For reasons unknown we were both wide awake at 4am. Maybe just over excited about our upcoming Kerala Backwater Tours.. albeit with no guide!! Breakfast was not until 8am, spent 4hrs listening to squawking, meowing, call to prayer and then did some packing before breakfasting. Todays fare was subtly different to yesterdays, no tomatoes in the omelets and the juice was watermelon, it was paw paw previously. (Maybe.)
We received a waving in the road goodbye from the wonderful hosts at Fort Kochi Beach Inn and said hello to our new mate, taxi driver Amil.
He was taking us to Alleppey for our backwater experience. He seemed calmer than our other taxi tuk tuk drivers so far but still managed to over and undertake pretty much every other vehicle on the road, and whilst doing this successfully managed to flog us a day tour with his brother the next day.
We arrived at Alleppey around 10am. Paid 5p for a wee and then 15p for a rather delicious coffee made with condensed milk. Other rather less useful purchases were also offered (think peacock feathers, metal wire balls) but after careful consideration we did not deem these items essential for our trip. Then we embarked on our next challenge…find a house boat for the night! We had been extremely brave and had not succumbed to booking.com for this activity, and were glad we had not as we were faced with only about 800 boats to choose from, at a fraction of the price they were online. Our taxi driver had kindly given us a crash course in essential lingo for this activity ‘no, thank you’ which helpfully sounded a lot like ‘Brenda mama’ so we remembered it. Many eyes lit up when they saw us coming and we and our heavy rucksacks were soon being shown the highlights of many boats…some of these highlights would maybe just maybe not have received a hygiene star of 5 back home…
Boat number 3 seemed like a good one…aircon and a shower rather than a bucket were included in the price, around £80 for a day boating, 3 full course meals plus coffee and snacks and 3 staff to cater to our every need! Plus no hard sell from these guys and big smiles! Bathroom left a little to be desired but we figured the cockroaches would make good travel companions.
Within moments cash was exchanged, one chap was sent on the beer run while the others sprang into action buying sacks of fish and veg and rice for us clearly emaciated looking weary travellers.
A mattress was set up at the front of the boat so we could lounge about even more than we were doing already on the sofa, and we quickly settled into our brief life on the backwaters.
Think pristine marshes…with a lot of litter…in hazier reddish light with at least a zillion birds whizzing around (Bee eaters, swallows, kites, eagles, egrets, divers) hundreds of traditional boats, and a generous sprinkling of snakes (remind us to show you the photo of the huge dead snake we saw…if we make it home…) and you are on the way there.
After 2hrs cruising we had obviously worked up a huge appetite for lunch, which was lucky as the portions were rather generous. Delicious fish curry, sides and rice. We barely made an indent but it was fantastic.
Saw lots of activities of daily living, pots, pans and people all being washed down in the river, school children waving, waving at other boats, generally a lot of waving really. It was great! Felt just a little bit like Sue Perkins on a BBC documentary…being all cool and strolling about in the sunset after we docked for the night but we were soon back on board the safety of our boat after a snake came to have a closer inspection of us than was maybe comfortable.
At 8pm dinner was served, another mega feast of curried river fish, dal, potatoes. Washed down with beer as per mums advise. All tasted incredible. An interesting variety of insects of all shapes and sizes thought the menu of us was pretty tasty too.
Around 10pm as per instruction written on the wall we went to bed, did a hunt for snakes and cockroaches…found plenty of the latter so took an antihistamine to aid our continuous sleep…
TOP TIPS FOR A HOUSEBOAT EXPERIENCE!
- Turn up to Alleppey without a guide, preferably in a taxi – there were plenty of people trying to get our attention before we got there – remember its all fun!
- Be Brave! Go for a walk and look at the houseboats- quality of boat, friendliness of staff, (We were allowed on board a few before we bought)
- Dont be afraid to haggle , have the cash on you and be prepared to walk away if you dont like the price
- Get supplies for your few nights stay before you get on board your boat
- The boats with an upstairs seemed better so you can relax on top and have a better view!
Itís nearly impossible to find educated people for this subject, but you sound like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks