The backwaters

Trip Start Mar 10, 2007

117

153

Trip End ??? ??, 2007

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Where I stayed

St georges lodge

(Alappuzha hotels)

Flag of India Alappuzha, India
Monday, January 14, 2008

My train was supposed to arrive in Allepy at 3am, so i sat myself in the carriage with a policeman at about half two, waiting for my stop. He very worryingly sat very close to me then began massaging my hand. I know its common for Indian men to be rather affectionate with each other and holding each others hands is the norm, but you'll forgive me if I'm not too comfortable with a strange Indian policeman practically wanking my fingers. I was having terrible visions of him trying to 'massage' other parts of my body but thankfully i got off the train before this occurred to him.
Slept on the floor of the waiting room for a few hours (it was 3am, I'm not gonna get a room at that time), then got an excellent priced room at St Georges lodge. Had my first excellent Kerala breakfast of a Kerala dosa, which was more like a mini Uttapaum with some fantastic sambar. The guy even gave me some free lentil dahl curry to try that was very tasty. A pineapple juice and a walking tour of town followed

Local boatman

. Allepy town is a small town itself, and the guides are right when they say that there is little of interest here for the tourist except the prospect of a backwaters cruise. In fact there is practically nothing here but a backwaters cruise. I managed after shopping around a little to secure myself a 'rowing boat tour' for 4 hours for 400 Rs, so off i went. Passing down the rivers in this small boat, we passed the usual sites of women washing clothes and the dishes at the riverside, saw a few birds and local fisherman and were generally surrounded by palm and coconut trees and general river scenery. I personally felt that this was an OK trip, yet i felt i had seen more interesting things in South East Asia. Maybe i am a little burnt out and would have appreciated it more had i come fresh from England, i think this is a possibility. My 'driver' picked up his friend 40 mins from the end of the cruise and i had to share the boat with him, at which point i wasn't too pleased as it became less of a peaceful river cruise and more like a bus journey; me sat in the middle with the two of them at either side of me talking as though i was invisible in Malayalam(the local dialect here).
The cruise was ok, but for those of you thinking about doing such a trip, i would say that from my looking around the prices of these trips are more expensive in Allepy. For example, there is a 7 hour cruise you can do from fort Cochin, that has 4 hours on a large boat and 3 hours on a small rowing boat that costs 550RS, including a Kerala style Thali lunch

The boat

. I personally would recommend this.
Next day i was too lazy to get up for the early bus, so i had to stay another day. With nothing to do here in Allepy, i was bored out of my mind and the only notable thing i did was eat far too many grapes (2kg, Jesus Ben, stop being soo greedy), then going to the beach. Coming back from the beach, a local Indian guy gave me a ride back on his motorbike, driving as fast as he possibly, could, i guess to tr and scare the foreigner for some fun. Guess he didn't know i had been in Vietnam, so his driving didn't phase me at all. Arriving at my room, i found whilst his driving hadn't scared my, the speed and the combination of the many speak bumps had had the effect of throwing my key for my lock from my pocket, and the spare was locked in my room. This meant i had to get the management to bash in my lock with a hammer, which he was surprising good about, caring more about if i had lost my passport or any money than the fact his room was inaccessible. Left the next day