Our point of interest in Kerala was Alappuzha(the most difficult word I have ever tried to pronounce, actually it is neither “zha” in the end nor it is “ra” in the end, it is somewhere in between if you hear it from the locals. I tried it many times; it is a full blown tongue twister. For the record I am still trying, and Ajith next time, when we meet, I will spell it correctly). The last character in the name is a character which is not present in Devanagri script, it is a sole property of malayalam language. Whenever you try to spell it in front of locals, they will always say, you cant, you got to learn it in childhood. Anyways my quest is ON for it.
Backwaters.
Alappuzha is better and thankfully known as Alleppey. It has the best backwaters in India. Many have asked me, what are backwaters? Let me fetch a definition from wiki (The Kerala backwaters are a chain of brackish lagoons and lakes lying parallel to the Arabian Sea coast. The network includes five large lakes linked by canals, both manmade and natural, fed by 38 rivers, and extending virtually half the length of Kerala state. Backwaters do meet and empty themselves in the sea, but it is controlled by barrages to keep the sea at bay.). In kerala, Alappuzha, is the best place to experience them. So we decided to go to the “Venice of the east”. This time as well, I headed with the same Gokarna trip gang.
Backwater cruise started.
Alleppey is around 575 kms from Bangalore and approximately 450 kms from Mangalore. I took a 12 hr bus ride to the place and Mangalore folks were lucky enough to get hands on the train tickets. Raj Lodge, near Alappuzha bus stand was the meeting point for us. It is wise to book the House Boat in advance and we are. We had booked a fully furnished 2BHK house-boat. The house configuration sounds like a real concrete house, it is indeed in many ways better than that.
House Boat Drawing Room.
The house-boat had 2 bedroom with double beds and attached washrooms with showers :D. A separate kitchen area towards the end of the boat. The drawing room with no walls lies towards the start of the boat. Well, our drawing room had a Sofa set, a glass table with chairs for 4 and bingo!!!! A home theatre system. What else do we want from a house. And the best thing about this house is that you can take it anywhere you want. How good is that?
House Boat bedroom.
But guys, this aint cheaper than a normal house. For a house boat like the one we had, it took the owner 25lacs to build. A plum amount.
Before boarding the boat, we had our breakfast at a local restaurant. For the ones who like beef, your breakfast will be as good as it can be. Beef curry with idiyappam(a very thin noodles like preparation). And on top of it, instead of normal or cold water, you are served warm water that has some ayurvedic ingredients in it. It tastes good as well. Try it.
Our boat cruise started at 11AM, when the boat first started from the parking bay and began to crawl in the winding backwater lanes, the whole experience was awesome. You really feel as you are in God’s own country. The wonderful ride is coupled with equally pleasing wind. For the first half an hour we couldn’t stop but to appreciate the house-boat and the backwaters.
Every house has their own personal back water.
The house-boat is generally equipped with an onboard cook and believe it or not, the food he served on the entire trip was heaven like. In the lunch, we had Fried Fish and Fish Curry made in local style. If you request, cook can catch a fish in front of you and will cook it for you as well.
Fish.
We stopped a few times for the boat supplies and for some supplies for us.
Todi Shop.
We spotted this big group of ducklings, look at the symmetry.
Ducks.
In some areas backwaters are pretty deep, more than 10mts. But still there are many spots where it is 2-3 mts deep (that is still enough to get drowned). We took life jackets and went for swim. Being fresh water, it was a much better experience than we had last time at the Malpe beach. We snapped some good diving pics as well.
Meanwhile it was evening time now; boat was tied to a tree on the shore. At this time of year, they don’t anchor the boat in the middle of water due to high winds but during winters they do so. Many other boats were also anchored along the shore. Meanwhile our cook was busy preparing delicious chicken for the night, we wandered in the nearby paddy fields.
Paddy Fields.
Todi is a local drink very common among the locals and a delicacy for the tourists. We too tried it. It is a sourly in taste and should be drink in one big gulp rather than taking small sips. It can be a little unpleasant in taste for some but if you develop a taste for it. It is heavenly afterwards.
Sunset Pic. (Trying with Manual Focus)
The best part is that the wind blows all the time but still mosquitoes will not spare you. It is good to take mosquito coils with you. Try not to sleep in the bedrooms else you will loose the amazing starry night sky.
It was an early morning for all of us. The boat headed towards a vast expanse of water. It looked as if there was no shore. It was immense. It was partly cloudy with few water drops falling here and there. A perfect time to take the morning tea. With the tea we came to know that our wonderful time had to come to an end. We were supposed to vacate the boat by 10AM so that they can cleanup the boat and prepare it for others.
Morning Pic.
They even have waterway signs.
Before vacating we took bath on the house boat, in the shower :D. The cook had made delicious and soft idlis for the breakfast.
And finally our boat was docked in the parking bay.
Parking Bay.
This was all about the 24 hr heavenly experience on the house boat.
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