Drifting Away

We just got back from a night on a Keralan houseboat, a activity that was rather obscure a while ago that has turned into a "must do" stop on any Indian tour. At least that is what we were told. As usual we would find out for ourselves.

Basically these houseboats are built like a giant canoe, with a reed covered building on top that houses the bedrooms and the kitchen. There is generally also a covered sitting area on the front of the boat. My guess is that these boats probably started out as pretty humble setups, but have now evolved to where the majority are 50 foot behemoths with inboard engines, multiple bedrooms, A/C, second floor sitting areas and entertainment centers.

When we were in Cochi, there were plenty of hotels and tour operators who would set you up for the usual one night boat cruse. The going rate seemed to be around 5500 rupees for what looked like a nice boat in the pictures, as well as transportation for the 50 km to Alleppey, which is the main center for the boats. We did not do this because first of all our daily budget is only 4000 rupees. Besides that we wanted to get a look at some of these boats before booking and Lonely Planet wrote up Alleppey as a pleasant town to stay in.

So, we headed off to Alleppey on the train in the afternoon. The trip was an easy 1 hour, after the requisite 45 minute delay for the train to arrive. Open arrival we were a little disappointed to find that Alleppey was just your basic dusty Indian market and transportation junction town. Really no reason to stay here besides finding your houseboat. We did not want to look long for a hotel, so we ended up getting a cottage for 500 rupees at this place called the Gowari Residence. At this place we pretty much got what we paid for because the promised hot water did not work and we never got the sheets that we asked for (don't worry, we do carry our own bedding for occasions like this). There was also a ferocious mosquito problem, but that I cannot hold the hotel accountable for.

We did however find a houseboat for the next day. We ended up just going to the area around the tourist information office which has a lot of booking agents. The boats themselves are not really kept in the middle of town, so they try to sell you with just pictures. The guy who we did talk to finally agreed to show us one of the boats which was parked a short ride away, and it was only 3500 rupees, which is under our budget. I was pleasantly surprised with the boat, it was plenty big, with a decent bedroom and a fully equipped normal Indian bathroom (western toilet). It had a nice sitting area in the front as well as a bed up front you could use to lay outside if you liked. It also had the unique feature of a second sitting area on a roof level deck above the driver in the front. We also met the man in charge, and he seemed nice with very good English and a good recommendation book (most Indian businessmen keep a book that they keep recommendations from other tourists in), so we signed up.

The next morning we went out to the dock and got started. After navigating the boat junkyard near the dock we were out on the main canals that head out from town. The main canals are like boat highways, there are ferries that run up and down and quite a few boats, there are even roadsigns. The normal setup of the area is that there will be a canal, then on the side will be a narrow strip of land about 10m wide, then behind will be a giant rice field that is actually a meter or two lower then the water level in the canal. The narrow strip of land usually has a few houses and businesses on it that can only be reached by boat.

In the early afternoon we stopped to pick up fish for lunch and I also picked up a couple of fresh water mega shrimp that I had to pay for separately since they were not part of the regular food. They even had 25 rupee Diet Coke (the cheapest price you will ever see) at this little backwater shop, a very nice treat (I saw it being delivered by canoe as well). We later stopped on a spit of land in the middle of a lake and had a really good Keralan seafood lunch. After lunch we motored the canals for the afternoon, stopped at a town to pick up some chicken and stopped for the night at the edge of a town. The shore we tied up to was a nice little palm grove that a family uses to graze a couple of goats during the day, so it was nice and quiet place to stay.

It was fun watching the captain maneuver the boat to dock since they have a very unusual control system. The captain is at the front tip of the boat with a steering wheel, but the cook in back controls the throttle of the engine. They could dock perfectly like this without saying a word to each other. I was imagining my dad and I trying to do this with only disastrous results.

After dinner, the cook and captain made sure it was OK if they left for the night and headed out to sleep at the cook's house in the village. We did not mind as it was nice to have the boat to ourselves. There is not much nightlife in the backwaters however, so we pretty much just had a few beers and hit the bed. Sleeping was good even though we needed to use a mosquito net and there was no AC (we knew about this before we got on the boat).

In the morning we motored for about an hour and a half while eating breakfast and made it back to the dock by around 10. This is the normal amount of time the trips last, since it allows them to start another one night trip at 11. We ran into the couple that was taking over the boat from us and headed out to take the bus to Varkala.

I really liked the boat trip, I actually would not have minded doing two nights. Anything over that would probably get boring since you cannot swim and there are no bars or anything like that. One really nice thing about the trip was our captain, who was a really friendly and talkative guy. The food of course was excellent and was a highlight of the trip, the same as on the big cruise boats.

One piece of advice I would give for anyone reading the Lonely Planet is to forget about the suggestion that they make that you should try and find a boat powered by polling and not by a motor. First of all, I do not think any boats exist that don't have a motor any more. Second the motor on our boat was pretty quiet, it was a good quality outboard 10m away at the back of the boat. The big boats are all inboard, which may be quieter still. Third, you can cover a lot more ground. Fourth, I do not know why you would want a guy killing himself in the hot sun all day to drive the boat anymore then you would want to take a human rickshaw.

Also, if you have a little more money I would think about booking the all inclusive trip from Kochi. Allappey is not a town you need to see and every boat we saw on the water looked quite nice. If the pictures of the boat look good and it is a reputable place, I would be comfortable that your trip will be fine. Having the car transportation to and from Kochi would be really nice as well.