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Published: December 9th 2006
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Sunset on the Kerala backwaters
Just another sunrise....not going to get tired of this! Now I’ve tried many forms of transpot in India so far and the last few days I’ve been exploring a new method, ferry’s, canoes and luxury house boats. As well as the beaches Kerala is reknown as the place to float through its extensive rivers and backwater system, and according to Lonely Planet, is a ‘must do’. How cold you refuse that.
So the next stop on the agenda was Kollam, which is the southern gate way to the backwaters. From here we took the 8 hour ferry ride up the coast to Alleppey, winding our way through the coconut palm embankments, cashew nut plantations, and hundreds of villages pinned to the waters edge. Although a long journey an incredibly easy and relaxing one, floating along peering into the lives of the Keralan people. Watching how families live, farm, fish selcuded from the hassles of city life.
The trip is broken up where we are served lunch at a local restaurant, a vegie Thali meal, being a selection of small vegetable curries, rice and roti. Now no knives or forks are provided as this is a traditional restaurant, and you are to eat with your hands, like everyone else
Chinese Fishing Nets
crazy contraptions that are supposed to catch fish. does. The funny part was the amount of westerners that pulled out their own cutlery was a laugh. I savered the moment as this was the first time and a good excuse to finally eat wih my figures. And I ll honestly not as easy as it looks, there is a real trick to it, otherwise you just look like some cheap dirty bastard shoving food into your mouth. But with a bit of practice I’ll have it sorted soon enough. We also stopped off at a small village for afternoon tea and nibbles from a local vendor. The good thing is in India, if you are hungry or thirsty you don’t need to travel far to sample fresh dosa’s, cakes or a warm chai tea. Although I must warn people the Indian’s like things sweet, real sweet, and it’s hard to get a good cup of tea. The chai they serve is a broth of steaming milk, loads of suger and a wee bit of tea, sounds nice but like I said sweet. I’ll stick to a black tea and milk on the side thank you.
The area is amazingly still, relaxed, calm, it demonstrates the values of
Chinese Fishing Nets
Weaving through the endless sea of nets. simple life living off the land and surviving on what you can gather. Most of the people here are fishermen, working the banks, fishing in canoes or boats or working these amazing contramptions scattered across the large open lakes, or nestled on the river banks edges. Through the backwaters the local fisherman use these chinese fishing nets, which look like something from a movie, a giant timer claw, balanced on a counterweight system that dips a net into the water then raising again to provide a catch. These things are everwhere, dotted throughout the water ways and can cover massive expanses of water. At one point we drove through an area and we were surrounded by the nets on either side as if we were floating through a guard of honor of fishing nets. When you look at the numbers of mechanical hands within the lakes you can’t help but wonder if the area is suffering from over population, but apparently not, and if the markets are anything to go by, there is plenty of fish in the ea so to speak.
In Varkala I have met up with an English couple, Ben and Holly, who I have spent
Chinese Fishing Nets
They remind you of the arcade games trying to pick up a fluffy toy with the mechanical hand the last few days with cursing over the cricket disgrace. As it happened they too where heading in the same direction, so we’ve been travelling together through out the backwaters to our next destination Alleppey. (Such a small world, Ben and Holly to have a page on travelblog, being http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Holly-and-Ben/ if anyone is interested). The intention of travelling to Alleppey is to experience a truly unique highlight of the Kerala life, by travelling through the 900km network of waterways via a house boat. Again the design of these boats, similar to a rice barge is something truly spectacular, resembling a floating pontoon from ‘Waterworld’ (that really bad Kevin Costner. We were told that these boats were one of the most expensive treats you could experience in India, but with a bit of bargaining and a lot of hassles the three of us managed to secure ourselves a brilliant little boat for the day and over night, complete with captain and own private chef. The next 24 hours we were waited on hand and foot by our staff (ha ha) as we floated lazily along the river system, drifting quietly through small villages, past fishermen and the playful crys of kids
Backwaters
A world away from the hectic streets of India. lining the embankment. Although I must say that some time in the past some foreigner must have come through this area with nothing more than a backpack full of pens. All the kids scream at you, approach you in the street, not asking for money but for pens. Its quite strange, and feel next time I should just bring pens to hand out to these adorable kids. Basically we ate, drank, read, and slept, down the coast taking in the sun, before moaring for the evening to enjoy a home cooked meal, cold (ish) beers while the sun fell to the waters edge. Once again another hard day in the office. Kerala and its relax lifestyle is certainly starting to rub off on me, not bad at all.
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Kellie
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You're killing me!
Tucker - amazing stuff babe. I feel like I need to add some sort of comment just to let you know how envious I am. I can't get enough of these blogs. Keep 'em coming.