i took the early train from cochin to alleppey with the intention of spending the afternoon relaxing in alleppey before taking my houseboat cruise into the backwaters of kerala however fate intervened in a good way :-) i arrived at the guest house and the owner advised he had a french couple who were heading out in 30mins time who wanted company to share in the costs so i jumped in the rickshaw and we were off to meet them and climb aboard ;-)
our houseboat was massive in size and was clearly made for larger groups than ours. i had a lovely room to myself with a massive squishy bed!! we spread ourselves out, relaxed with fresh coconut milk on the top deck and watched the world go by in slow motion.
the back waters are an intricate collection of small rivers, canals and streams. many people from kerala live along these waterways, fishing, farming and etching out a life for themselves and their families. it's a very lush, green and beautiful area of the state and no one seems to be in much of a rush. we puttered around on the boat, had a lovely lunch, took some photos and simply kicked back which was a welcome change. along the way, we stopped to check out a "snake boat" which is a cross between a really long rower and a canoe; it holds 110 rowers and 10 people who sing/chant out the rhythm to paddle. every year, each village races their snake boat down the river. the one we saw was the most recent champion and had been in use since 1972.
we docked for the evening, had dinner and listened to "western music" which was an odd collection of really old western songs with indian dance music beats mixed in... quite an interesting sound for the ears :-) and then we headed off to bed.
i arose early (as always) as one of the crew had advised that we'd get a good sunrise. it was lacking in colour however it was nice to watch the world wake up along the canals and have a mug of warm chai tea. we had breakfast and then paddled through some more narrow canals to get a better glimpse of life in the back waters. it reminded me a lot of the mekong delta in vietnam.
we returned back to alleppey and i settled into a guest house, had lunch, used the internet and promptly managed to get myself completely lost!! there are two canals in alleppey and i got disoriented and couldn't figure out which way to go so i ended up paying a rickshaw driver twice the going rate to get me home :-) (it turns out the internet cafe was less than 600m from the hotel!!) i had a rest and then headed off for dinner in the rain.
dinner was fantastic (and i didn't get lost :-) however it was slightly out of the way. since it was raining i decided to take a rickshaw back to the hotel however they wanted to charge me 3x the going rate so i politely refused and stubbornly walked a third of the way home getting drenched on the way before finding a more reasonably priced rickshaw. the difference was $1CDN however for me, it was entirely the principle ;-) i can be so stubborn sometimes!!
i woke early and caught a local bus to kallambam (en route to varkala) which was either crammed full or moderately full (people always standing) depending upon where we were on the 2.5hrs journey. unfortunately for me, when i was due to disembark, the darn bus was jam packed and i couldn't get my backpack through the throngs of people. a local gentleman grabbed it and unceremoniously pushed and shoved people out of the way so the backpack could get through and i could get off. i was dumped on the side of the road with a gesture of "that way" and the bus drove off.
i walked up the road and found a turn off for varkala so i stood on the corner, hoping for another bus. one arrived not 5mins later and i got on it. there were two doors to the bus, a front door for the ladies and a back door for the gents. unfortunately, because of the number of ladies, i got sent to the back door. the gents on the bus then encouraged me, to the point where i was clearly told that "it'd be better for me in the front with the ladies", to move forward so i did. it's such an interesting cultural habit; men and women are not allowed near one another!! the ride was quick to varkala and then i took a rickshaw to the beach. all up, the journey was about 3.5hrs in length!!
varkala was definitely a different place but that's for the next entry :-)
hugs,
s
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