Kerala: Varkala, Kochi and the Backwaters

Varkala- we’re in love

Another infested train traversed us across the country, with a connecting one leading us to Varkala.

One look at the cliff toped beach and line of friendly café’s and our disenchantment with India began to fade with our speckled bites.

Varkala is wonderful, a Dharamsala in the sun. It has a lovely beach although a swim is a work out against the crashing waves.

Atonement for the body and mind can be reached through courses in yoga, Ayurveda, meditation and a host of others, with an on site guru and ashram. We could see ourselves living here for some time. We stretched our stay from a day and a half to three, reluctantly leaving the spectacular sunsets. We highly recommend here for your holidays, great food, chilled vibe, friendly locals and accommodation available to suit all budgets.
Bliss.

The Backwaters

We're such train geeks! A crack-of-dawn train brought us to the town of Alappuzha (Alleppey), the best place to organize a house boat to cruise the backwaters (a 900km network of waterways) and catch a snippet of local life.

These houseboats don’t come cheap, they have their own chef, double bedroom, living room and mod cons, taking you out on the canals for a night under the stars. We couldn’t afford the luxurious option and anything cheaper … well you probably remember we’d already had our starry night in Jaisalmer and paid the price!

Instead we opted to take the public ferry for a whopping 10 rupees each (20 cent) which like a water bus cruised the varied beautiful landscape collecting and depositing villagers along the way. After three lovely, if a little sleepy, hours we reached Kottayam. Really, how different could the scenery be on the 150euro cruise?

We talked to a couple who after their trip were disappointed that they only drove for a few hours, moored for the night and returned the next morning. Sure they had a nice room and food, but I don’t think we would have been satisfied with the splurge.

Kochi

From Kottayam we made our way to the train station, met a nice German girl on her way home, discussed India over lunch and continued onto Kochi. Our extension in Varkala was to the expense of Kochi, but not a travesty. We arrived via the mainland at Ernakulam and took a short ferry to the island of Fort Cochin/Mattancherry. Here they have not heard about queues! The ticket box is opened five minutes before the ferry docks creating a mad scramble, then after purchasing your ticket you’re pushed by the crowd to the gate, which opens and everyone runs down the jetty to the waiting boat. One man took the opportunity, as I was separated from Mal in the crowd, to reach through the anonymous throng and grope my inner thigh trying to aim higher. I managed to thump his shoulder but with my rucksack holding me back and the loud screaming mass of people around he slipped away not to be seen again.
Dirty bastard.
I was fuming and naturally upset by the incident. But these things happen; now my weapon is a full plastic water bottle in crowds and I’ll pound it down on the head of anybody who tries that again. I’d choose glass, but I’d probably be thrown in prison.
Fort Cochin is recognisable by the Chinese dock side fishing nets which paint a pretty picture against the lovely town.

Visiting is like wandering through Europe. It’s influenced by the Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and British. It has a Hindu muraled palace, mosque and a synagogue in Jew Town. The restaurant selection is vast and they like to call their guesthouses ‘home stays’ but you’re kidding yourself if you think that’s what you’ll get! Kochi is a well discovered place and as we travel up the west cost of India we are beginning to see where all the tourists are hiding. I think most people just skip the east cost, and perhaps the midlands, and most of the north… actually the south and west cost are where they confine themselves to and from travelling all around we can see why.