The Boat People (Real Entry)
Trip Start
Oct 12, 2005
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40
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Trip End
Mar 31, 2006
Alleppy,
India
Friday, February 17, 2006
Our private tour began in the city of Kochi where John the driver picked us up in a little un-airconditioned compact car called an Indicab. (Airconditioned cars and rooms would have bumped us from a Standard tour to a Superior tour -- an expense we just couldn't justify given our past splurges!)
John drove us four hours into the Western Ghats to a national park called the Periyar Tiger Preserve
01 Tunnel
. Despite it's name, people usually see more elephants, bison, deer and wild boars than tigers at Periyar. Our first day was spent touring a spice plantation and watching a very interesting native Keralan dance performance called Kathakali. John informed us that we had to attend the 4:00 pm performance that day in order to be back to the hotel before dark and make the park curfew. Curfew? That wasn't in the brochure. Apparently the curfew is to protect you from the wild animals but we had a sneaking suspicion that John just wanted to go hang out with his other driver friends. No matter, we passed a very pleasant evening at the hotel with some lovely folks from Boston. Now, About Those Boats
We got up early the next morning to catch a 7:00 am wildlife boat tour through a manmade lake in Periyar Park. This boat tour is billed as the best way to see wildlife living in the park. Anticipation was running high but our hopes were dashed when after our two hour cruise the only wildlife we saw was a mangy boar and a rowdy bunch of college girls from Bangalore who seemed to take an unusual shine to Kristy.
Not to be deterred, upon hearing from other tourists that the last boat of the day was the best to see wildlife, Matt promptly bought tickets for another two hour boat ride at 4:00 pm. Since it was Valentine's Day, Kristy went along. On the second ride we saw a broad range of animals including our friend the wild boar, bison, deear and a family of wild elephants (with two baby elephants!!!). It was definitely worth the second trip. Following the ride, we were quickly ushered back to the hotel so we could make curfew
02 Racer
.Our third day of the trip brought us to a town in Kerala's backwaters called Komarakom for a little rest and a sunset cruise. The sunset lake cruise in a wide, wooden dugout canoe propelled by a man with a long bamboo stick was really beautiful and made our stop worthwhile. The only downside to Kumarakom was the hotel which was an attractive heritage home with a very strange staff. Curiously, it consistently took the staff an hour to prepare any meal including toast and tea. Alternatively, they were hyper-attentive in every other way -- constantly knocking on our door to see how we were or if we wanted to order anything! We left feeling relieved to be moving on to our next boat trip from Alleppy.
Our nice (but not fancy boat) was a rice barge converted into a one bedroom / one bath boat with kitchen, dining area and lounge deck. The staff outnumbered us 3:2 -- the captain, the engineer and the chef. All this and food for only $100 US! We started our leisurely cruise through the backwaters at around noon. After a brief fish purchasing stop where Matt romantically purchased Kristy a Valentine's king prawn for lunch, we sailed on a bit until the chef had prepared fresh fish and of course the king prawn. Kristy enjoyed her King Prawn but Matt was a lukewarm on the food
03 Kristy Sunset
. We cruised a bit longer and stopped at around 5:30 pm to tie up for the night. Once anchored, we took a walk through a backwater village. Judging by the reactions we received, this wasn't a well-worn travelers path. Most folks were freindly but we were barked at when we tried to enter a hindu temple. Oh well, can't win every time. After our little walk, we boarded the boat for dinner. Back at the boat we sampled a little of the local brew called "toddy" which is feremented coconut juice (made by the guy down the raod and delivered in a recycled water bottle). Unfortunetly by this time, Matt's lukewarm response to lunch had turned into a more serious gastrointestinal issue (the toddy probably did not help). He retired for the night while Kristy wolfed down dinner and slipped off to dreamland. When morning broke, Matt was feeling a lot worse since he had not slept much, tossing and turning and cursing the riceboat, the mosquito net, and toddy. Kristy felt great until the boat pulled into dock at around 9:30 am. She jumped off the boat with her pack on her back and promptly fell and twisted her ankle. The ride back to Kochi was really pathetic. John drove like a madman in what seemed like a desperate effort to get us off his hands and we both groaned everytime we hit a bump, Kristy clutching her ankle and Matt clutching his stomach! When we arrived at the Fort House hotel, we began making arrangements for a hospital visit with the front desk. Apparently two British doctors staying at the hotel overheard our conversation and saw Kristy hopping around on one foot and offered to take a look at it. After a careful examination, they said it didn't appear to be broken and recommended that we wait and see how things progressed. (They both seemed a little put off by Indian hospitals so we're going to trust their judgement). We are carefully monitoring the ankle and touring Kochi by auto rickshaw in the meantime.
04 Rice Barge
So, after all these boat rides and our extensive driving tour of Kerala what have we learned?
1) The evening boat at Periyar is definitely better for spotting wildlife than the morning boat.
2) Stay outside the park at Periyar so you can stay out later than 6:00 pm.
3) It may be worthwhile to spring for the Superior tour for the AC car alone.
4) Stay away from toddy.
5) Never, ever jump from a rice barge with your pack on your back and expect to land safely.
