Alappuzha: Paddling through the backwaters

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On the 17th, we took an hour and a half long public bus ride from Kochi to the nearby backwater town of Alappuzha (aka Alleppey). We walked the short distance from the bus station to our guesthouse, the Palmy Residency, got settled in, grabbed some lunch, and signed up for a canal tour. Since we planned to only spend one night in Alappuzha, we attempted to check online for tickets for the night train to Madurai departing the following evening. When this proved unsuccessful, we took a rickshaw to the train station, where we found out the reservation office was closed. We decided we had no other choice but to wing it the next morning and hope there were taktal tickets (pricier, last minute tickets) available.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, then went to dinner and got some great local coffee and sweets. We went to sleep to the sounds of a big thunderstorm that was still going when we woke up. We waited for the rain to calm down, ate breakfast, and took another rickshaw back to the train station, where we were told there were 2 taktal sleeper tickets left in the 3rd class A/C sleeper section. Usually we buy 2nd class, no A/C tickets (which are cheaper), but we were desperate. In order to buy the tickets, we had to present copies of both our passports and visas - apparently the originals wouldn't suffice - so we took yet another rickshaw to a copy shop and back to the train station. We got our tickets, though, so we were happy.

Once we got back to the guesthouse, the rain picked up again, so we were worried we might miss out on our canal tour, which was pretty much our only reason for visiting Alappuzha in the first place. It's known for its backwater canal transportation system as well as its beautiful scenery and, though it in no way resembles the Italian city, is considered the Indian Venice. To our good luck, the rain stopped quickly, and we hopped on the backs of our hosts' motorcycles to be dropped off at the shipyard where our small gondola-style boat and elderly navigator were waiting for us.

We set off, and he paddled along in silence at first since he didn't speak much English, but eventually he began pointing out various flora and fauna as we passed it. Over the course of our 6 hour ride, we saw three water snakes (two of which were in the process of gobbling down fish), several kingfishers, eagles, kites, herons, egrets, mango, cashew and banana trees, rice paddies and more. We floated along the big major canal for awhile, which serves as the equivalent of a highway and has a good amount of traffic what with all the ferries, house boats, fishing boats, etc. passing through, before moving on to the smaller canals winding their way through neighborhoods. At one point it would seem like we were in the middle of the jungle, and then we'd pass by houses where women were doing their laundry in the river, beating their clothes loudly against rocks (I'm still not entirely sure what purpose this serves), which made us feel like we were passing through people's backyards.

We made two stops during our tour - one for lunch and one for tea (supposedly, but we think our navigator was simply exhausted and needed a break, which was certainly understandable). During our lunch stop, as we got out of our boat, an eagle immediately perched itself on Scott's shoulder! We soon found out that this particular eagle was the restaurant owner's "pet," but it was still pretty cool. In the late afternoon, we were taken back to the shipyard and driven to our guesthouse via a complimentary rickshaw. During the ride, our driver informed us that the wooden houseboats (formerly used to transport rice) that we'd seen all over the canals and that serve as Alappuzha's main tourist attraction (people will hire a house boat and float down the canals for days at a time) will soon become illegal due to a few recents accidents. We found this surprising and a bit sad, considering these boats are not only a trademark of Kerala, but they're also the primary source of income for many of the city's inhabitants. If these people want to continue hosting house boat tours, they will have to build/purchase a new boat made of steel, which they may or may not be able to afford and which is arguably just as likely to be damaged in an accident as a wooden boat - not to mention the steel boats we saw being constructed in the shipyard are not nearly as impressive as the wooden boats, whose planks are "stitched" together with a thick rope and sealed with pitch. In any case, the driver assured us that, as with most legal issues in India, there are bound to be loopholes so hopefully everything will turn out alright.

Even though the tour was a bit long and hot at times, it was well worth it just to be in nature and breathe some much needed fresh air. We were glad we chose a small, private tour since we didn't stand out as much as the big groups of tourists on ferries and houseboats; we did, however, have our pictures taken a fair number of times by Indian and Western passersby). Back at the guesthouse, we made sure our things were packed up and ready to go, then we headed to an internet cafe for some - you guessed it! - blogging followed by dinner and coffee. After that, we killed time by reading until it was time for us to catch our train to Madurai. It turned out that A/C class was pretty sweet - it was much more comfortable and sheets, blankets and pillows were provided, making for the best night's sleep I've gotten on an overnight bus/train yet. When our train arrived at 11:00 a.m., we were well rested and ready to go!

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Photos

Royal Enfield
These are everywhere, about time I took a picture of one.