The Train

As per our instruction the day before, we arrived at the train station half an hour early to buy our tickets. Again, we were told we could not purchase specific seats but could only get sleeper tickets that were non AC and to just sit anywhere. Andre explained my claustrophobia and was advised to simply get on one of the other coaches, find some empty seats and pay for the upgrade when the conductor came around.

We found an area on the platform where there were less people waiting and hoped we would get seats together. We waited a while because the train was delayed (very common) by an hour. It was a great opportunity to people watch. There were a good number of tourists on the platform, but mostly local folks. I noted that virtually none of the female tourists had their shoulders covered and many were wearing shorts. I had yet to see a local woman in anything that didn’t cover her legs or shoulders and from what I had read this seemed the most respectful way to dress, even in the crazy heat. I had purchased a few pairs of long flowing pants in Vietnam specifically for Sri Lanka and India and I was glad I did. I only had one top with sleeves but I had a scarf and used that to cover my shoulders when I wore singlets.

The other thing I noticed was the drinking water tank with a communal cup. So far I haven’t seen one Indian put their lips on a plastic bottle of water. They all just tilt their heads back and pour it into their mouths. I do not have this skill and I probably look odd to them putting my mouth right on the bottle, but it’s either that or have it down my top. I actually haven’t even seen them put their lips to any glasses at all. Anyway, I saw several people come to have a drink. They’d fill the cup and pour the water into their mouths. Makes sense I suppose, but I’d prefer to have my own bottle.

As the train pulled into the station we could see it was very full already, but many people were getting off. As soon as the doors cleared we jumped on and quickly sat down in the first two open seats we saw.

We ended up face to face in two side seats which was nice. Plus there was ample room to store our packs under our bottoms. When the conductor came around we upgraded without any problems, but were told that both the seats we were currently occupying would be filled later on in the journey and we would have to move. He assigned us two different spots. One on the outside of the bench and one on the side just one row down. Andre’s seat was the first to be filled and he moved down to another free spot. A few stops later someone got on who had my seat and I moved next to Andre as that spot was empty. These were not our assigned seats but when the ticket guy came around again we asked if anyone had booked them and he replied that they were open for the rest of the journey.

It wasn’t a long ride, only about two and a half hours and was pretty enjoyable. It was entertaining to watch and listen to constant flow of food and drink vendors hustling through the coaches calling out whatever they were selling, always lots of chai, cool drinks, and biryani (a rice dish). We had eaten breakfast and decided to stick with bottled water for now. I’ll be honest, both of us were a little hesitant about train food or beverages in India. Andre has a stronger gut than I do but we didn’t want to take any chances this early on in our trip.

When we arrived in Alleppey we discovered that there was a prepaid stand for rickshaws which made everything super easy. These stands were only introduced last year I believe. On indianexpress.com I read that, “The RTA decided to start the booths after receiving many complaints from passengers that autorickshaw drivers at state transport bus stations and private bus stations were fleecing them in the wee hours and demanding arbitrary fare for long-distance journeys.”

Our first stop was to get a bite to eat. The restaurant had great reviews and we were looking forward to having something off it’s more western geared menu. The food was pretty good but we ate quickly because Andre needed to use the rest room and theirs had apparently been out of service for two weeks. There was nowhere they could direct him despite his attempts to persuade them that he only had to pee. Were they sure there was no place he could even do that? The answer was no. He’d have to wait until we got to our accommodation.

Houseboats

Alleppey is known for its houseboats and we had looked into staying on one, but after some investigating we decided to stay on land and  hire a boat to explore the backwater for a few hours. From everything we had heard the houseboats all covered a similar route, departed in the mornings and docked by 6 pm. We figured that we would prefer to have the choice of where to eat and what to do, rather than be on a boat for days. Not to mention that the pricing was really dear to simply have the experience of sleeping and eating on a boat. While we had noted that accommodation was not cheap, cheap in terms of Asia not Canada, the food certainly was. You could purchase a meal for a few hundred rupees ($4.00). We could spend hundreds per night on a boat, or fifty dollars on land but right on the water.

Our stationary home was right on the water. In fact we had to get a canoe to take us to it. From our hammocks we could watch the steady stream of houseboats coast by, and there were a lot. I read somewhere that there were more than two hundred. Many boats had large groups of locals on them, most were fairly quiet but some had party music going and people dancing and have a bit of a party. It never got old waving to people as they passed by. Although this area sees quite a bit of international tourism many locals were still excited to see us.

There wasn’t much to do in Alleppey. Most people at our place only stayed one night, went on a boat ride, and then moved on. It was absolutely magical going through the backwater and we had no problem burning three nights there but the main draw was the boat tours. With the heat and humidity you really don’t want to do much anyway. The owner of our place used to work for a sheik in Dubai and he said to him with the humidity in the Kerala region it felt way hotter than Dubai ever had. 

