Onwards to Allaphuza, Alleppey

4.2.19

Woke up this morning with fingers like sausages and think I may have been bitten on one as it’s especially large. I’ve only got drowsy making antihistamines with me so will get some others later if no better.

Our neighbour started slamming her washing around at 7.30am this morning, much more civilised.

We’ve not noticed the crows or the mosque since the first morning, drowned out by the fan I think.

We loved our time in Fort Cochin and Jude at Cukoos Nest Homestay was the perfect host.

Fort Cochin is a small place and 2 days was just the right amount of time to explore and today we move on.

We allowed more than enough time to get to Ernakulam Junction station, it took about 30 minutes by a very scary Uber ride. No reflection on our very good driver, it’s just nuts on the road. The fare for this white knuckle ride was just £1.90 and he was very happy with a 50p tip.

We are currently in a cafe by the station, I’m buzzing after a fab double espresso. John isn’t so impressed with his passionfruit and E numbers squash. (we don’t hear much about E numbers anymore do we?)

I’ve checked online and our train is currently running 16 minutes late.

I’m very excited as I love a train journey and looking forward to exploring the Allepey backwaters.

The train arrived a few minutes late, knowing where to stand for your allocated seat was confusing but between a lady who has travelled in India before and the information desk we were just right to get on and find our seat.

After all the worry about not being able to complete bookings online and paying 12Goasia 9 times the cost we could have just turned up. No one even checked our carefully printed out ticket.

We arrived in Alleppey about 30 minutes late.

Our accomodation is 1.6km from the station. A very enterprising taxi driver said 400 rupees, bearing in mind we paid 180 for the long drive to the station this morning. We declined!

We had to go to a counter to prebook a tuktuk, pay 1 rupee which turned out to be a service charge and the 5 minute journey cost just 50 rupees payable to the driver.

We met our host at Abrus Holidays. He seems very nice and helpful and the room is spacious and clean.

I asked about dress code here and whether it was ok to wear shorts, yes, fine, it’s a tourist area.. Felt so liberating to be in shorts and a vest top and off ee went.

We were starving and made our way to Indian Coffee House near the beach on his recommendation.

John wanted biriyani but they didnt have any rice, so he had normal curry with chapatis. I decided to play safe with chicken cutlets and chips. However I think my chicken and mash balls in breadcrumbs were probably spicier than the curry, but thoroughly enjoyable.

We walked further along the beach area which has been ruined by the construction of a massive flyover. It’s not finished yet but is a real eyesore and will be noisy right near beach clubs and holiday resorts. These sound grand but are basically a bit more upmarket places to stay that still come out to the road where there are piles of old metal and all a bit unkempt.

It’s a huge beach area but we won’t be spending any time on there, it’s very hot sand, no sunbeds and no shade.

There are several beach bars and restaurants along there, Dreamers caught our eye as they had a board outside and included duck and pad thai.

We looked at the menu and said we would be back this evening.

We turned up back to the streets just after and John saw a sign for a billiard venue.

As it was our darts and pool night back home he thought it would be fun to go and visit and have a game and a photo for the team. According to Google maps it was a 30 minute walk.

So off we went, 6km and over an hour later, past endless little shops of no interest to us, crazy traffic junctions and endless bibbing of horns we found it.

Of course all this time I’m in shorts, in no way was this an area where tourists would stray. The kids were all coming out of school and had seemingly never seen foreigners before let alone anyone parading around the streets half dressed.

Raiban Shopping complex didn’t bear any resemblance to any shopping complex we have seen before. I wasn’t hanging around to take photos, so here is one from Google to give an idea.

We crossed over the road and followed the waterway road all the way back. It wasn’t as bad going that way, less traffic and people.

We stopped at a stall and bought some grapes and the sweetest oranges we have ever tasted.

By the time we got back it was time to think about eating again. But only after coffee.

I take my travelling element everywhere. It heats a cup of water in seconds. But makes vile coffee if you heat the whole drink.

The last place had a kettle, so without thinking I put the tea and coffee in our (rinsed) cups.

Armed with element to explain I went downstairs and asked the lady sweeping in the garden if she had a cup to heat some water in. It was a flat no! Not sure she approved of my shorts either.

A bit of faffing and we had our coffee, changed into a beliw tge knee resoectable dress and walked back down to the beach to Dreamers.

We received a warm welcome and our table was waiting upstairs.

We crossed the wobbly floor to our cosy corner table.

