Backwaters of Kerala take 2!

After Ben headed back home we caught an early train from Coimbatore down to Alleppy. Apart from the relatively short journey from Delhi to Agra, my first train journey in India.

Indian train classes are very complicated, well, it seems that way to me anyway! Mostly, because the trains go such long distances, pretty much all the carriages are sleeper ones. Second class is pretty nice, there are little kind of compartments with 2 sets of bunks facing each other and then another set of bunks perpendicular on the other side of the walkway. The cushions can be folded down to make a bed or lifted up to make a seat. About 6 1/2hrs later we made it to Alleppey where we were picked up by a driver from the hotel. I used the same houseboat company as Jo used before and we had a 1 night package for the houseboat which included a night at a very fancy resort on the main lake of the backwaters the night before. It was all very civilised! (Fairly pricey too, but the rest of the trip wasn't so we figured we were allowed!). As one might expect, our train was a little delayed, so we reached the hotel at about 3pm. So we had time for a quick swim before we headed for tea and complimentary snacks on the lawn and then joined the free sunset cruise on the lake. I have to say though, the most exciting thing about the hotel was my bathroom! It was certainly a loo with a view!

The loo & shower

And the view onto my own (luckily) private courtyard!

After all that excitement we had a lovely dinner drink by the water and then dinner in the resort restaurant. And you'll never guess who we met: only the vicar who married us and a group from the church just at the end of their trip following in the footsteps of St. Thomas!

The following morning we had time for a quick swim before check out time and then our houseboat picked us up at noon from the hotel's jetty. We had a lovely potter along on our houseboat again. This time we skipped the prawn buying and woodcarving workshop and instead had a canoe ride through some of the smaller canals.

Beautiful sunset from the back of the houseboat

After leaving the houseboat we were taken to Kochi. Unfortunately it was a Friday, so the Synagogue and the Dutch palace were both closed. But we had a lovely walk around from the Chinese fishing nets to Jew Street where we had a look at the outside of the Synagogue. It was about 3km and took us through from the warehouse district which was really interesting. Later on we visited the Maritime museum which was worth a quick whiz round.

A bit later on we headed out to see the fairly non-existent sunset over the Chinese fishing nets and headed out for dinner. Amazingly enough, we bumped into some friends of my Aunt and Uncle's in the restaurant. I knew it was a small world, but 2 sets of people in 3 days in Kerala is a bit crazy!

An art installation made of washed up plastic

From Kochi we headed home and had a quiet afternoon. On the Sunday we visited Lal Bagh gardens, did a bit of shopping and went out for dinner. Then my parents headed home on the early flight  on Monday morning.

All in all a lovely 10 days. It was nice to try some new places while revisiting some places we've been before.

Next stop - Sri Lanka!

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