Allepey - The Backwaters

I can tell that I'm no longer in culture shock. During my first few days I was bombarded by so much that was knew to me - men holding hands, tiny, dark shops, aunties in saris sweeping areas with short, grass brooms, men pulling carts with goods they were selling, shabby buildings, crazy roads, etc., etc. Now, I don't even notice those things. I'm actually able to look beyond that and find the uniqueness of each new place I see. I'm in Allepey, supposedly a village, but the huge traffic and crowds make me doubtful of this lable. Anyway, teh big attraction to Allepey is that it is the gateway to the backwaters. This part of Kerala consists of a large network of canals - 900km. A bit like Venice but on a much larger scale. Torists come out here and higher houseboats called Ketuvalems because they are designed to look like old rice barges. These boats are like floating hotels and come with a cook and a driver. So people stay on these for days as they are taken along canals, passing villages and rice paddies. There are other ways to experience the backwaters too. I went on a four hour ride in small canoe. A retired Australian couple and their grandson were the other passengers. It was a fabulous, peaceful journey along palm fringed canals. I got to see little villages along the canals. People were washing clothes or taking baths or washing pots or even fishing in the waters. As we got further away we were in a whole other universe - away from traffic and noise. So green, peaceful, lush. The little houses of the villagers are close to the water and behind the villages you can see wide expanses of rice paddies. We stopped at a village for a refreshing coconut drink. They use a machete like knife to slice off the top and you get a straw to drink up the juice. We continued on and then stopped at another village for tea and vadas - the flat, crispy type as opposed to another type of vada common here which looks like a dowughnut and is doughy. We saw water snakes, colorful birds, liket he kingfisher, and even a fish or two. A great experience.

After returning to Allepey I thought why not take a local ferry and get a different experience of the backwaters? So I went off to the jetty and stepped into a ferry about to depart. When the conductor asked where to I shrugged and said to the end and then back to Allepey. He smiled and was quite nice about this. Being among locals in a bigger boat gave me a different perspective. It took stopped at villages for passengers to alight and embark and then after an hour and a half the conductor suggested I get off and see the village and the ferry will be back in half an hour. Great idea except the vilage was a big one with traffic and shops. I would have preferred something small. Anyway I walked away from the shops and came to a neighborhood where the road was a narrow unpaved path and saw the simple homes of the locals. Then I got back on the ferry and returned to Allepy.