Our pad thai and duck was lovely, with a side of garlic naan, my new obsession, a very pleasant evening.

We have a very busy day and appropriate clothing planned for tomorrow.

Alleppey to Kollam Ferry

5.2.19

John went off for a run at 7.15am and at 9.30am we got a tuk tuk to the boat jetty.

We read about an 8 hour backwaters ferry to Kollam from a blog and it sounded like a fab way to see the backwaters. The fare is just 400 rupees each, expensive in terms of usual local ferries so although it’s a Government ferry it is mainly used by tourists.

But an absolute bargain compared with private companies who are charging thousands of rupees for 6 hour tours.

We’ve checked and there are buses that can get us home again.

We boarded after buying some snacks and are currently waiting to set off.

I think we might be the only people doing it as a jolly as the others have luggage so are obviously off to their next port of call from here.

We got seats upstairs at the front as we arrived early. We may well regret it as there are no cushions up here.

I am suitably attired with most parts covered.

We ate our snacks, onion bhajis and yellow rock cake which had a hint of ginger and lemongrass. I found a dreaded cardomen pod just in time. We didn’t think the round doughnut things were worth the calories but otherwise very tasty.

Bang on 10.30 am we set off on what was a fabulous day. The scenery is just beautiful and amazing villages and wildlife all along the way.

There was a bit of a palaver at the lock gates, the gates wouldn’t open. After about 10 minutes, and with our boat giving them a bit of a nudge it was sorted.

At 1pm we stopped at a little place for lunch. They were all prepared for us and silver trays with lots of sections were placed in front of us. They kept coming round with extra dahl and sambal. It was very tasty indeed and just £3 including large water.

The rice was amazing and unusual, big chunky grains from the local paddy fields and so beautifully cooked. When I cook rice it always goes gloopy.

Back on board we had 2 and a half more hours of loveliness, and dropped the Brazilian guy we sat with at lunch to the Internationally famous (although we had never heard of it) Amma’s Ashram.

https://www.amritapuri.org/ashram

Apparently you can stay there for a night for £2.50 including meals.

Shortly after that it was a stop for tea. I had read about this stop and had my coffee with me as I knew I would be gasping .

4 attempts of asking different people for hot water resulted finally in a cup of hot milk!

Back on the boat and we gave in and sat on the lovely cushioned seats downstairs. It was heaven on the bum and also it’s away from an incredibly annoying German man and his irritating sons. John has been very restrained all day.

There is such a mix of houses along the way, some very run down places that you cannot imagine people live in side by side with stunningly beautiful homes. Even the lovely places have people outside doing their laundry or bathing in the river.

We arrived in Kollam at 6.15pm.

What a beautiful relaxing day. Absolutely loved it.

And then the fun started. We went over the road to the bus station and showed the manager our app showing that there is a deluxe fast bus at 8pm, does it go from here? Yes. Fast buses every 10 minutes. Ok, but we still want the deluxe with real windows and everything.

So off we went to have dinner. First place took forever to find an English menu, we then decided what we wanted but a different guy came over and told us it was out of date and prices would be different. Rather than leave ourselves open to whatever we left and soon found the mall where Wok & Grill is, which John fancied originally from TripAdvisor. 5 floors, no Wok & Grill.

Settled on a chicken burger for me, not wanting any disaster on a long bus journey and vegetable kurma with vegetable biriyani for John. Delicious on both parts.

Went back in plenty of time for our bus, so confusing, mostly in hieroglyphics, but occasionally with Western alphabet too.

No sign of our deluxe fast bus by 8.10 so we got on the next normal one that said Alleppey on its sign on the front.

When the conductor came he told us it was going to Trivandrum, totally wrong direction.

We asked to be let off but there was a flyover and then we were dropped off just after.

We decided we would have to get a tuk tuk back to the bus station but a few feet ahead we spotted the train station. Deciding it would be a total waste of time we asked on the off chance. Yes. 8.30pm train. Fab 😊😊😊

2 tickets to Alleppey please. 90 rupees. (510 cheaper than deluxe bus). Result. Platform 2.

A train arrived, we asked at the Police desk next to us if he had any idea which carriage we needed. He said we couldn’t get on that train and a guy who spoke English explained its a special reservation one and next one coming soon.

When it arrived he explained that our ticket was a local one but to follow him and maybe they would ask us to move but he didn’t know.

We chatted for a while with the helpful guy. When we told him about the sign on the front of the bus he laughed and said it happens.

