January 28th and 29th

January 28^th and 29^th, in which we experience a life of luxury in a houseboat on the backwaters.

When I woke after a good few hours of sleep on my bottom bunk, in a compartment shared with Jude and a couple of unknown Indian chaps, I looked out of the window of the Chennai to Alleppey Superfast Express to see a very green and lush landscape, neat houses amongst coconut and banana plantations. We were in Kerala. We managed to get ourselves and our unwieldy bags onto the platform at Ernakkulam where shortly a man approached me with an ‘I think mam you must be Mrs Sally Whittingham.’ It was our man in Kerala, Rajesh, and every bit as charming in the flesh as he has seemed in the many emails we had exchanged. 

On hearing we had not yet had breakfast he saw us to a very luxurious large car, which had clean white cotton seat covers. I could see from Jude’s face that she was struggling to adjust to this different style of living, from the very basic to the luxury end. A person could quite easily get used to this, was my thought as I gave over responsibility for the heavy dirty bags to a strong chap and prepared to be looked after. We started with breakfast in a hotel, which was a special Keralan type of dosa, very light and crispy and cheese flavoured. Then Rajesh said his farewells and wished us a good trip and we set off in the car for a two hour drive to Alleppey, where our luxury houseboat awaited us. Kerala is so different from the places in Tamil Nadu which we know. There is much more of a feeling of space, the roads are wider, and the towns less filthy and overcrowded. I fell asleep again but Jude stayed wide awake despite having not slept on the train, and she did report several hair-raising moments during the ride. Indian road travel is never going to be anything other than scary and dangerous I fear. 

 Ferry rowing boat across the waterway

Fab feast courtesy of Shibbim

At Alleppey our houseboat awaited us and our delightful three man crew with it. There is Shibbim the cook, Sargu the service organiser and the captain/ pilot Bikrish. The boat consists of two double bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, the large open sitting/ dining area and the kitchen at the back where Shibbim works his magic. We set off up the backwater canal and almost immediately were presented with delicious squeezed lemon drinks. Our day was to consist of quite a bit of sitting and watching the scenery go by, the giant areas of rice paddy, the coconut palms, mango trees, glorious riots of bougainvillea, other trees in full bright yellow blossom, the pretty Keralan-style houses with large verandahs and often pink-washed walls, and last but not least the huge variety of birds everywhere on the water. There are hundreds of black cormorants which stand on sticks which rise out of the water, waiting for a catch; very many white egrets of all sizes, standing in the water or in the paddy;  kingfishers flashing by in a blue and orange blur and as we moored one day we also saw a bright green bird which was tapping on a tree trunk to make a home for itself, which we thought at first must be a woodpecker but later decided looked a lot like a barbet. 

 Captain Andy takes a turn

Fetching a coconut down.

During the day from time to time we moor up and Sargu announces we are off for a walk into the village, so we walk along the riverbank, next to paddy and through coconut and banana trees. He tells us how until about ten years ago the waterways really were thoroughfares for everyone, as there were hardly any roads or bridges. We have seen the ferries which run like buses along the canals, special school bus-boats, small skiffs rowed by elderly chaps who are still strong from their daily rowing, which are the ferries that take people from one bank to the other, many small boats filled with different sorts of cargo, fishing boats, and moored up at the side of the water some enormously long racing boats called Snake boats. These latter are raced with huge crews of 110 man, including five steerers who sit over the rudder at the back and six or seven who bang drums and blow horns to keep the rhythm.  Sargu showed us video of a race, held in August,  which was incredibly fast and fiercely fought, between boats from different villages. 

Sargu tries to point out interesting things for us and he has told us how mostly on one side of the

 

This is a supermarket which travels up and down the waterways

water are Christian homes and on the other side are Hindu homes. He himself is a Roman Catholic. The Roman Catholic church has very many churches in Kerala, dating back to when St Thomas the apostle first landed in Kerala and walked the country preaching and founding churches (seven and a half the information always tells you and I puzzle over the half church) We visit a very old church, originally founded in 400 and something A D.

The highlight of our first day was a visit to an Ayurvedic centre which offered many different kinds of massage. Andy and I said we would have a go and we both agreed afterwards that it was an extraordinary and invigorating experience. A tiny Indian woman set about me very purposefully. I was to wear my birthday suit with nothing allowed for modesty. Oil was poured first over my scalp then over every part of me, and it was worked in with great vigour and pummelling and slappings. She might be tiny but she certainly packed a punch! After an hour of this she ran a bucket of hot water and sat me in the small shower/ toilet and proceeded to soap off all the oil and to bath me in this wonderful warm water. I had imagined I would remain oily and slippery for ages but her bathing had me feeling clean and refreshed and not at all greasy. I came out feeling so good and already planning for the next possibility of a massage before we leave Kerala. 

 Sunset on the backwaters and a bat hanging on a wire, under an upside down half moom

 Sunrise on our last day

The whole luxury houseboat experience is delightful I must say. It is plainly very big business during the season also, for tourism, as there are many boats like ours on the waters. We are supposed to be an eco-boat but we rather doubt the eco credentials, I fear. The very best thing is Shibbim’s superb Keralan cooking. He makes typical dishes of the area which involve a lot of coconuts, bananas and fish, served with Keralan rice which is a very large grain. In between meals there are fresh fruit juices, and pineapple or banana fritters- just delicious! We are now getting ready for our second night of sleep whilst rocking gently on the water, with the A/C on to help make the room temperature bearable. Tomorrow we will be leaving for a beach resort and I am sure that we will leave feeling very much more relaxed than we did on arrival.