Alleppey

28 December
Venu is driving us to Alleppey this morning after breakfast, so we pack up, get ourselves sorted, and say goodbye to our hosts. Villa Akasa has been a terrific stop for us.

Premolt takes a last photo of us in the garden before we say goodbye

We set off back up the long dusty road north, through all the heavy, mad-driving Indian traffic. There's a pilgrimage going on with hundreds of people walking single file on the roadside heading south, all dressed in bright yellow. Next stop is the Colonel where we're only booked for one night but I've had a lot of email contact and am keen to meet him at last. The journey takes about 3-4 hours but Varick Villas are quite hard to find, tucked away close to the Backwaters region.

When we finally get there we're all starving and the Colonel (who insists more informally, on being called Nair) instructs Venu where to take us for lunch, and how to get us to the other venues he's lined up for us. There's nothing within walking distance unfortunately. The Colonel's a tiny man with a delightful wife, a charming smile and yes, he's got a moustache. It becomes clear that he's keen for us to eat in only the best hotel restaurants, where buffet lunches are the order of the day. This isn't what we're used to and the thought of buffet food that's been sitting round being kept warm for God knows how long, doesn't really appeal but we dutifully follow the Colonel's plan. The family that eats warm curry together . . .

After lunch poor Venu hunts down the elephant place which is tucked away down tiny lanes. Not sure how he manages to get our bus down all these tiny streets but he finds it in the end.


So here we are looking a little nervous on top of a female 43 year old Asian elephant. Not the most comfortable ride because we're perched on top of its shoulders and consequently wobble from side to side as it plods along, our legs wide akimbo, feeling pretty unsafe with only a metal rod to hang on to.

The pink patches look a bit sore but are apparently common on Asian elephants, a bit like freckles on humans. The steps help us climb onto the elephant, minding the gap of course.

Our next stop is the beach at Alleppey, which is just crowded with people. It's the Sunday between Christmas and New Year and the whole world is out there enjoying the holiday atmosphere on the beach. We couldn't work out what was happening at first because we could just see a massive line of people on the shoreline and wondered what was going on. Literally thousands of Indians watching the waves, kids playing, families chatting, all out for a good time.



My one regret from the holiday is that I didn't go on a camel ride: elephant and camel in one day would have been quite something, but we'd arranged to meet Venu at 6pm and just run out of time

So everyone is just watching the waves crashing on the shoreline, with people splashing about enjoying the holiday. Spot Mike in the crowd. There are vendors selling battered chillies, balloons, noisy whistles, all sorts of stuff. The battered chillies are good

 


 

We head back to the Villa to rest, then off again in the bus for dinner. Venu's been instructed to take us to another posh hotel and is driving back towards the beach again through loads of holiday traffic. In fact, the food's pretty good, it's hot and we sit outside by the pool. Eat as much as you like for INR200, about £2!

29 December
The Colonel's taking us for an early morning constitutional through the rice fields at 6.15. It's definitely the best time to walk, being cooler, and there's a lovely mist in the air.

We walk along these little paths with draining ditches both sides and rice fields stretching as far as we could see. There are islands of trees here and there which are where the farmers' houses are hidden



We see loads of birds: crow pheasant, egrets, herons, a painted stork, bitterns, kingfishers, and some that are completely new to us like the drongo with its distinctive swallow tail. The birds are after the tiny fish and frogs that live in the wet fields

. . . and here I am with the Colonel. He's a very interesting man full of information about Indian people and politics, it's army, and its future. He's also keen to hear about our lives in New Zealand and the UK

We head back for a good breakfast of fruit, appams with vegetable curry, and home baked banana and walnut bread

After breakfast we're all packed up and the Colonel directs Venu to take us to the nearest bank so we can change money to pay for our houseboat trip. Everything takes time in India and a visit to the bank is no exception, so we're a bit late arriving at the houseboat destination, in fact Venu isn't sure of the venue so ends up phoning the owner and we're eventually escorted by two men on a scooter to the place where the boat is docked.

You can't help being impressed by these glorious old barges with their wonderful wicker sides and roofs. They come in all sizes and ours, being 4-bedroomed, is one of the largest with a two floors. Spending a night or two on one of these, which includes board and lodging, has become a main tourist attraction for the area and there are dozens of them floating serenely down the waterways of the Alleppey Backwaters. It's also a big money earner for the owners and we're initially shocked that once on board we receive a phone call demanding our outstanding payment be handed over before the boat sails.

We're soon floating down the main channel in a bit of a barge jam, relaxing, reading and checking out the other boats

Relaxing on the top deck



. . . and it really is very relaxing: there's nothing to do but read, chat and watch the boats go by



We eventually reach a large open lagoon area where the barges thin out a bit, we find time for a spot of yoga before lunch

 

We stop for lunch and the food is very good: fish, rice, curries and chutneys and breads

 

The trip is a very relaxing calming experience. The crew are quiet and keep to themselves. The boat is rather grubby in fact, but each double bedroom has an en suite and it's relatively cool as there's a breeze when the boat's moving and air con is turned on at night when we dock.

