Incredibly india - Alleppey

Alleppey AKA "Venice of the East". The Backwaters of Aleppey are the most popular tourist attraction in Kerala. We had planned on taking a motorised luxury houseboat cruise in these backwaters & staying in the boat overnight. The pollution caused by these boats is a real problem here & that had put us off some. It would also cost about £80 a night. In the end we decided on taking a day trip from Kochi. Alleppey is only about an hour and a half away. The trip would last eight hours, ride two different types of boat, both man powered with lunch for £8.50 each.

In the morning we took a ride on a country boat. It was a traditional open canoe like boat which had bamboo seats and an over head bamboo canopy for shade. It was very comfortable. The boat was propelled similar to a gondola so pollution was not an issue. 

 

We shared the boat with two funny guys from Brighton, Cough lady and some French tourists. Cough Lady became very annoying very quickly. The boat floated on very gentle. One of the Brighton guys fell asleep.

We were taken to see 2 industries on the water. Both were very rural & almost interesting. 

Making rope from coconut husks. Catherine told a very bad joke about this trip being money for old rope. 

Clam shells before they are processed. They are used in everything from construction to medicine.

For lunch we moored up at an island & were fed some excellent local foods. The mango relish was hot as hell & the coconut & cauliflower thing was ace! This was our first experience of eating from a banana leaf & we loved it in spite of Cough Lady.

After lunch we chose to take a ride on a smaller boat around some very tight canals, at first the decision was made simply to get away from Cough Lady but we were glad we did as we saw a turtle, snake & lots of kingfishers. We saw this really cool dragonfly. Cat is waiting for her wildlife photography award.

This tree was covered in some form of insect lava, at first we thought it was covered in a spiders web.

I think we made the right decision to take the day trip over the overnight stay. It was much cheaper & we still got to enjoy the scenic & relaxing backwaters.