Alleppey Gods own country

With the dream of experiencing the legendry life in Backwaters of Kerala, self started to Alleppey along with my friends on a long weekend from the IT capital Bangalore. We boarded the bus around 6.00 PM in the evening, within no time it crossed the boarding State Tamil Nadu and entered Kerala. It was the chilling cold which woke me up to give the morning glimpses of Kerala. I saw senior citizens walking on the road regardless to mention they all had 'Malayala Mannorama' in their shoulders, which is nothing but the local news paper. The cry of a kind woke rest of the travelers in the bus. I turned to my friend who is accompanying us to know more about the place; who is non other than our local boy; soon we realized that he is no better than one among us who can speak the local language. Soon the bus came to a halt and boy at front calls out "allapuza... allapuza" which indicated that we have reached Alleppey and leaving us with a question where to go..? Soon we realized that we have reached Alleppey little too early than expected, wherein our entry to House Boat is at 10.00 AM. While sipping the morning tea in the nearby tea stall we enquired about a place to freshen up, with the help of that gentleman we checked in to a nearby hotel called Arcadia Residency, though the ask for few hours was little too high we decided to go with it considering our situation. We gathered most of the information about Alleppey from the reception, which helped us prepare for 24 hrs stay in water.


The little tips from reception helped us ensure that we bought all necessary eatables and snacks for the next 24 hrs. Once we board the deck we have absolutely no interface with the outside world, apart from few stoppages in the nearby shores, wherein you will have to pay double for everything that you buy. My friend with local expertise arranged for a case of beer from the State owned Beverages Corporation. Believe me its damn cheep...just Rs.40 a bottle, wherein the same will cost you Rs. 120 - 150 outside. Once all set we took a local taxi from our Hotel Arcadia to a place called Finishing Point which is just 3 km way, were we board the deck. By now the chilling morning had given way to the hot and humid day light, with mercury hitting 32*C. Finishing point gave visual treat to our eyes with numerous beautiful and artistic house boat lined up for their journey. We reached the person who is going to be the Guide and Captain for our journey as per the details provided during the booking. By the way...you have the choice of luxury house boat which will cost you Rs.10, 000 to Rs. 70,000 per day. Ours was a house boat which had 3 fully furnished bedrooms with AC and living space. It coasted us only 15K since it was off season, the same will cost Rs.30K to 50K during the peak season (Oct-Feb).



There comes a stout man introducing as our Guide and Captain form then, he helped us onboard and introduced the crew which consisted of another 4 guys. He was very professional like a flight attended who explained the rules and safety measures to be adhered. Let me tell you... I was amazed to see the craftsmanship in the house boat it’s an architectural marvel created in a small boat. It had all facilities of a star hotel. All our needs from food to drink is taken care in the house boat, it starts with a welcome drink along with a fruit basket followed by breakfast in half an hrs time. To be highlighted is Kappa and Fish curry the typical Kerala food which is made available on prior request. While I relish the breakfast, my friend Anuroop connected his laptop to the DJ console which kick started to a whole new experience in water. By now the boat has covered kilometers in water leaving us with rich experience of coconut trees leaning to the water and touching the blue sky, which reinstated in our mind why Kerala is God's own Country.



We struck a good rapport with the crew members buy now and we had an excellent lunch with Karemeen (A verity of fish) fry along with few typical Kerala dishes. I have no words to describe the taste, but experience it yourself. Post lunch we tried little bit of fishing which did not give any result. The boat was nearing a Toddy Shop to which we were quick to respond and its almost past 6 in the eve, we asked the captain to give some rest to the engine and some coolant to ourselves. We saw people bringing fresh toddy straight from the coconut palm to the toddy shop, with the support of a crew member we managed to grab few seats in the toddy shop to experience the country liquor served with spicy duck curry. I bet no star hotels can match to this taste.

In some time we were back on our journey and the boat came to a permanent halt for the day. We celebrated the birthday of our friend, Anoop and hit the bed by late night. Woke up in the morning to know that we are already back on our way, with long breath and pain I bid good bye to this place with a promise I am gonna be back. I lived thru the previous day once again while I was surfing through my digital cam on my way back. Guys, now it’s time for you to experience Alleppey - God's own Country.