Kerala: Cochin & Alleppey Backwaters

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Cochin (Kochi) & Fort Cochin

Wendy and I arrived in Cochin (aka Kochi) at Ernakulam station at about 3pm, and made plans to leave the next day to Alleppey.  Cochin is mostly a city, and bay area, with the most historical areas in Fort Cochin.  We took a quick ferry to Fort Cochin for 2.5 rupees (one way).  Fort Cochin has many small alleys with cobble stone streets, churches, and Portuguese influenced architecture. When arriving off the ferry we hoped a auto-rick shaw to Jew Town (it's really called that), to visit the Pardesi Synagogue to admire what is left of the 1568 building.  Jew Town was nice, but Wendy and I thought the synagogue was a bit shabby, and poorly kept.  Perhaps it's because the area has only 70 of India's 4000 jews or because the congregation has no rabbi (so if anyone knows a Rabbi who likes to travel, we know a job opening). In addition to Jews the area is great for antiques, and large wooden doorways, sculptures and wonderful treasures a backpacker would never be able to fit on their pack.

We headed back to the dock area for a walk along the Chinese fishing nets that line Fort Cochin's bay.  We strolled through the little stalls that sell fisherman pants, hippie shirts, books, and knickknacks for tourist.  Getting hungry we found our way to the Rooftop Restaurant (in a hotel much nicer than ours) to dine and watch a segmented Kathakali dance performance.  The real performances are 3-6 hours with many actors decorated in elaborate face makeup and costumes. The dancers we saw kept their eye frightfully wide, accentuating each movement. 

After the dinner dance show, we took a ferry back to Cochin to find a rickshaw.  Wendy nor I could remember the name of our dodgy hotel or the street is was on, so we instructed the rickshaw driver to head us back to the Ernakulam train station, giving him "turn left here," or "right here" to usher us as close as we could remember.  Finally we found the hotel, Cochin Tourist Home, while cheap (300 rupee/night) I wouldn't recommend it. 

 Alleppey (Alappuzha)

 Upon our arrival in Alleppey we got a rickshaw to take us the 4kms to The Holiday Inn (no connection to the US chain), which has been renamed the Springs Inn since Let's Go was published.   Since everything is a fight here, we were brought to some other hotel that the rickshaw driver wanted us to stay at.  This is very common.  We insisted that we had reservations at the Springs Inn (which we did not) and demanded he bring us to the location we agreed upon.  After about a 5 minute fight and refusal to leave the rickshaw he motored up again to head us to the right hotel. Keep in mind, this is a 2 seater moped like beast, with Wendy, I, our 2 huge packs, and train carry-ons huddled in back.  Sharp turns create a big challenge.

We got to our hotel which new full name is "Springs Inn 'Formally known as the Holiday Inn' on Nehru Trophy Finishing Point Road."  Udaya Kumar and his wife run a spotless spacious roomed inn with powerful fans, a big patio/garden, cable tv (with BBC), and immaculate bathrooms.  It was the nicest place we've stayed at, plus it's 1 storey, so no dragging our packs up flights of stairs. We lived it there so much we stayed for three nights, most people do not spend more than 2 days in Alleppey. 

Alleppey is a small town functioning without the need for tourism.  The only tourist that come there use it as a jumping off point for the Kerala Backwaters tours.  Once you get away from the main canal area, you discover a colorful, gentle, selfsufficient south India town with a quiet beach-side. It was a nice change from bustling Cochin and tourist haven Ga, where people are constantly trying to sell you maps, fruit, clothing, jewelery, books.  We made a home base and found a  GREAT restaurant called Kreme Corner on Muklackal Rd (perpendicular to the main canal) with delicious Aloo Gobi, veggie curry, and a few other dishes, not sure what they were, but they tasted great.   

Kerala Backwaters

Other than reading, and enjoying the breeze off the canal, our three days in Alleppey were spent negotiating houseboat tours.  Originally we wanted a boat to take us south to Kollum as we were headed in that direction anyway.  We discovered that it would be more expensive, as you have to pay for the day the boat returns to Alleppey and you get to see less of the backwaters.  Many tourist show up at noon the day they want to leave and get a boat straight off the dock, but they all return the next day at 9:30am. It really depends what you are looking for, as there are boats for every budget and group size. Some of these boats are MASSIVE, having 2 stories, dance floors, AC, tv's, computers, 5 bedrooms, some are even called "Botels."   We opted not to go with a tour company, as many couldn't show us the actual boat we've be going out on. [Note, the boats along the main canal are not your only options, head to the "Finishing Point" to find tons more to choose from.] 

Tours included, all food, and nonalcoholic beverages, ask before heading out if you can bring your own liquor onboard. There are NO liquor stores in Alleppey (not to mention most of Kerala).  We found out from a British couple about a sketchy hotel bar on some back street that would sell us takeaway.  Determined to find some Whiskey (to kill bacteria in our stomachs, of course), we had headed out pre departure into a seedy men-only bar.  We got the inflated price, but left successful.

Finding a boat was one of those situations that just worked out.  The day before we were planning to leave, we secured a price and boat with 1 guy only to find out the day we were leaving it was broken (or so he claimed, more likely he got a better price from someone else).  We raced around trying to find anything available, unfortunately it was now Indian Independence Day and people we arriving by the truck load to get onboard.  We decided to up our price range, but the boats available were not worth the splurged.  At 10:40 (we were supposed to leave at 11:30) we found a great 1 bedroom boat called the Saint George, named after it's owner and captain James George. The bedroom was large, bathroom and shower clean, had a hammock on deck and the price was just right 4000 rupees for all the food, beverages, and guided info.  It did not have the traditional thatched roof, but the front deck area was open for a breeze, plus the hammock really sold us.

The backwaters are canals made by, who else, but those industrious Dutch.  They were created as irrigation systems, preventing the saltwater river to flood the rice fields, as Kerala is largely a farming state. The canal partitions are built by stone walls lining the river with coconut palms.  The sights are bright green rice fields, and small homes with steps down into the river.  We saw many women washing clothing or even themselves (no nudity, India is very conservative of the female body), canoes rowing past, and even a pot & pans salesmen rowing his goods along from little house to the next.  Local ferries act as public transportation, from churches to school to work.

Motoring down the waterways was extremely relaxing and refreshing, the breeze off the water was a perfect coolant from the south Indian sun.  We drank fresh coconut milk and listened to the tapping of palm leaves flutter on it's neighboring tree's leaves.  The food was delicious, all special Kerala dishes, our favorites being spicy cabbage/curry salad, crispy bread, rice & coconut paddies (meat and seafood is available, but I've gone veg for India). We spent the night playing cards and watching India musicals.  We got back to dock at 9am and headed straight to the train station to head south to Varkala. The backwaters was a bit of a pricey treat, but we are really glad we did it.