Boat House thru the Backwaters
Trip Start
Oct 09, 2007
1
33
42
Trip End
Nov 16, 2007
Cochin,
India
Monday, November 5, 2007
We were delighted with the experience. It was really very good value for money and the people we encountered in the villages and along the backwaters were very friendly and welcoming. First we went in a houseboat and stopped at one of the villages. A guide explained the Aruyvedic (spelling?) plants and their curing benefits that grow in the area and all their amazing cash crops. Plus how they make calcium for the Western world from the shells of their version of oysters - the flesh of which they eat and the abandoned shells which nobody would think to consume gets turned into our calcium tablets. "See, the irony!" said the guide - that they, the poor villages eat the good part!
Alan had his chance to buy some of that toddy that he was just dying to try. It was actually better because it came firstly in its juice form which is from the flowers of the coconut palm. Along the way, this ferments into toddy. Done oh ... it still smelled strange and yucky to me. We made friends with another Aussie couple who had been travelling for 6 months. The guy was as adventurous as Alan and also bought some. Margaret, his wife, like me ... just looked at them and we rolled our eyes!! His name was Lynton and he was just ever ready to try anything and everything, so Alan was happy only to have 'kaki" (like a mate or buddy) to share these experiences of fermentation with! ahaahahahah N.B. The bottles were clean this time.
We then had a very filling vegetarian lunch on board, and transferred into a little sampan (canoe) to be taken thru the narrow passages of water into another village. There, a little man climbed a coconut tree with such speed and skill. I was taking pictures and hoping that he was wearing something under his very short dhoti!! He plucked enough coconuts for everyone, hurling them onto the ground near us.
The guys who rowed us there proceeded to hack them open so we could each drink the cool water and then split it further for us to enjoy the flesh. It was so good. You know Dad and Brendon - it brought back so many happy memories of our holidays in Malaysia. Kerala is so much like Malacca and Katong when there was a sea-wall. Lots of villages and an immense number of coconut trees.
There were beautiful Kingfishers, water snakes and other creatures along the way. It was such a joyful and refreshing experience after the busyness of Ernakulam the day before (which we thoroughly enjoyed) and the blah of Fort Cochin. (To quote a Scotsman we met this moring - " ... not impressed with Fort Cochin after what everryboddy tells yar.") Nevertheless, the backwater trip was excellent so it was worth coming this way.
Okay next entry will be about today.
Comments
Good old days of the late 60s and early 70s
Dear Judi,
Yes, I do recall the days of our childhood very well with beaches like Kelebang Besar behind Westernhay Hotel and Katong beach just behind Katong Convent by the gun turret. Those were really care free days, hey? Papa used to scold us as 'you old cow' and coconut trees just used to sway in the wind with twisted and winding trunks of that natural way it grows!
Glad that you and Alan are enjoying yourselves.
Take care and God Bless.
Love
Brendon