are celebrated, endangered flora and fauna are protected, earth in general, is worshiped. This is what India has been about for thousands of years and this is how nature intended humans to live. I came here, and connected my soul with the soul of earth...On the lighter note, I certainly have ideas now as to where and how I should retire!