He was fascinated that we were travelling without a guide and not in a group.

Sometimes I’m surprised we are even allowed out on our own.

Of course sure enough a grumpy ticket man came, said we couldn’t be there and shooed us off waving us to go forward. A few carriages later, and scary open doors, another ticket officer said we could stand by doors until next station, get off and on again in the back carriage or pay extra to upgrade our ticket for 80 rupees each.

We opted to upgrade and he led us to some seats and wrote us a new ticket which became 200 because he didn’t have change.

He could have charged anything, by this time we didn’t care!

What a nightmare…!! Just wanted to get back now and so relieved we were on the right train, going the right way, and in the right carriage.

Our phones were almost dead by this time, so when we got off the train at 10.50pm we knew it wasn’t far and it was nice after sitting all day to have a 10 minute stroll and anyway we didn’t remember the address to tell a tuk tuk driver.

We followed the route we took in the tuk tuk when we arrived yesterday morning.

It ended up being a bit of a frog march because the pitch dark little roads felt scary and every time any one passed us I was sure we would be raped and pillaged.

Naturally we hadn’t followed the same route. I was sure I knew the way but John was adamant it was wrong.

Long story short he was right. It had been such a long day he either didn’t have the energy or wasn’t brave enough to gloat.

Such a relief to unlock our door at 11.20pm.

What a weird and wonderful day.

6.2.19

After yesterday’s shenanigans we were adamant we were having a chilled day today.

To be honest once you’ve seen the backwaters there isn’t anything else to do here. Looked online for an ayurvedic spa or cooking school but nothing nearby.

I suggested to John that we get up when ready, go for breakfast, take a pack of cards and rummikub and stroll down to the beach and visit the lighthouse (yes it really is an attraction) #6 on tripadvisor – that gives an idea of how much there is to do here.

We did some washing in our bucket and went for breakfast in our nearby cafe. Lovely scrambled eggs, toast, coffee and juice.

On arrival at the beach we spotted Amaze World. It looked like a park complex from outside and I wondered if it might have a pool or somewhere nice to sit. Asked the ladies at the desk if there were any seating areas in the shade. They looked totally confused and said it was for children. The adult price was just 20 rupees each so we decided to take a chance and look inside.

Not another soul in sight, but over at the eating area we saw some staff and ordered drinks and proceeded to play rummikub. They were very interested in the game and chatted to us and wanted to learn.

One of them does a magic show after 2pm when the children arrive and they said that we should stay and watch and that he’s in the Guiness book of Records.

Suddenly 100’s of children piled in from various schools, some were there for a party and to play, some for the magic show and we had a crowd around us wanting to know our names and where we are from. They were all so lovely.

Indian time is a bit like Turkish time but eventually the magic show was about to start.

We got so many beaming smiles and children wanting us to take their photos.

Then the show began. We weren’t expecting too much and only stayed to be polite as he had been so friendly to us, but wow!!

It was fabulous. Smiled all the way through and the kids and their teachers had a wonderful time for over an hour.

After the show the children were going off to visit the lighthouse before coming back and the party children had gone so we repositioned ourselves and just enjoyed chilling. The magic guy said he has to do another show at 5pm. The other guy said there would be a rain dance when the children came back so we decided we would stay for that.

The rain dance hadn’t materialised by 5.30pm but the kids had and they had the music on very, very loud and inflated the bouncy play equipment right near. It was mad!

We decided to leave, said our goodbyes and went off to the ATM but got waylaid in a bar.

It seemed really seedy but maybe it was ok, just very male dominated, and there was a bit of an autication going on opposite on the beach which ended with an old boy on a pushbike being waved on his way by a policeman.

Onwards to the ATM.

Outside it a group of lads were laughing and pointing to their mate, telling us he is Indian Spiderman.

You can see the mess on the floor! Branches were falling down as the guy violently shook the tree, people were rushing to pick up some tiny little fruit. They insisted we try them, John was brave and tried one and said it was very sour. I didn’t eat mine.

We saw the sunset before having dinner at Dreamers again.

It’s such a shame about the ugly flyover and all the associated mess.

Dreamers didn’t disappoint, I tried paneer butter masala for the first time, it was lovely and Johns biriyani was one of the best he has had.

We got a tuk tuk back and have just finished packing.

We have a 7.15am ferry in the morning, 2 and a half hours to Kottayam followed by a bus to Kumily. We will be staying in Periyar by the national park for 3 nights.

Just hope we get on the right bus….