Floating down the backwaters in our very own house!
Celias View: Keralas Backwaters Dec 2006
We had one more little adventure in Kochi which didn't make the last post. An excellent dinner right under the chinese fishing nets. We basically selected our fish from the catch of the day and then they cooked it up for us.....It was amazingly good especially the calamari and our waiter ( who introduced himself as justin timberlake) was completely hilarious but unfortunately we were all wearing nowhere near enough mosquito repellent and all ended up with a mass of bites.
Although no one as much as Netty who was sporting almost 60 bites by the next morning!
We finally ventured out of Kochi and managed to catch our first train, something we had been very hesitant about but was actually reasonably easy ( although we did get kicked out of first class after sneaking in) to Alleppey further south in Kerala.
We had decided to head to Alleppey because it is the departure point for the the backwater house boats. These are cool keralan style houseboats that float around the big national park made up entirely of lakes and little rivers, streams and still water that surrounds Kerala. We had decided to hire our own ( plus cook and driver...they mainly push or punt the boat with two huge sticks and use a small motor in the bigger stretches of water ) and go for twenty four hours.
We spent one night in Alleppey first, staying in a great old marble guesthouse and eating dinner at this amazing vegetarian restaurant , a very simple affair but with chai masala that has yet to be equaled anywhere on our travels.
The next morning ( after a huge fight with the South Indian Bank who only dispensed 500 of the 12000 rupees I had tried to get out of the ATM , a massive amount of money in India ) we finally headed of on our journey...
The first afternoon was amazing....We passed other houseboats and major riverways which gradually narrowed down to small riverlets and little lakes. We passed literally thousands of ducks all together in one huge pack which was really strange to see and I'm sure photos wont convey at all. We also passed local village schools where all the kids would wave and later in the afternoon, tons of people bathing in the river or washing clothes or dishes.
We also ate....all the time! The cook just kept bringing out dishes and we stuffed ourselves on great vegetarian food and rice dishes as well as more masala chai ( a group favourite). I actually felt quite sick after eating so little at the Sanctuary.
Later at night we all sat around on pillows on the deck and chatted and played cards until late late night.
The next morning I beat everyone up at around 6am and watched us cross a huge lake, one of the biggest I've seen before we passed through another set of villages and made it back to Alleppey just in time for another round of arguements with the South Indian bank ( although one of the lovely bank tellers Lily not only taught us some more hindu but also invited us to come and stay with us) and a onward train to Varkala.
We had one more little adventure in Kochi which didn't make the last post. An excellent dinner right under the chinese fishing nets. We basically selected our fish from the catch of the day and then they cooked it up for us.....It was amazingly good especially the calamari and our waiter ( who introduced himself as justin timberlake) was completely hilarious but unfortunately we were all wearing nowhere near enough mosquito repellent and all ended up with a mass of bites.Although no one as much as Netty who was sporting almost 60 bites by the next morning!
We finally ventured out of Kochi and managed to catch our first train, something we had been very hesitant about but was actually reasonably easy ( although we did get kicked out of first class after sneaking in) to Alleppey further south in Kerala.
We had decided to head to Alleppey because it is the departure point for the the backwater house boats. These are cool keralan style houseboats that float around the big national park made up entirely of lakes and little rivers, streams and still water that surrounds Kerala. We had decided to hire our own ( plus cook and driver...they mainly push or punt the boat with two huge sticks and use a small motor in the bigger stretches of water ) and go for twenty four hours.
We spent one night in Alleppey first, staying in a great old marble guesthouse and eating dinner at this amazing vegetarian restaurant , a very simple affair but with chai masala that has yet to be equaled anywhere on our travels.
The next morning ( after a huge fight with the South Indian Bank who only dispensed 500 of the 12000 rupees I had tried to get out of the ATM , a massive amount of money in India ) we finally headed of on our journey...
The first afternoon was amazing....We passed other houseboats and major riverways which gradually narrowed down to small riverlets and little lakes. We passed literally thousands of ducks all together in one huge pack which was really strange to see and I'm sure photos wont convey at all. We also passed local village schools where all the kids would wave and later in the afternoon, tons of people bathing in the river or washing clothes or dishes.
We also ate....all the time! The cook just kept bringing out dishes and we stuffed ourselves on great vegetarian food and rice dishes as well as more masala chai ( a group favourite). I actually felt quite sick after eating so little at the Sanctuary.
Later at night we all sat around on pillows on the deck and chatted and played cards until late late night.
The next morning I beat everyone up at around 6am and watched us cross a huge lake, one of the biggest I've seen before we passed through another set of villages and made it back to Alleppey just in time for another round of arguements with the South Indian bank ( although one of the lovely bank tellers Lily not only taught us some more hindu but also invited us to come and stay with us) and a onward train to Varkala.
posted by Bella&Saunders at
10:46 am
<< Home