The most action we see is when Craig's hat gets blown onto the roof. Lovely tummies!

We dock twice before stopping for the night, once for beer and once to buy fish for dinner. Not sure what Craig's up to here.

We have a great dinner including the huge snapper we've just bought. I'm very keen on the pineapple chutney and the vegetable dishes they serve. We play cards and watch the geckos running around after eating. The mosquitos are more of a pest at night. We watch huge fruit bats and smaller ones, flitting around the boat.

30 December
It's a rather lovely soft, misty morning, we even get a little rain. The water seems heavy and grey, and clumps of water hyacinth have floated into the channel.



Friendly jackdaw comes to visit, probably after our breakfast

After a short journey we're waiting for Venu to arrive at the docking site beside an ugly Ramada Hotel. Our boat has forced it's way in to dock in prime position at the landing site. Interestingly, this means that people arriving in other boats have to make their way through our boat to get onto dry land, so we have a stream of total strangers clambering past us.

 

 

 

New Year in Fort Kochi

30 December
Once we've found Venu and his bus it's a relatively short journey back to Fort Kochi and we're safely back at Ann's by 10.30.

So we give our trusty Venu a good tip and say goodbye. Not sure how we'd have managed without him.

Everyone goes off to see a group of school boys playing hockey across the road. They draw a crowd of hilarious, happy, cheeky and charming schoolboys

This time we're on the first floor at Ann's Residency, with a lovely terrace outside our door, where we plan to have drinks before going out on New Year's Eve.

We visit the Basilica before going for lunch at nearby Fusion Bay, a great Portuguese fusion restaurant

In the afternoon Mike goes off in search of the bike races on the beach which the school kids have told him about and I have a long sleep. We eat fantastic coconut prawns that evening in another recommended restaurant.

31 December
We set off early walking to the Jew Town area which is the other side of the peninsular. It's a misty, fairly cool morning having rained a lot in the night. We visit the Jain temple and wonder at the strange water channelling ceremony. Quite a long walk but we eventually find the Mattancherry Palace. Outside there's an elephant lying on its side being washed with a hosepipe. Immediately inside is a room where the walls are covered in the most exquisite, detailed murals, in rich reds, oranges, browns and blacks, telling stories of Hindu Gods. In later rooms there are a lot of rather tedious information boards but again at the end another room full of wonderful murals. No photos allowed and no post cards for sale unfortunately.


We find an upstairs café for coffee and at long last I have my 'Hello to the Queen'. It's sliced bananas caramelized in honey and sugar, served with a dollop of vanilla icecream. Quite delicious and worth the wait. Then we wander down the main street to the Jewish Synagogue, past all the hassling Kashmiri traders, and meet up with everyone, returning to Casa Maria's for lunch. 

We continue to wander round this area and come across this large Santa. More shopping then it's back home in tuc tucs

 

6.30pm we meet up on our terrace for our final bottle of champagne along with 3 cans of beer between us. It's a beautiful evening with bats and birds flying overhead. We're booked into the Old Courtyard restaurant which is on Princess St and fairly close, but it's a bit of a disappoint-ment after all the wonderful food we've been eating.

 

After dinner we head on down to the beach where thousands of people are gathering for the famous Santa burning ceremony. The focus is a 30ft high Santa made of papier mache or something similar, with beard, but dressed in brown rather than red, and inexplicably holding a cat on his arm. We're down on the beach, boys dancing with the locals to the Indian band, then we find a bar. Mike and I go back to Ann's for a breather, pushing our way through the crowds going in the other direction. When we return a couple of hours later, the crush is unbelievable, with people pushing their way through cars, bikes and scooters, mostly at a standstill. It's a benign crowd however and not at all threatening.



This picture's taken from the beach. There's an enclosure behind Santa where they've placed most of the foreigners which is where we meet the kids when we return to the action

There's a countdown and all hell breaks loose when, at the stroke of midnight, Santa is detonated rather than set alight. The crowd goes mad and fireworks start exploding immediately above, sending showers of embers down around us. It's complete mayhem, a health and safety nightmare, and a lot of fun. Needless to say it's even harder trying to fight our way home through the crowd.
 

1 January 2016
Our last day in India, as we're spending 2 days in Singapore to break our return journey, flying out late this evening. We meet up for lunch, Bill has a go on a Royal Enfield, then we move on down to see the New Year's Day Parade. It takes forever to get going and I give up and go back to rest. We've officially vacated our room so have to borrow Max and Rachel's to shower etc. Everyone gathers to say goodbye and off we go in a taxi, very very slowly, because roads are crowded with the parade happening. Luckily we've left ourselves plenty of time. It's been a brilliant holiday, exhausting at times, but wonderful.

Bill, Katy, and Craig have grabbed a good spot to watch the parade

Elephant being dressed up for the procession while he's patiently munching away on sugar cane