Days 7 & 8 - ALLEPPEY, INDIA “Three nights in the backwaters (sort of)”2

Days 7 & 8 - ALLEPPEY, INDIA “Three nights in the backwaters (sort of)”2-3 May 2014. My memories of staying in Alleppey, or to use its less romantic new name ‘Allapuzha’, are unfortunately characterised more by my debilitating cold than perhaps the experience itself. I think it is true to say that during my first day in Alleppey I felt rather useless. I did feel like my backpacker’s spirit had been broken somewhat, and I was reduced to feeling like an old woman (no offence to old women - not that anyone reading this would classify themselves as an old woman, presumably?), unmotivated to do anything, preferring instead to take an extended breakfast, completing some of my blog and arranging my onward travel. I’ve decided now that I will not visit Kolam, the next main city down, also part of the Kerala backwaters (as it is only worth visiting if taking the boat journey down from Allepey, which apparently is not running during the off-season). I will therefore do a full-day guided Keralan canoe tour of the backwaters tomorrow. This means I need to spend an extra night in Allepey, on top of yesterday and tonight. This will inevitably impact the schedule of the rest of the trip now.As I didn’t do much then on day 7, let me impart some observations. The first concerns the population of India. It is truly huge. At least 1 billion people. I never cease to be taken back by the huge number of people who appear to poke round corners, to cram themselves on buses and trains, to work for relatively little in menial jobs.That takes me onto point two. In India, automation has been a relatively slow process. I guess this is partly a legacy of Ghandi’s rejection of new technologies in favour of keeping alive traditional methods and practices. So bus times are still kept on a piece of paper where the ‘Station Master’ will advise you which bus to get, rather than printed on a public board of some description. Signs are painted, rather than specially produced. Trains must be booked on pieces of paper etc. ‘Traditional’ jobs help keep people in employment, but ultimately holds India back in becoming an advanced economy.Thirdly India is terribly buerocratic. As I’ll later show, booking a train requires something close to a master’s degree.Fourthly, India is very hierarchical. If you imagine Victorian England, and brought it into the modern age, you may get something close to modern India. Sure the classes mix, but everyone knows their place, and the higher up you are, the more people are made aware of your status, for instance in the use of big signs for the Station Master; or the military uniforms of the police; or the division of trains into a myriad number of classes (the waiting room for the highest class being called the Upper Class waiting room).Lastly, India is a big country. Each state could easily be its own country, and to that extent it resembles America somewhat. Like The US, an Indian need never leave his home country to experience a wide variety of cultures and experiences. Indeed many Indians I have spoken to have never left India. This is partly to do with the fact that the Indian currency is immensely weak and going abroad would be prohibitively expensive; but also because of a large domestic tourism market which I have directly observed, particularly in the low season for international tourism which coincides with the high season for Indian tourism. You could say that India is the ultimate touring country. It has great transport links, a myriad of cities, natural scenery, ranges etc to explore. To coin a phrase, he who tires of India, tires of life itself.So endeth the lesson of the day.After having a much more restful night, compared to the mosquito infested previous one (the manager made some recommendations, and gave me a functioning mosquito repellant), I woke up early the next day to commence my canoe cruise of the backwaters. I was accompanied on the cruise by two Malaysian chaps, two French ladies and two London gals. They were great company. We were split into three canoes, and our rower and guide was Shamsi.Normally for the backwaters experience, one hires one of the numerous ‘houseboats’ which line the river. They are typically around £60-80 to hire for 24 hours, and if you can find some other people to go with you can usually split the cost. They are like little barges, made of some type of wicker fibre. Houseboats however cannot navigate through the narrower passages, where you meet the real locals who live along the river. Therefore while I was not going to be on a houseboat this time, I was very happy that my experience on a canoe through the backwaters would be just as fulfilling, if not more so.It was a very relaxing day as we were able to put our feet up and take in Kerala’s backwaters via it’s many passages. The sun was scorching, so I had to keep hiding my body from the sun! We had breakfast of Idli and Sambar (not quite my cup of tea, if you will pardon the pun, but was good to have a chance to try it), lunch of thali on a banana leaf (there were some more agreeable dishes here), a couple of tea breaks, and fresh mango, both ripe and unripened. It was quite the education! I also had the chance to have an eagle sit on my arm. All that was for 1000 rupees (£10).Now that I had completed the most important part of the Keralan trip, I was ready to move on, and tomorrow I will travel to the beach resort of Varkala.I ended the day at the Mandala Beach Resort, where I had managed to get a night for half the price (600 rupees) of the hotel I had previously stayed at. This was more authentic backpacker living, so I would have to do away with the balcony and immaculate cleanliness, and instead sleep in a dark but otherwise comfortable single unit cottage. For mum’s sake, I also checked underneath the bed for snakes.Day 7Dinner 330 rupeesBreakfast 160 rupeesAccommodation 1100 rupeesTotal £15.90Day 8Boat tour 1000 rupeesAccommodation 600 rupeesDinner 485 rupeesTotal £20.85 -- source link

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