Kerala

 

Kannur

After an overnight train, we got to Kannur bright if not early. We had intended on visiting Wayanad Nature reserve but decided against it based on cost (something that seems to have become habit).

The first thing we noticed stepping off the platform was the heat. It was incredibly hot and humid, so much so that we were covered with sweat by the time we actually left the train station (this around 8:30AM). We got checked into a hotel and lacking much to do we went to see St. Angelos Fort, the fort was somewhat deserted but quite interesting all the same (well I thought it was, Laura thought it was rubbish). After seeing the fort, with the heat even more oppressive we went back to the hotel and chilled out. (Actually, we watched the Lion King on the humble netbook).

We went back out for a couple of hours in the evening to grab a bit to eat, the meal was non-descript but filling, then prepared for the madness of the following day (we were travelling second sitting class to Thrissur).

The following morning we checked out and went directly to the train station, we got the train tickets and got on the train. Second sitting in India is actually relatively comfortable, the carriages have fans (no AC) with two blocks of three seats positioned either side of a central aisle. This is an absolute dream compared to second class (which look like they were designed for cattle and are often so overcrowded people often sit on the luggage racks overhead) so we were really happy.

The nice thing about Indian trains is that external doors are left wide open, so that if you are a little adventurous you can stand holding onto the train with one hand with your body outside. The scenery we passed on the day train was absolutely stunning and Laura spent the entire day sitting with her legs hanging outside the door.

 

 

Thrissur

We arrived in Thrissur around mid afternoon and got checked into our hotel. We only had the rest of the afternoon in Thrissur so we went out to take a look at the Kshetram Temple. Thrissur is a holy city in India and we had arrived in festival season (or so we thought). During festivals the gates to the temple are flung open, elephants circle the temple, and generally there is a throng of people around. We did not arrive on a festival day. One thing to note about Hindu temples is that most of them won’t let tourists in unless they are Hindu (which I can understand as they are practicing places of worship) so whilst the guidebook might go into lavish detail about how wonderful a temple is, unless you’re a practicing Hindu you’ll likely get a great view of the gate outside.

After the disappointment at the temple we went to grab some supplies for the following day, along the way I managed to find some hair dye (I was ecstatic) and we went to a shit-haven close to the hotel for some dinner.

The following day we checked out and we got second (cattle) class tickets to Cochin, the train was massively overcrowded though we managed to win the hearts of some of the local women by offering a seat (when we managed to get one) to a couple of ladies with babies /toddlers, the women honestly looked shocked, other than this our journey was uneventful.

Cochin

We arrived in Ernakulam mid-afternoon and quickly got to the ferry station, we had been expecting to be mobbed by locals trying to get us into private (and expensive) boats to cross to Cochin proper but were pleasantly surprised that it was a small ticket office and the ticket price set at an ultra cheap 4 rupees for the 30 minute crossing. We even managed to queue jump as Laura went to get the tickets (Ladies in India can jump almost any queue, not much help if lots of ladies are queuing but fantastic when it’s mostly men).

We arrived into Cochin and quickly checked into our home stay. Home stay’s used to be a fantastic way of seeing a country, for a moderate fee you would stay at a local’s home and be offered bed and board. Home stays now however are glorified guesthouses. To stay with locals though, check out couch surfing, it’s free and we’ve heard some great things about it.

Cochin had a very European atmosphere, we visited the Dutch palace (frankly which looked like it was about to tumble over), Jew town (like running the gauntlet between curio shops) and the oldest synagogue in India. Fort Cochin’s main attraction is the ‘Chinese counter-levered fishing nets’, these were somewhat disappointing though Cochin did find some redemption in having ice cream rickshaw’s (selling ice cream and not manufactured of).

We hung around for two days and soaked in the atmosphere, the food (like anywhere very touristy) was disappointing and overpriced (Laura ordered some river fish and was presented with what looked like a grilled kipper). We did however find a great cafe that served a pretty decent coffee and cake.

We left early on our fourth day to Alleppey via train (second class), repeating the ferry crossing looking forward to our houseboat experience.

 

Alleppey

We arrived in Alleppey in excellent time and went to directly to our hotel, We had opted to stay in the ‘Palmy Residency’ which was cheap and relatively central.  It was a great hotel overall and it had one of the cleanest rooms throughout our entire stay in India.

After check-in we enquired at the hotel as to whether they could recommend a houseboat to us, as it turned out the hotel manager had a list of houseboat companies that he used, the hotel manager had been extraordinary thus far so we thought we would chance it, as we didn’t have to hand over any cash till we saw the houseboat.

We (naturally) didn’t leave without incident, we gave our laundry to the hotel for cleaning, as it turned out the lady that cleaned the clothes (all by hand) had washed my white t-shirts with Laura’s tie dye harem trousers. Several hours of further cleaning left the t-shirts serviceable but no longer close to their original colour.

Houseboat sorted, we headed into Alleppey town and had a wander, this was the furthest south we had been in India and we were really suffering with the heat (Weather.com Report: 38 °C, feels like 45 °C, 95% humidity). It was all we could do to find an eatery. After wandering around for a half hour in the midday heat we an amazing little place that was really cheap with some amazing food, we actually ate there 3 times over two days, Laura having the vegetable Thali (a Thali is a complete meal, it varies locally but normally consists of 3 curries, rice, riata a poppadom and/or chapatti and if you’re really lucky some fruit for dessert) and me taking on an egg curry with as many porattas (thick and soft chappatis made with dosa mix) as I could eat.

Just before midday the following day we checked out of the hotel and were escorted to the houseboat by the hotel manager. True to his word the house boat was lovely and in no time at all we were underway on the backwaters of Kerala. We were given a welcoming drink (fermented Coconut juice in the original coconut) and we quickly settled into our home for the night. Our cabin was air conditioned (only during the evening) but was lovely. We had a really nice lunch consisting of traditional Keralan fare and sat on the second floor viewing platform reading and taking in the view. We tied up for the evening near a large village and the driver went off home to his wife.

The chef remained on the boat and cooked our dinner and then after (very little) prompting joined us for a drink (We had purchased a bottle of Old Monk in Alleppey). Whilst Laura and I were sipping our drinks, the chef would take a drink and down it in one, then take half an hour to recover and take yet another drink.

We called it a night and after convincing the chef that we didn’t want any chips (I think he really fancied chips and curry sauce, well maybe just curry) we had an uncomfortable night in our cabin (The aircon barely worked and there were lots of mosquitoes in the room).

The driver arrived bright and early and we got back to Alleppey for 10. The chef and driver were both fantastic, whilst their English was very limited we could communicate using Hindi as an intermediary language. Our houseboat cost us 5000 Rupees (Approx £70) for one night, we perhaps quite cheekily asked the chef how much he made, his response was pretty astounding, he took in a total of 3000 rupees a month, less than what we paid for one night! This made Laura cry.

We left the boat in good spirits and headed back to Alleppey where we chilled out at the hotel, we caught a train to Bangalore.

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