Alappuzha (Alleppey)

So we decided to take a houseboat on the backwaters. Derek thinks calling it the 'Backwaters' makes it sound very mysterious and adventurous. It isn't. It's something you do when you are old and like to sit in a wicker chair and look at things. I am both glad we did it and glad that we only did it for one night.

We originally ended up in Kottayam, booked into a hotel and then realized we needed to go to Alappuzhu. This is what happens when I plan things. The hotel (which was very nice and had a pool because Derek, in his sickness, has turned into a princess) offered us a houseboat for 8000 rupees, and we said we wanted to pay 3000, and they scoffed and said it would never happen. Everyone says this when you don't give into their scams. EVERYONE. Oh, you don't want to book my hotel? All the other hotels are full. Oh they aren't, you were just there? Well, you will never get a room for 300, that is insane. What, they all had rooms for 300? IT ISN'T TRUE. (Derek had that exact conversation a few days ago) The one thing you can say about the scammers in India is that they are poor on originality. If one person does it, they all do it. It makes things easier, but there's also an element of oh god just shut up I've heard this a million times.

So we get on the bus to Alappuzcha, which I enjoyed if only for the bat jerky hanging from the electrical wires. At first you think they are leaves, and then when the bus stops beside one for a moment you realize, no, that is a very large, very dead, very dry bat hanging 12 feet in the air.

We walked into the first travel agency we found and booked a houseboat for 3000 (HAH). One of the enormous difference between the north and the south is how relaxed people here are, which is best demonstrated when Derek gets off the bus and is promptly surrounded by touts. Alappuzha is hugely touristy, more so then many areas we were in in the north, and the touts stood in a circle holding their business cards waiting quietly for the one currently giving his spiel to Derek to finish. This would never happen in the north, they'd all be yelling and waving in your face and you'd end up with three of those cards up your nose before you managed to break away and then two of them would chase you for at least 10 minutes. I imagine this is climate related, no one in Kerala is worried about starving to death in a desert.

The houseboat was very nice, it even had a tv on it that we never used. We floated around and looked at things and read books.

They offered a canoe ride through the smaller local channels (extra money, of course) so we hopped on and Derek got to paddle me around which THRILLED him to no end. The best part was all the other tourists we saw in either motorized boats or two locals paddling. I don't know why Derek was so whiny, he keeps talking about all the time he's going to spend at the gym when we get back.

We also purchased a very large fresh water prawn, from a passing canoe, that had the longest blue arms I have ever seen on a crustacean. You can't really tell from the photo, but his arms are BLUE.

He was delicious.

All the food was really awesome, with enough for four people. It was the best part. After dinner entertainment was a gecko a few feet from us eating all the bugs that were attracted by our light. We went to bed early, because Derek is still feeling sick, and there's really not much to do on a houseboat at night.

The next day we were heading to the train station to catch a ride to Kochi so we can get on our 48 hour train ride of death tomorrow, and the rickshaw driver kept pushing a much more expensive tour up, with him of course, where he would take us to some sites on the way. I said no at first, but with the upcoming train ride looming in the future, decided that maybe it would be better. Plus while it was clearly more then a local would pay, no one in Canada would ever drive you around for 3 hours for 17 dollars. It turned out to be a good idea because neither of us had any idea there was an amazing beach here.

HUGE beach, no one on it, but some fisherman, gorgeous sands. Far better then anything we saw in Goa. I'm so confused. There is a resort that charges 500 dollars a night, so clearly people know about it. There are cheaper places, of course, and some homestays. If you wanted to go to a beach, then we found you one. We also found you a miming Jesus. He's good, you could almost believe he's actually stuck in a glass box.

Our driver also took us to some small factories where they were making coconut fiber mats and string, which was really cool to see because it's all made by hand, and the workers are all friendly and (occasionally toothless) smiles.