Visiting the backwaters of Kerala stands out in my mind as one the top experiences from being in India 10 years ago. Last time, we overnighted on a houseboat, which was relaxing and fascinating as the boats are like no other.
However, the prices for the houseboats have gone up significantly and since I'm always into a new experience, we looked for other options to visit. Foodfuntravel turned me onto the local ferry system, which runs boats all over. Perfect!
We decided to travel from Kottayam to Alleppey (Allapuzha), which is about a 2 hour ride and it was easy to reach Kottayam by train. We arrived into Kottayam about 30 minutes late and had 1 hour to catch the ferry. First order of business was to change money. We found out that Market junction is the place to go for that. There, we wandered into mothoot, which had no cash and then Orient Exchange. The guy wanted to give Rs. 65 per $1 and take Rs. 63 as a government fee. it was the first time we'd heard of such a fee and in Chennai and Pondicherry had gotten 66.5, so after a few minutes he agreed to 66 and the fee. He would also only change $75 per person, where I'd changed $100 in Varkala at 64.
Now we had just 15 minutes until the ferry was due to leave and weren't sure where it was. The guys in the money exchange looked at us blankly when we asked them, which didn't provide much confidence that we would find the ferry. After asking a couple auto rickshaw drivers, one seemed to knows and said it was 8 km and we were off hoping that the guy did really know what we were talking about.
At some point he said we were close and there were a bunch of school children. This was a good sign as the duo at Lost with Purpose had noted that it was near a school when they wrote about their ferry ride on the backwaters.
As expected/hoped, the boat was leaving late, so we didn't miss it.
We were also in luck as about 20 students rode the ferry and provided additional amusement as we navigated the waters. They were playing, doing homework, and hamming it up for photos.
We were also in luck as about 20 students rode the ferry and provided additional amusement as we navigated the waters. They were playing, doing homework, and hamming it up for photos.
The beginning of the trip was on a small canal that was covered in plants and plastic bottles. I wasn't sure how the boat would make it through. It did with ease for the most part.
The only hiccup is when another ferry arrived and some manuvering was required to squeeze by.
As there was such a dense covering on the water, birds were able to walk across and nibble at bits they found along the way.
Eventually we entered the large open lake near Alleppey around sundown, which was a nice time to be out there.
We jumped off the ferry at the gas station as it appeared to be just 600m from the endpoint and we figured there would be less hassle of "hotel, hotel" and auto rickshaws and less time spent waiting.
We stayed at the Sea Shore Homey Stay, which was a bit disorganized and dirty, but fine for the night and he gave us a discount as he hadn't saved the room we'd reserved. We headed out for dinner as they were out of beer and one sounded good. After walking along the beach road for 15 mintues, we got to the Harbour restaurant with attached Wine and Beer Palour. Quite the palour it was. All men sipping Kingfisher strongs and snacking. After beer we went next door for dinner. There are 2 restaurants, one garden and one terrace and they have similar menus, but the terrace is double the price. We had a yummy vegestable theeyal and aloo gobi masala. Super full, it was nice to walk home.
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