We ate all our meals at our place and even ordered some beers for delivery. With temperatures in the high 30’s a cold beer is super refreshing, but like I said it was too hot to really feel motivated to do anything, even go on a beer run. Luckily for us, the staff arranged for someone to go across the water and meet a tuk tuk guy who would go to the shops, purchase the beer, and bring it back to the canoe so they could sail it across. The cost of beer was two hundred rupees each and the delivery fee was seventy. Deal! The food was pretty nice at our place, even if it was on the spicier side. So far Kerala has delivered up the most spice we have encountered on our travels. We love spice and back home we probably eat spicier food than most, but this doesn’t hole a candle to the food here. I don’t know what our parents would do. They either can’t handle eating spicy food, or they like it but pay for it. This would have killed them. Even when we would say no spice at all, there it was. I did find a great breakfast meal, idiyappam, that consisted of rice noodles and a vegetable curry. Spicy but delicious.

Boat Ride With Reggie

The time came for us to do our own tour of the backwaters. The owner of the accommodation recommended a guy and set us up for a three hour tour (the Gilligan’s Island theme song just kept repeating in my head). He said that three hours would be plenty of time to see a good portion of the area. Our boat guy, Reggie, was to pick us up at 3pm. Reggie was about 20 minutes late and had zero personality. That didn’t matter so much, we just sat down on the mattress at the front and enjoyed the view. It was unbelievably beautiful.

We had just under two hours of watching life on the water play out and it was magic. During the remaining time things got weird. Actually, even before that last hour Reggie had made two stops that seemed odd. One was at a shop on the water. He docked and asked us if we wanted any water or snacks. We had only been on the boat for maybe and hour and we had brought water. Also we didn’t bring money because we were going on a boat ride. No shopping was anticipated. Anyway, we declined and yet he had us sat there for a good six or seven minutes. It became clear it was a deal that the boat guys brought people here to spend money. The had an eagle you could take a photo with etc. I was slightly annoyed but just sat and enjoyed the views and watched other boats go by, some tiny local ones with school children being rowed home at the end of their day. We set off again. Andre seemed surprised at the direction he was taking us because he had looked on Google maps and it appeared to be a dead end. 

It was another gorgeous area. There wasn’t another single boat down there which was odd, but it was peaceful and we enjoyed it. It was in fact a dead end, which was fine, but it was a long passage and he puttered out of the area slower than he went in, and when I say slow I mean I swim faster than we moved and I’m just an okay swimmer. Because we were eager to see as much as possible it would have been nice for him to head out at more than a trolling pace, but whatever.

The next portion of the ride was magnificent. There were moments that were so enchanting we felt like we were in a movie. At one point as we floated down a channel we began hearing music from a nearby mosque. The music slowly got louder as we drifted closer. The sight of ladies flanking the water’s edge washing clothes and doing dishes, people fishing with twigs and line, bathers scrubbing at their skin, kids laughing and playing, goats eating, and a cow tied up under the shade of a tarp, all these things came together to create such a surreal moment.

One more stop was up ahead. Our guy asked us if we wanted any chai. Again we said no thank you, but he stopped again and got off and had one. It seemed odd to have someone take a tea break when you’ve only hired them for three hours but we were in a sweet little spot with music rippling out across the water from a mosque so we were fine to sit back and enjoy it.

From there we passed though an area where the water was very densely packed with foliage. This occurs when the connecting rice fields open up their dams to release excess water and trimmed plant material. 

It can cause issues for the smaller boats like the one we were on but Reggie managed just fine weaving his way through the narrow space that was clear of debris. Again, this area was really quiet. No room for large boats to pass though and so we only passed a few people.

The last part of our journey was when things got especially odd. We headed back into an area that was was large enough for the big houseboats but instead of turning and following the direction they were all headed, Reggie went the other way toward the open water. Andre looked at his phone. Yes, Reggie was heading out of the channels. I’m not sure why we didn’t say anything. No, I know why. We are too Canadian and polite. We have noticed this a lot in our travels. It’s great that Canadians are so polite but compared to other cultures we really don’t say what we want or truly think much of the time because we don’t want to hurt people’s feelings. Compared to so many other people in the world we are not straight forward at all.

Reggie was the boat guy and who were we to tell Reggie how to do his job. We had told our host that we wanted to see the backwaters. When asked if we wanted to see the sunset we had said no. We were more interested in watching everyday life than seeing another sunset, as beautiful as they were. He had communicated all this to our guy, so we were told. So we sat quietly while Reggie steered us toward nowhere. We spent a solid hour out of the channels with a great view of the sunset. Ha! We tried to explain that we didn’t want to be out this far and we wanted to get closer to land to see more activity, but he didn’t understand a word and seemed to interpret our request to get closer as a request to stop and sit there. Andre shook his head no vigorously and waved his hand toward land ushering him to keep moving. We continued on at a snails pace and saw little more than the sunset until we were steered back into the channel that was just upstream  from our place.

In hindsight, I would have asked to see the path we were taking before heading out but it never occurred to us at the time. We still had a fabulous time and would do it again. The beauty of the backwaters was undeniable and it allowed us to see how the people in that area lived. I was happy we hired a small boat as we were able to go down into smaller spots that the houseboats couldn’t get into. I think the houseboats are overrated. Unless you’re hiring them out with extended family or with a large group of friends I don’t feel it’s worth it. A day tour of the backwater is plenty. We chose only a few hours and we were satisfied. 

Video note: Some portions are sped up 😉

 

224 days in…

Now to the port city of Kochi.