{ the first journey }
After 2 weeks of planning, we thought we would finally hit the road and travel such was the thirst for fresh air. So we, four of us decided to walk away from the rut and walk into the fresh with new roads. The cosmos would send the best invisible travel companion with us, or so I thought.
"Journey is the destination"
This would be first travel after I have bought the new camera. As far I could remember nothing brought more happiness like travelling did . To walk in hills and the woods and experience the journey to see new sunrises in new mountains, to mesmerize into the exploding taste of the local cuisine, to embrace the changing culture , to smell the new terrain , to feel the streams under the naked foot and to contemplate with the silence of the woods. When priorities took the turn travel would always remind as the last item in bucket list. Today as we set out , its no more a dream.
{ the lone rider }
{ the daily commute }
{ houseboat of aleppy }
{ the takeoff }
{ pit stop }
This travel would be in one of the finest winter days of 2012 December. For an authentic travel experience, we decided to avoid all kinds of luxury, to eat only the local cuisines , travel in the modest transport and crash in the minimal rooms and to walk as much possible and travel lite. We boarded the evening train from ever busy Bangalore railway station. When we got down ; the train had already traveled 600 km and reached the fine town of Alappuzha, land of backwaters also popularly known as the Venice of the east. After a quick bathe in the first lodge we found in the center of the town we out and had the delicious Appam (rice pancake). We travelled to Kottayam via the State Water Transport Department’s boat covering a total of 30+ kilometers with rate as low as 10 INR. The journey took an absolutely worthy 2+ hours. When you are in Alappuzha town, you should consider this as opposed to the luxurious house boat ride. Soon your familiar landscape vanishes and opens a new relaxing view of the countryside. As passengers drop in and out, you would see the face of the office goers, the local vendors sharing the market status, the wanderlust travelers whose pupil expands on the surrounding greenery, the nuns from the churches, the new paper reading quiet ones, and the curious children with school bags. You would also get the occasional greeting from the fellow travelers coming from the other side. The freshness of the breeze cools you as you see the beautiful churches, the greenest of the green paddy fields, the floating flowers and the parallel flying darters.
When the water body joins to other larger streams; the horizon will appear more beautifully as a line of coconut trees. We get a chance to see the glimpse of the slow county life in the backwaters and more frequent company of a trillion ducks and ducklings with beautiful chorus of their quacks. All the tree trunks would be filled by the presence of lonely darters (or snake birds) and the almost everywhere the cormorant would stand up with wide opened wings to dry-off its drenched wings. The electric wires across the lake would be filled by the busy seagulls like the bunch of spectators watching the boat race and the very play full green bee-eaters. The kingfishers will shoot into like lake with the speed of bullet and fly away with a rewarding catch.
{ purple haze }
{ it takes two to tango }
{ a wanderlusts halt }
We reached Kottayam around noon after the refreshing travel .We went straight to Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary which is 16 km from the city. After finishing the lunch from a nearby restaurant we decided to take a mile long nature walk inside the park. The park is thickly populated with greenery along with streams which are mostly stagnant. You can spot spiders, many varieties of butterflies, birds and if you are luck you can spot the camouflage tortoises as we found some 3 to 4. You can spot many herons, egrets and pelicans and it was told that migratory birds would fill up the space by January and February. The park was less crowded and offered a very nice ambiance. We hired a local wooden boat for an hour for INR 200 and traveled through the swallow waters of Kumarakom in company of the evening Sun. The glitter in the waves by reflecting the sun's orange rays added immense beauty to the slow ride. We got into the bus from Kumarakom and reached Alappuzha by evening 8’O clock. While in busl I reviewed the photos and deleted the less prominent ones. The invisible companion is a well-organized travel guide and all went well. We slept off after the dinner.
{ i am bolting }
The next day me and Subhash woke up 5 in the morning and set out for a morning walk. The CSI church was still opened and we went inside and sat in silence for some time contemplating the painting of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. By 7 we covered almost the city and came back to the lodge and made our plan to hire a small boat (shikara) and see the village life. The ride as much better than that we had the other day. All most all the village house had a small wooden boat for commute. When you are in Alappuzha you cannot miss the irresistible food of the local Toddy shop. For lunch we had a pit stop at a local toddy shop and had the most delicious fish, tapioca and the mussels. Four hour ride along the country side coasted around 1200 INR and we reached by 3 in the evening.
{ the cynosure }
{ the perfect son }
{ good morning aleppy }
{ finding love while travelling }
{ finding peace with ganesha }
{ boats of aleppy }
{ the horizon }
We would be going to Fort Cochin in the evening and will halt there at night. After two fruitful days spent in Alappuzha were looking forward to Portuguese port of Kerala. Fort Cochin in next blog.