Time to explore another area of Kerala

4.2.19

Woke up this morning with fingers like sausages and think I may have been bitten on one as it’s especially large. I’ve only got drowsy making antihistamines with me so will get some others later if no better.

Our neighbour started slamming her washing around at 7.30am this morning, much more civilised.

We’ve not noticed the crows or the mosque since the first morning, drowned out by our noisy fan I think.

We loved our time in Fort Cochin and Jude at Cukoos Nest Homestay was the perfect host.

Fort Cochin is a small place and 2 days was just the right amount of time to explore and today we move on.

We allowed more than enough time to get to Ernakulam Junction station, it took about 30 minutes by a very scary Uber ride. No reflection on our very good driver, it’s just nuts on the road. The fare for this white knuckle ride was just £1.90 and he was very happy with a 50p tip.

We are currently in a cafe by the station, I’m buzzing after a fab double espresso. John isn’t so impressed with his passionfruit and E numbers squash. (we don’t hear much about E numbers anymore do we?)

I’ve checked online and our train is currently running 16 minutes late.

I’m very excited as I love a train journey and looking forward to exploring the Allepey backwaters.

The train arrived a few minutes late, knowing where to stand for your allocated seat was confusing, but between a lady who has travelled in India before and the information desk we were just right to get on and find our seat.

After all the worry about not being able to complete bookings online and paying 12 Goasia 9 times the ticket prıce we could have just turned up. No one even checked our carefully printed out ticket.

We arrived in Alleppey about 30 minutes late after around 3 hours.

Our accomodation is 1.6km from the station. A very enterprising taxi driver said 400 rupees, bearing in mind we paid 180 for the long drive to the station this morning. We declined!

We had to go to a counter to prebook a tuktuk, pay 1 rupee which turned out to be a service charge and the 5 minute journey cost just 50 rupees, payable to the driver.

We met our host at Abrus Holidays. He seems very nice and helpful and the room is spacious and clean.

I asked about dress code here and whether it was ok to wear shorts, yes, fine, it’s a tourist area.. It felt so liberating to be in shorts and a vest top and off we went.

We were starving and made our way to Indian Coffee House near the beach on his recommendation.

John wanted biriyani but they didn’t have any rice, so he had normal curry with chapatis. I decided to play safe with chicken cutlets and chips. However I think my chicken and mash balls in breadcrumbs were probably spicier than the curry, but thoroughly enjoyable.

We walked further along the beach area which has been ruined by the construction of a massive flyover. It’s not finished yet but is a real eyesore and will be noisy right near beach clubs and holiday resorts.

The holıday resorts sound grand but are basically a bit more upmarket places to stay that still come out to the road where there are piles of old metal. It’s all a bit unkempt.

It’s a huge beach area but we won’t be spending any time on there, it’s very hot sand, no sunbeds and no shade.

There are several beach bars and restaurants along there, Dreamers caught our eye as they had a board outside and included duck and pad thai.

We looked at the menu and said we would be back this evening.

We turned up back to the streets just after and John saw a sign for a billiard venue.

As it was our darts and pool night back home he thought it would be fun to go and visit and have a game and a photo for the team. According to Google maps it was a 30 minute walk.

So off we went, 6km and over an hour later, past endless little shops of no interest to us, crazy traffic junctions and endless bibbing of horns we found it.

Of course all this time I’m in shorts, in no way was this an area where tourists would stray. The kids were all coming out of school and had seemingly never seen foreigners before let alone anyone parading around the streets half dressed.

Rayban Shopping complex didn’t bear any resemblance to any shopping complex we have ever seen before. I wasn’t hanging around to take photos, so here is one from Google to give an idea.

We crossed over the road and followed the waterway road all the way back. It wasn’t as bad going that way, less traffic and people.

We stopped at a stall and bought some grapes and the sweetest oranges we have ever tasted.

By the time we got back it was time to think about eating again. But only after coffee.

I take my travelling element everywhere. It heats a cup of water in seconds. But makes vile coffee if you heat the whole drink.

The last place had a kettle, so without thinking I put the tea and coffee in our (rinsed) cups.

Armed with element to explain I went downstairs and asked the lady sweeping in the garden if she had a cup to heat some water in. It was a flat no! Not sure she approved of my shorts either.

A bit of faffing and we had our coffee, changed into a below the knee respectable dress and walked back down to the beach to Dreamers.

We received a warm welcome and our table was waiting upstairs.

We crossed the wobbly floor to our cosy corner table.

Our pad thai and duck was lovely, with a side of garlic naan, my new obsession, a very pleasant evening.

We have a very busy day and appropriate clothing planned for tomorrow.