Getting lost in the canals, sailing the beautiful backwaters and letting yourself be overwhelmed by the unique landscapes around you: this must be the daily plan for Alleppey. This city seems like another world; a relaxed India without cars, only water, palms and other secret escapes waiting to be discovered only by canoe.
After arriving with the ferry at the main station of Alleppey, we take a tuk-tuk to our accomodation (amazingly enough there are narrow roads and bridges that connect parts of the city). In just a 10min ride we’re left in front of a dirt road with no indication of our homestay (Malayalam Homestay) but our driver’s finger; unsure we decide to give it a shot and start walking along the bank. Finally, we reach a kind of hotel sign but guess what… its not ours… so we keep going (we are literally walking inside the garden of another hotel now) until we see it. There it is our beautiful homestay ! The wooden building overlooking a small bay and other small canals, seems like a dream. Also, after a quick chat with the owner, he tells us that we can choose any room we like since its low season and the place is nearly empty (we only payed 1500INR per night). We opt to stick with the room we booked (upper floor with balcony) since the view is way more amazing than expected. Small local canoes paddling around, complete silence, view over all the small bay and we even had a kingfisher sleeping on a branch just a meter away!
The Homestay also offers full-body massages and so I take the opportunity to enjoy this luxury for once; they have a very nice decorated massage room just next to the “reception” and that’s where Sasha (an Indian masseuse) gives me the best massage with natural oils I’ve ever had. Amazing ! As soon as I finish (1 hour of pure relax), we sit down on the balcony ready to read, write and enjoy the sunset with the dinner we ordered to a restaurant nearby. This is paradise !
The next day its time for a Shikkara (canoe) Tour ! Before arriving to Alleppey, we contacted a small local tour operator called Oscar Cruise (+919947532527) via WhatsApp which offered us a great variety of trips, one of which was a paddling trip through small canals and local villages. The meeting point is the ferry station, there we meet two young guys who, together with other tourists, take us just two ferry stops away where our canoes are found. We share the canoe with James and Cee, a funny english couple with whom we end up having a laugh all the way through the tour and even in the night when we decide to meet again for a snack at the Espresso Cafè (a nice little reggae cafe on a canal) and go have a bite together.
The Shikkara tour is very relaxing and captivating at the same time; thanks to the canoes being relatively small we are able to zig-zag through small canals and get to see the daily lifestyle of local people. Women washing the clothes and pans in the waters, families having a swim, some washing their teeth, others just enjoying the quietness of the place, old men paddling away in small canoes; all this in a setting of wilderness, silence and tiny stone houses. Fascinating ! At noon, both canoes that started the tour (4 couples, 2 for each canoe) dock just outside a small village somewhere in the backwaters where a family is awaiting for us to start having a very local lunch: rice with several sauces all on banana leaves. Tasty !
At night, after the dinner with the English, walking back on the path to the Homestay we see a dim light coming from a small canoe just a few meters away form us. Only once we get closer we realise that the two men on the canoe are… fishing !!! They’re fishing crabs, lobster, small fish and several other things that are sleeping at night and so easier to get; amazed, we are so enthusiast that start congratulating with them on the spot. Needless to say that as soon as Max takes the camera out they proudly start showing us some of their catch with a harpoon. Then as we saw them, they slowly vanish in the dark, proud and smiling for another night.
So many adventures, so much beauty, so many interesting day-per-day discoveries that we find in Alleppey. With a huge anti-mosquitos net over our bed, it is time for us to go to bed after such a great day here. Alleppey is a unique experience and truly a paradise not to be missed in any circumstance; it welcomes you as tourist but says goodbye as an old friend.
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