When I woke up I was in busy street of Alappuzha
Alappuzha was totally opposite of Munnar,
it was like a complete different scenario, like the table has turned
Street of Alappuzha was full of different crowd,
and full of chant and rave of hawkers. People were dressed in traditional
clothes an attire that can give complete vibes of southern India
Alappuzha (or Alleppey) is a city on the
Laccadive Sea in the south Indian state of Kerala. It's best known for
houseboat cruises along the rustic Kerala backwaters, a network of tranquil
canals and lagoons. The and city's Mullakkal Temple features a traditional design
to its worshippers. Punnamada Lake's snake boat races are a well-known annual
event of kerala
Alappuzha is famous for its backwaters and
luxury houseboats, and we were here to experience its hospitality.
Houseboat in Alappuzha were luxurious homes
having all basic amenities for vacationing purpose, as I was told
Most of the house boats are found in Alappuzha and Kumarakom.
Alleppey or Alappuzha is also known
as the Venice of the east because of its beautiful water bodies and great
culture.
Sight to behold alleppy backwaters is the most popular way to explore kerala
The best way to explore backwaters is to hire a boat, and it’s a no secret
A Kerala Houseboat is about 67 to 120 feet in length. The materials that go into the making are local and Eco-friendly; bamboo poles, coconut fiber, ropes, bamboo mats, carpets etc. There are Houseboats with the fully furnished single room, double room, and triple rooms till seven rooms.
I wasn't much interested in the houseboat
and was feeling dizzy, but wanted to spend some More time in Munnar, I was
repeatedly having second thought about Alleppey.
At first it was difficult to find a decent
houseboat under our budget, all the houseboat we inquired were out of our budget
At last we select a decent houseboat for our stay, from out it seemed good. To avoid the disappointment we first inspected the boat before booking it, it was the best way to avoid further complications
To be honest I was amused by interior of houseboat, it composed of 8 spacious room with air condition and double bed
and with all colorful light, it had a deck where the captain control the ship steering
wheel.
Our houseboat had 2 floors, it had a large
hall with dj lights and sound equipment and a dining table and beneath it was
our bedroom. And a master kitchen for the staff
It too had a balcony attached to the hall,
with soft cushion floor which provides the viewer a thrilling view of
the backwaters from top.
All the bedroom had a huge window to cover
the full view of backwaters.
I bet, You will love being on the palm tacked
wooden boats which are designed as houses in water. They have all the modern
amenities you would expect in a hotel. Be it great AC rooms, clean washrooms or
even a rooftop view. Like heritage meets luxury.
Trust me the houseboat was nothing less than a 5 star hotel, I was stunned to see all the facility provided in the houseboat, if you didn't see it, you would never believe it was on backwaters. Interior of the houseboat was nothing less compared to a night club
We were escorted by the staff of houseboat,
we had a catfight among us for the best room, I took the advantage of it and
got a room with the best view of backwaters.
We rested for a while and soon it was dark,
we sat on the deck to enjoy the view.
Next morning I woke up at 8 am, and my day was blessed by the view in front of houseboat, a green lush of forest near the river shining bright with orange color as the sun was setting up.
I soon got up and check on others, all were
still sleeping, I saw an opportunity and took my toothbrush and ran towards the
deck, and started to brush, standing in front of boat, I guess I felt like Jack
Dawson from titanic. Hahahahahah
The view was magnificent, smoothing sound of river as our boat was cutting it in sharp edge to move forward, I stood there gazing at the view while sipping my coffee
Cruising through the narrow canals in the canopy of the palm trees, watching the fishermen put there net to catch fish and the locals going on with their life is a very different experience. The locals use these small boats for reaching to the mainland like we use bikes for transportation.
All the palm trees were dancing with the winds and the birds chipping in the background. Trust me you should experience a stay in houseboat at Alappuzha at least once.
Soon we all were ready to explore the lands near the backwaters. Those cute little huts near the water were too cute as the resemblance a different scenario.
Small boat were in the water for fishing chores. The caretaker of the houseboat prepares food for us in traditional Kerala style and serves in banana leaves. When the boat reaches the middle of the lake you have this feeling of priceless joy and beauty and you get the satisfaction of that the money you paid was worth it.
Soon the boat was anchored near the land so
that we could off board on land for our food arrangements, we took some shrimp,
fish from the local people for our lunch, trust it was really exciting to walk
on narrow lane in middle of river to travel from one place to another.
We were expecting our lunch to be special
because we were about to have true ethnic food of kerala.
The staff served us authentic kerala food,
I was eagerly waiting for it.
We had our food in banana leaf, we had shrimp sauce, fish fry with laccha parothe and sambar chawal with rasam. It was the best preparation
In my entire kerala trip, this was the best
food I had .The shrimp sauce was so good and the sambar chawal was finger
licking and ohh wait for the rasam…… I can't describe how to address its taste.
