Due to the kindness of strangers who helped us navigate our way through the Southern India's local train and bus services we arrived safely in Alleppey, the launching point for the Indian backwaters, after many hours of travel. About 6 hours to be exact to cover about 150km.... it really takes a while to get places in India. We also took our first train in the general, or 2nd class if you will, and we escaped unscathed. It was only for 4 hours and in all honestly wasnt that bad, expect for maybe the last bit where we had to stand near the washrooms. It smells like you would imagine and india train bathroom to smell like.
It was pretty late by the time we arrived in Alleppey so rather that look around for hotels we decided to go straight to a place called Palmy regency which came highly recommended by some friends we met at the ashram. It was supposed to be only a 5 minute walk from the bus station so with big packs and all we set to walking. After getting lost a few times and walking much longer then 5 mins we finally arrived at what we though was Pamly regency. Turns out this place was called Pamly RESIDENDY, yet had the exact same logo as the Pamly regency. Hotels and restaurants seem to use this imitation technique to lour people to their places, especially when the place they are imitating has been mentioned in the lonely planet. So we strapped our bags back on and headed to the real Pamly Regency, which really was only 5 mins from the bus station. End thought it was about 830pm by the time we arrived we had enough sweat to look like we had just finished a marathon, the heat in the south is thing nothing we have ever experienced before, luckily the gentleman and the hotel welcomed us with open arms and a very cold shower. We showered, settled in and grabbed a late night dosa before calling it a night.
We had decided that we wanted to take and overnight houseboat tour through the backwaters which usually leave everyday around 11am. Our new friend at the Pamly Regency has his friend come over early in the morning who owns a houseboat to give us the details and show us his boat so we could decide if we wanted to go. He and his friend arrived on motorcycles to take us to see his houseboat. I have never been on a motorcycle before and figured jumping on with a random stranger in India....why not! Sorry parents. For all those concerned with our stafety no there were no helmets, but right before we jumped on a bird pooped on my shoulder. That is a sign of good luck right!
A 24 hour houseboat tour is pretty expensive by Indian standards, about $95 total, but hey you only live once right! Besides that is cheaper than dinner in a movie in Toronto and not nearly as relaxing. We decided to take him up on his offer and then headed back to the hotel to have a quick breakfast and pack our stuff to get to the boat by 11am.
We spent the next 24 hours cruising around the backwaters on our private house boat with a 3 man crew. We read, we napped, we daydreamed, we waved at countless India people on their own party boats and we ate like kings.
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| This is what all the house boats look like, in varying sizes |
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| Jonny enjoying the patio |
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| One of many feasts on the boat |
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| Our boat parked while we enjoy the surrounding area |
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| Cruising out front |
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| Enjoying the backwater views |
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| Passing a small village along the way |
At around 6pm the boat docked for the night. The fishing boats get priority on the waters in the evenings so all the houseboats have to stop cruising by 6pm. Our amazing crew cooked us an India feast for dinner and we eat under the stars before calling it a night and retiring to our bed room.
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| A cricket match underway in one of the villages |
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| Local life going on along the water |
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| A night under the stars on our boat |
The next morning after a great sleep-in we had breakfast on the boat before heading back to the starting point. After many thank-you's to our crew we grabbed a rickshaw to head to the bus station to fight our way onto a local bus to take us to Munnar via Kochi. We are headed to the hills for a few days to escape the heat!
Namaste
OOO_Talia
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