Alappuzha

The 'zh' is actually pronounced like a glottal 'rhl', a sound we don't have in English, but is present in Tamil and Malayalam (the language here in Kerala).  I arrived here without a hitch.   Well, a small hitch I guess.   On the train I was in lower berth and sometime early in the night while I was half sleeping/half dreaming, someone sat on me!  The guy was sincerely appologetic, so I think it was an accident and he must have thought that it was his berth.  It's not entirely impossible- as my dad reminded me that I had done the same thing to someone when we were staying in the Amzaon in Peru, except I got all the way into the bed with the stranger!  And I was 12. 

I stayed at lovely Gowri Residency, which was completely empty when I arrived late afternoon, but later filled up with 2 Spanish girls, a German girl, a Swiss guy, a couple from Ireland, an Argentinian girl and a Spanish-Australian girl.  It began to pour rain and we lost power.  I was so happy as I hadn't seen any rain since I've arrived here.  Plus the rain brought with it the cool air.  I asked the fellow at the hostel for some water (normal, not bottled) and he brought me a tall glass filled with a brownish pink clear liquid.  He said that in Alappuzha they boil the water and then add "aruveydic powder".  I like the boiling idea, but was pretty skeptical about the powder, as this sort of bordered my "no strange food/drink from strangers" rule, but the Argentinian girl vouched for the guy, saying she had stayed here before and the he's trustworthy.  After making the Spanish girls promise to keep an eye on me, I took the risk and accepted the drink.

The thing to do in Alappuzha is a boat tour of the Keralan backwaters.  As a group, we had searched for a boat, but because of the holiday (May Day) and just because it's touristy, we couldn't find anything for under Rs 2,000 per person!  I dropped out and decided just to try the government ferry boat (Rs 10).  So the next morning, I bypassed the pricey breakfast (Rs 50 for toast and jam?!) at the hostel and headed to the tea shop next door.  I was the only white person, and they only female, and everyone was afraid to sit next to me.   But the food was delicious, eventhough the idly and dosai were very different from what I'm used to, and only cost me Rs 13, including tea.

I hoped on the ferry boat and moments later we were off.  The backwaters lived up to expectations and were beautiful!!!  The ferry boat stopped at a lot of waterside villages, but all the signs were in Malayalam and I wasn't sure of what was there and just didn't have the balls to go on my own.  If only I had some friends (the right kind of friends) with me!  I decided to take the ferry all the way to Kottayam, have some lunch and then hop back on and try to stop by some villages on the way back.  After about 2.5 hrs we reached Kottayam.  There wasn't much there for me, but I managed to eat at a meals joint (again, meals were pretty different from Tamil Nadu meals) and was relieved to find that everyone in the place was drinking the brown water!

I made it back to the ferry dock, thinking the next boat was at 130pm, only to find the boat has just left at 1pm.  Next boat would be 330pm, leaving me with over 2 hrs to spend during the hottest part of the day, in a place where probably 30 min would have been more than enough time.  Cursing myself for not double checking the boat time when I arrived, I decided to search out the headquarters of a well known book publisher, DC Books, knowing they would have a book shop in English. 

After killing time, I hoped back on the boat heading back to Alappuzha.  Again I wanted to stop at the villages, but not knowing the name of any place, having no map or schedule of the ferry, and knowing it would be dark in a few hours, I grudginly didn't take the risk this time and just stayed put on the boat.

Walking back to the guest house, I was feeling a little bad about missing out on the village visit and frustrated at knowingly being overcharged for mangos and tapioca chips.  More reminders that I'm a toursit and not a local anymore.  I stopped at the same tea shop where I had had breakfast for tea and snacks.  The staff recognized me and were a bit more open this time.  Listening to the people around me, I heard a few somewhat familiar words and, knowing that Maylayalam is close to Tamil, decided to try out some Tamil, hoping it would slide.  I asked for 4 dosai in Tamil and the guy asked, in Malayalam, if I spoke Malayalam.  I said no, but explained that I was living in Chennai and spoke a little Tamil.  We spoke for a while, comparing Kerala to Tamil Nadu and the US.  He introduced me to the owner and the rest of the staff and it was just the type of interaction I needed to lift my spirits.

Back at the guest house, I found that the rest of the gang had secured a houseboat for the next day, at around Rs 1,200 per person.  This validated my decision to take the local ferry, despite the lack of village visits.  After living here for a bit and my local travel experiences in MP, I think I'll have a hard time returning to traveling like a tourist.  On the other hand, it was nice to spend the evening having beers and playing Shithead (cards) with other travellers, even if they do use toilet paper!