It was sweet tangy and full of spices, you won't believe I drank 6 glass of it,
and request the chef to make it every day till we were on the boat, I even took
a bottle full of it while leaving the houseboat, my mouth is still watering
while writing it, ahh god I miss rasam, I miss kerala.
After I relished the food, I couldn't stop
thinking about the dinner, in desperation i asked them, they told we can make
any regional dishes but unfortunately we had to buy them fresh fishes from the
strip land
Soon the boat was again anchored to a
nearby small village, we got out and the narrow lanes of the strip land was
very fascinating to me, walking on them was a thrilling part to me.
We searched for a local fisherman to buy
fishes and soon we find one, i was stunned as i saw his basket full of
different size of fishes and tiger prawns, the prawns was so big, they were
literally the size of lobsters, all the fishes were very fresh as he had just
caught them, we bargained a little and bought ourselves dinner.
We request our driver to wait for couple of hours, so that we can explore the village
It was not a village, basically it was a small cluster of hut, besides the river with children playing and women doing their household chores. I wondered life is so peaceful here, we felt connect to mother nature.
After wandering for some time, we hoped in
the houseboat, with more excitement
Backwaters was peaceful and far away for city crowd and noise, close to mother nature.
Wish I had the words to describe that subliminal feeling of standing on the deck while the fresh winds brushes your face, The first time you feel it-- you feel so powerful that your mind goes numb and you crave for it more than anything in the world.
I remember next day after lunch we started
to dance like crazy when the music and light system were lit up. We wrapped our
dace with a soft romantic couple dance.
After that everyone went to their
respective room to rest, I stood in the balcony with the view of backwaters
with toody ( local booze of kerala)
It was 4 pm, sun was on its low, kids were
playing in the water, fisherman returning to their home with fish in there bag
it was so smoothing to see
And at that time my phone buzzed, I saw it and it was about our results, I checked it, I scored A, I was desperate to know zoya`s results (Don`t know who Zoya is well read my Varanasi blog) and at that exact time I got another message, and guess what, It was from her, I was surprised and a smile ran acrossed my face, We exchanged our grades and then I asked her what should I bring from kerala for her, to which she replied "kuch bhe la jo tujhe accha lage"
How I'm supposed to bring another zoya from
kerala to gift her?. Hahahahaha
(But when now I see, I think im over you, I mean 3 yrs is a hell lot of time to realize it, but even kundun didn't realize it for 8 yrs, how do you expect me to? Maybe she's siren who Lures me with her enchanting voice to the deadly coast of shores
I take it as it was my privilege to get my heart broken by you, ohh sorry crushed by you,
Later that night we had our food, dance and
ended our day with the scenic night beauty of backwaters while having sarja
(reginal ice-cream of kerala stuffed with nuts and fruits)
At night there was completely and utterly silence and smooth sound of waves and all the stars shine bright and twinkling as like a natural disco has started, nature has its own beauty
I stood there in complete silence except the peaceful music of nature with my eyes closed for a while stretching my arms as far as i could and enjoyed the fresh swinging air brushing my face.
Trust me I would have been a jerk if I had
skipped the houseboat for munnar, in fact I got a lot of messages from people
asking about the details of the houseboat,
Next morning I woke up early as I recall it was around 7 am, I rushed to the balcony and then I don't know what happened but i had a urged to see the view from the top, like from the roof the the boat.
Adrenaline rushed through my body as the idea came into my mind, without thinking I started to climb on the balcony and with a little struggle I reached the top my eyelids fluttered as the morning sunlight gently caressed my face., ahh the view was memorable,
ahh what a wonderful view, all your pain
could be eased by it, fresh cold winds were flowing against the backwaters and
the warm rays of sunlight, I can't describe how good it felt, suddenly or
reflex I stretched my arm again as pretending to be jack from titanic to enjoy
the situation even better
Smooth backwater feels like asking us wordlessly to touch them, surrounded by palm shaded trees with lush of paddy fields
We enjoy our last day in the houseboat to
the fullest, doing weird things which are now just a memories in our heart.
Houseboat experience in Alappuzha was awesome, this was my first travel experience in kerala where all I did was relaxing and enjoying
Next day we left the houseboat in the evening around 5 pm, we were about to leave for the airport but I remembered I didn't bought anything for zoya, so I asked the driver to take us to a good place to buy ethnic chocolate.
Soon after a quick shopping, we left to
airport, all the way to Mumbai, I was remembering my whole journey to kerala,
and was smiling as now I had a lot of memories and one of my bucket list was
now complete.
Kerala is indeed a Gods own country,❤
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