The travel from Fort Kochi to Alleppey was fairly simple - the bus only took two hours - the problem arose however, in finding the right bus. Luckily for us, our guesthouse provided a tuk-tuk to the right bus stop, and the driver stayed and pointed out the bus we needed... I think we may have struggled without this as all of the place names where written in script we couldn't understand and the bus stop didn't even have a sign.
Without trouble, we got off at the right stop and a short tuk-tuk ride took us from the main town to the beach house where we were staying. We couldn't have picked a better spot, a rustic looking house overlooking a lagoon on one side and the sea on the other. It was beautiful. That wasn't even the best part about "Funky Arts Beach house", the best part was the owner. Not only did he make sure to introduce guests to each other, quickly bringing over a chair if you stopped to say hello to anyone, but on our first night as he was all booked up he organised a family style dinner. With dinner and drinks it was easy to make friends - not only with the other guests but with the owner himself, who joined in with the fun.
Apart from relaxing on the beach, what brought us to Alleppey was the backwaters of Kerela. Although it is possible to access the backwaters from other parts of the state, Alleppey is a favourite for many tourists. We could have stayed on a houseboat overnight but we decided the cheaper option of a day trip suited us better. It wasn't just the budget which pushed us in this direction, after a bit of research we realised that with the houseboats growing popularity some areas of the backwaters had turned into nothing but motorways for these vessels - it didn't seem like the relaxing trip we had envisioned.
Our trip started at 8am, when a tuk-tuk driver arrived to take us to a ferry port to meet our guide. Much of the area surrounding Alleppey relies on ferries to reach communities that are situated further into the backwaters, but we didn't realise that a one and a half hour ferry ride would be the start of our trip! We settled in for the ferry ride, trying not to be too concerned that our guide seemed to fall straight asleep. Despite our fears, he did wake up at the right stop and led us to his house. This is where we were to have breakfast, although the group that went the previous day assured us the food was great - we were a little apprehensive seeing as they mentioned the dreaded idly.
Our fears were unfortunately correct, and along with a lovely curry and dal we were both given several idly to eat. Idly is a very traditional south India rice preparation, fermented cooked rice is moulded into a "UFO" shape and served in lue of bread or rice. I certainly don't think it sounds appetising, and for me the almost slimy, spongy texture is a step too far and i'm much more tolerant of it that Ben. Even saying the word to Ben makes him go a bit green, this is the only thing I've found that Ben won't eat. I don't know how we managed it, but in trying to be perfect guests we forced the offending item down and deftly managed to avoid having seconds.
Next was the shikara ride. A shikara, a gondola type vessel - thankfully with a roof to provide shade from the sun - that is steered and propelled by the driver, who sits on the back with a paddle. Although the trip was pleasant, with beautiful views of small canals lined with palm trees swaying in the breeze... after a while it got a bit repetitive and frankly, slightly boring. Don't get me wrong, i'm glad we went, it just wasn't quite what we imagined and could have been slightly shorter.
We thought we'd be sailing down shady jungle lined canals with not a soul in sight. We thought we'd see a range of wild animals and have a unforgettable, romantic experience. In reality we mainly ventured around housing estates. Yes, instead of a road there was a river, and yes it was interesting to see people washing their clothes in the streams and going about daily life in this unique place... but after an hour of this it was all a bit "same thing different place". The trip didn't last an hour, it lasted four. By the end we were ready to head back, but first was lunch.
Lunch thankfully, wasn't Idly. Instead we were treated to one of the best Thalis we experienced in India. The rice was cooked perfectly, all the accompanying curries were delicious and to top if off, it was even served on a banana leaf. It was a bit strange to have our guide's wife hovering over us, especially as we must have looked like fumbling children, not having cutlery provided was a first but we tried to do our best in the local fashion. After lunch we hopped on a ferry and headed back to Alleppey.
This is where things went slightly wrong... in our haste to get back to our guesthouse we hopped into a tuk-tuk, the wrong tuk-tuk. We mistakenly thought he was our driver from earlier, it must have been the enthusiastic way he yelled "hello" ... that he was more than accommodating in our request to pop to a shop to buy cigarette papers didn't make us suspicious. What made us suspicious, was 45 minutes into the quest to find these paper, he wasn't giving up, even when we expressly told him it was fine just take us home. That he started asking where exactly we needed to go really made the alarm bells ring. Luckily, he didn't charge us too much for this hour long venture but, man did we feel stupid when we got back and the Guesthouse owner was worried as his guy had been looking for us! In our defence it's hard to tell people apart when you mainly see the backs of their heads - but really it was just a stupid mistake.
One night during our stay, while Ben was sadly ill in bed, I had one of the strangest experiences of the trip so far. The guesthouse was home to several beach dogs from the area, not understanding how another might upset the dynamics a girl staying there brought another that she'd befriended during the day. All was fine for a while, but that night while a group of us we sharing drinks and chatting - the regular dogs came back home. Obviously they were a bit peeved with the new dog hanging in their territory and so the new-comer had decided that I was his best friend, hiding behind my legs. This led to me having the job to try and lure him away. Happy to help, I wandered off with one of our hosts friends to try and get him to leave... he left with me fine but quickly caught up with me again as soon as I turned back home. A new plan was needed.
This new plan involved a motorbike. The guys on the bike tried to lure the dog away, it wasn't happening... he still stuck by my side. Then it became obvious that I needed to be on the bike too. So without shoes or a helmet, my kindle still in one hand (I don't even know why i brought it with me) i hopped on the back of the bike and the dog followed, and it was fast! To confuse and loose the dog we would need to go faster... it felt like we were flying. We sped round the narrow backstreets and spun around tight corners, thankful for the late hour so we had the roads to ourselves and we finally lost the dog. I did feel a little bad for the poor fella. The driver took me back to the hostel and I just hoped and prayed that the dog hadn't headed back there, my heart was pumping and I wasn't sure i was up for another trip! Luckily the dog didn't return and I casually went back to chatting with the group.
For all we enjoyed Alleppey there wasn't actually that much to occupy our time with. The beach was lovely, but the sea was too rough for prolonged swims. The beach "town" was actually pretty small, mostly locals lived there with a few guesthouses here and there and we found only a few restaurants near-by, one of which we suspected had made Ben ill. The other did a delicious parrotta sandwich, but that's beside the point, we had run out of things to do and it was time to move on. Next stop, Varkala.
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