Crazy Dragon Boat Race!

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I seem to have timed my stay in Kerala quite nicely. Well that's why I dragged myself away from Periyar and raced all the way back to Fort Cochin yesterday so that I could be in striking distance. It's the annual Allepy Dragon Boat Race where the sleepy town comes alive when thousands of revellers come out to watch the dragon boat races.

The only dragon boat race I'd seen before was on the Thames with about 10 people in the boat. In Allepy this is a major event in a league of it's own. In each boat 80 or 90 men are paddling like crazy! This year is also the first year that there's an all women powered dragon boat (though they aren't allowed to compete in the race)

I decide to take the easiest tourist option and book a day package which includes transport from Kochi to Allepy and back and a day out on a boat in order to watch the race away from the crush on land. Something I'm very glad of later! Waiting for the bus I meet a German guy called Nico, a first - a fellow solo backpacker who has been travelling around India for a few weeks and he is friendly wow 😊 We have a giggle about some of the situations we've both been in during the past couple of weeks. I'm astonished to at last find a friendly backpacker hooray maybe there are some around here!

The boat races are amazing to watch, there are thousands of people enjoying the day - getting a little crazy and jumping into the river. On our boat alone we have a feast of curry and fresh fruits, a group of drummers merrily dance away and later on (aided by a few giant sized Lion beers) we join in and dance on the bow of the boat. Excellent! I'm really happy to bump into Mark and Sabrina again who are also onboard yey maybe there is a bit of a backpacker's trail around here after all!

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Photos

Best seats in the houseboat
Mark and Sabrina surveying the races from the bow

Rehydrate, rehydrate!
Nico and I pretending to be sober