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Alleppey was meant to be a three hour taxi journey up the coast of Kerala from Kovalem, but it took us a bit longer as 1) Our driver was a bit slow 2) It took him a bit of time to get back to normal driving after a series of near misses and 3) Even though he, as all Indians do, say that they know where you need to go in reality they always have to ask directions from at least 3 different people.
By the time we arrived it was mid afternoon and I was feeling quite nauseous, the climate had changed once again and it was more humid and muggy here due to the stillness of the back waters.
We were staying at the Palm Grove Lake Resort, which has 5 separate cottages, some with AC and some without, unfortunately we had drawn the short straw. It was probably the best room we have stayed in so far with a lovely open air bathroom in which the previous occupant had to be evicted before we could go in - a pigeon that was stuck in there had to be thrashed at by the cleaner with a broom before it would leave!
Si was raring to go, but I was now sticking to my guns and refusing afternoon excursions in the heat. It was hotter in the room than outside so I tried to read on the veranda whilst he explored the lakeside by bike. I couldn't relax though as I felt awful so I went to lie down and switched on the TV, thank goodness for STAR MOVIES! When Simon came back I was still unable to move and fearing sickness he bought me a bucket and a bottle of Pepsi, which did the trick…. Although he stayed out on the veranda when I shouted he came back in to wash the bucket out -what a gentleman!
(Leen, I must tell you that a certain amount of food consumption was had before being sick, similar to back in March 2006…so I am learning the art of self restraint from now on, and Simon is only allowing me to have 'one' treat a day)
The next day we went to see the doctor at the local private hospital. During the registration period I could feel everyone's eyes on us, and tried to ignore it. I was lead through a few dingy rooms with other patients in them and told to sit down on one of the beds. There were about 10 nurses and assistants hovering around the doctor who looked like an over weight 80's porn star. He asked me a few questions and wrote down a lot of things in my file that I could not understand. I asked what treatment he was going to give me and he said 'do you like injections'! There was no way I was going to have an injection in that hospital so I said no and he revised my file again. I could tell that the doctor and the nurses were talking about me and Simon, there was some very un-discrete sniggering going on. Then they said, you dark, your husband too white, to which I replied yes, and then the fateful one liner from the doc, 'you should marry indian'. What about answering my questions on what medicines they had prescribed to me!! It was £2 well spent though for my appointment and the drugs.
After a day of rest we had planned an overnight house boat trip through the backwaters. The houseboats come fully equipped with proper bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens.Our houseboat only had one bedroom, but there were some that we saw with 3 bedrooms, swimming pools, a sunbathing upper level….
We spent most of the morning on the upper deck reading and taking photos of the amazing scenery, palm trees, the lake, villagers working in the surrounding fields. It was one of the few peaceful days of our holiday…
Lunch was cooked by one of the two men who ran the houseboat. We had a beetroot raita, shredded cabbage, poppadoms, okra (just like my mum makes!) sambhar (veg curry), thick rice and grilled fish. It was lovely, and out first taste of Kerala cuisine.
We moored at about 5pm for the evening and were promptly asked by an old man on the shore if we wanted to go for a small canoe ride. I said yes straight away as we hadn't been down any small backwaters due to the size of the houseboat. As soon as we got in the old man handed Simon an oar, and then I got lucky with my very own oar too, what were we paying him for?!? With other small canoes by-passing us we soon realised that we would have to start rowing otherwise we wouldn't be going anywhere. The backwaters were only about 10 metres wide lined on either side by mango trees and rows of houses.All the children would shout out ' 1 pen please, 1 pen please', but after 2 pens we had run out. Simon was being quite lazy with the rowing but with 5 minutes to sunset I made him row as fast as he could so we could take some photos, and we made it just in time.
Dinner was served soon after and I was reminded of dinner times at 205 Whippendell Rd as we had chappatis and dry potatoe curry, with a massive prawn and fish curry for Simon..the food really was excellent. In our efforts to save some money we had decided to forego the air conditioning charge of 1000 rupees and therefore sweltered in the heat all night. Although the boat was very still we tossed and turned all night and woke up at 6am to watch the sunrise. By nine we were back on dry land and ready to jump in a taxi for the next part of our trip, up the coast to Fort Cochin.
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