Advertisement
Published: April 7th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Waving & Smiling, pure happiness!
On the way from Allappey to Amritapuri Ashram After stunning Munnar and its sea of tea plantation, time to go back to the Indian coast, white deserted beach and quiet backwaters are on the program before catching up with one of my closest friend Pauline at Amma Ashram. Far from the hustle and bustle of Indian cities, Kerala country side has this special something that makes you feel serene. No rush here or jumping from one tourist spot to another but a slow path travel where one takes the time to enjoy simple day to day life taking place all around, the colors & scents of the spices, the smile and waving of people met along the way & the every second peace.
On the map, most of the small towns seem to be near from each other but somehow I had this feeling that I better stick to a few places, traveling in India does take time! This was indeed a well inspired move as I quickly found out that wherever you wish to go, it takes four hours…no matter the number of kilometers!
Alleppey, the Venice of the East Alleppey, also called the Venice of the East, is
a pleasant chilled back stop before heading to the backwaters. Canals are dividing the town into a multitude of tinier areas, bringing touches of bright green among a mix of old and new, bright and colorful houses. The palm trees popping out here and there add the final touch & although the Tuk tuk driver was the friendly & chatty type, as soon as I reached the older part of the town, back on foot I was. At first, might look like there is not so much to see, but walking along the canals is a real treat, having short breaks at time under the shadow of one of the massive tree and simply enjoying day to day local life. Passing by Indian ladies in bright saris holding umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun, kids playing crickets in one of the town numerous park, tuk tuk drivers chit chatting moving their head sideways and back at every word they say (by then I was starting to get a really stiff neck!).
By somehow pure coincidence (still not carrying any map…), I ended up in the more touristic part of the town or at least I assumed so as
I was now seeing fellow travelers. Lots of jewelry shops there, a colorful temple and finally spices stands ! Could literally spend hours, checking up these, so many colors and scents that it makes you wish you could bring the whole thing back home! As a matter of fact, left with more than a kilo of spices, guess I am going to make lots of colleague happy back in Baghdad!
The main beach is quite long & wide, relatively flat and although there is nothing truly exciting about it, it is surprisingly clean compared to Indian standards. Not that bad after all !
Swimming there as a woman is the last thing you wish to do, so I opted for the rolled up pant option & simply walked along the sea front. The beach is mostly deserted except for a few couples seated on the sand and protecting themselves from the scorching sun using once more their famous umbrellas & a group of teenage kids playing with a tennis ball.
After a chill out evening at Johnson’s place and a quiet night, I was ready to get on the move again. In the midst of an endless
Oh so green....
On the way from Allappey to Amritapuri Ashram waiting for breakfast which somehow is only served after 9.00am, I checked once more my iPod, still plenty of time, ferry boat on the backwaters is only leaving at 10.30am…well not quite! Somehow I had gotten used to Indian slow path, and didn’t notice that my iPod was 30mn late, so by the time I realized it, it was 10.25 and I was very much about to miss the only ferry boat of the day! Still today I do not know how I managed in 5mn to run for a tuk tuk fully loaded with my back pack, find one who when he heard I had to catch the boat for Amma Ashram went literally full speed across the city to the DTPC from where ferries depart & ended up escorted (running!) by the first person I saw when jumping back from the tuk tuk to the right boat just when it was about to depart… Deep breath, sometime things are simply meant to happen!
Tropical, colourful, calm ... Kerala Backwaters are a small jewel! Lined up along the canal, houseboats and more houseboats, clearly the attractions most tourist head to when in Allepey … Most
boats can accommodate up to 15 guests and a few are a bit more up market but overall except if you stay overnight on it (and then you get to catch the sunrise), the ferry option is actually a better value for money (250 rupees for a 6 hours ride down to Amma Ashram against a few thousand rupees minimum for a ride on one of the tourist house boat).
Going slowly down along the water, iPod on to the sound of Craig Pruess, this got to be one of the most relaxing parts of the trip: absolutely nothing to do but listen to the music while enjoying how life and nature is slowly unfolding on both sides of the rivers. Colorful houses lined up, wife washing clothe or dishes in the river, kids going to fetch water for their family, playing and waving as the ferry pass by, others trying to follow on their bicycles, birds and more birds, bright green rice fields, dense tropical feel forest & the time to time encounter with locals on pirogue transporting about anything you can think of. Toward the end of the trip the river gets wider and the quiet village
life is replaced by an avenue of fishing nets, huge installation made of wood and accessible by small boat, literally covered with birds waiting for the late hours when fisher men will come to drop the nets into the water before raising them once more hoping for a good catch.
6 hours later, fully relax, it is with a huge smile on my face that I disembark at Amma Ashram, on the pier Pauline, one of my oldest friend from France & her husband Nico, the little Esteban playing somewhere in the Ashram.
Friendship, laughs & inner peace at Amma Ashram Going back to this week end at the Amritapuri Ashram, it still feel somehow unreal, being in India with Pauline, a dream we had when we were around 15 years old (even started to save for such a trip at that time) which finally came true 15 years later !
The Ashram is an experience in itself, very much oriented & based on the community leaving there for a few days or a few months, everyone participating to the daily chores & thus allowing to make it accessible to all while giving
Fishing net on Kerala backwaters
On the way from Allappey to Amritapuri Ashram plenty of chances to meet people of all ages and nationalities. These people end up together in an environment where respect & love is very much present everywhere. Mantra are played in the main temple from the morning onwards, and followed by the silence of the night, the Arabian Sea on one side and the backwaterson the other.
Going back to the beginning of this trip, sometime things are definitely meant to happen, and so was my encounter with Amma who is normally never at the Ashram at that time of the year (she would normally be touring foreign countries), well…got lucky as somehow her tour was postponed and she was in the Ashram that week, giving darshan on the two days I was there! A very personal experience but one that I will not forget, the kind that give you an inner peace & harmony that you can go back to whenever difficulties arise and for this, I can only be thankful that friendship and luck brought me there!
Sunday evening, time to go back, local style! Pauline, Rafael & I, on the back of the tuk tuk, backpack squeezed behind, going through the country side, a
Fishing time on Kerala Backwaters
On the way from Allappey to Amritapuri Ashram nice 45mn ride to the closest city to catch my train back to Kochi. It is dark already, candles have been lighted up along the road whenever there is some street sellers, faces are becoming harder to figure out. After a bit of back and forth to find the right gate, the train for Kochi enters slowly the train station, time to hug & say “see you soon”…
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 14; qc: 33; dbt: 0.0475s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Gary yeates
non-member comment
Like it
Nicely written and a couple of nice images. Will probably finish up in that neck of the woods later on this year.