From Friday night to Monday morning, I took a trip to Kerala
state with two friends for a short holiday. In only 3 days and 3 nights, we covered
over 1300 KM, I took over 500 photos with my DSLR camera, and we had the
weekend of a lifetime. We started off by sleeping on a houseboat by the Allupey
backwaters, visited Vagamon hill station, and finished our trip on the historic
town of Kochin.
The trip to Kerala with Phu and Parisa started Thursday
night. We met up at the bus station in Madivala and took an overnight bus to
Allupey, a small town by the backwaters. The bus ride was far from enjoyable for
me – once we were out of the city, it seemed more like a rollercoaster ride with
the bus rapidly hurtling down narrow, winding and bumpy roads with a little too
much pressure on the speed pad. I got the back corner seat which I first
thought was lucky, but that quickly turned to terror from the realization that
I couldn’t recline my seat. I am
terribly bad at sleeping in moving vehicles, and this wasn’t exactly going to
make it any easier. The guy who decided to play a song on repeat with his phone’s
loudspeaker barely half an hour after I finally fell asleep didn’t help much
either. I think I slept on and off for half the trip, or about 5 hours.
Eating breakfast in Allupey
Early Saturday morning we arrived in Allupey, with the rain
slowly falling. The monsoon was well underway in Kerala, and little did we know
that this was going to be the standard weather pretty much the entire trip. Don’t
misunderstand me, I loved the rain – it was gorgeously refreshing, and many
people have told me how it’s the best time of the year to visit. The
temperature is fantastic, and with a steady drizzle you can still move around.
A couple of months from now, it would have been excruciatingly hot. We got
picked up by the houseboat guy, who took us to his office so we could drop our
stuff and check in. After finding breakfast in Allupey, we went back to the
houseboat office and were shown to the boat.
Our houseboat, where it moored for the night.
Kerala’s houseboats are gorgeous creations. They are
entirely made out of wood and thatched roofing, although the modern-day
versions are equipped with an air-conditioned bedroom, a generator and kitchen
facilities (and only used for tourism now). We boarded our boat just a couple
of kilometers down the narrow road which traversed the western edge of the
backwaters. By then the rain had let up and it was overcast, which was perfect
weather for the start of our sailing trip. As we slowly sailed up the narrow
water straight, we were flanked on both sides by thin land strips with sporadic
housing with the sailor (Joseph) telling us little stories and snippets about
the backwaters. After about an hour, we stopped at a massage parlor on a small
island and I tried a full general massage for the first time in my life. While
the three of us were getting massages, the rain started falling in torrents
which gave us a setting of perfect tranquility as we sailed onwards. All three
of us fell asleep on deck…
We docked shortly before nightfall, right next to a large
area with rice paddies, and I got out to take more pictures (duh). The twilight
was beautifully serene, and just before it got too dark to see anything it
started raining again. Lunch had consisted of fried fish and south Indian
dishes, and we got served tea and fried plantains for a snack. I had brought my
laptop so we ended up watching Wrath of the
Titans until dinner, which consisted of chicken curry, rice, veggies and
roti. We ended up in some really deep debates about race, stereotypes vs.
cultural identities, and how to interact with angry people. After watching an
episode of game of Thrones, we fell asleep to the almost imperceptible rocking
of the lake waters.  |
| Twilight Rain |
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