GugaBaba… Living life through Music, Food and Travel

We took train to Alleppey from Bangalore. In Alleppey we travelled around mostly using autos and local buses. Autos are in plenty so did not face much issue.

Day 1: Houseboat

The train reached early morning, so we needed a place to freshen up and rest till we could check in to the houseboats, which was scheduled at 12pm. The hotel which I had booked for this purpose – Rail View was conveniently located right on the railway platform. So we could get into the hotel even without having to leave the platform!

We freshened up and walked down to the beach. It was just a km away.

We checked out the hotel at around 11:30 and took auto to “Finishing Point” where most of the houseboats start.

We were a gang of 13, and had booked a full houseboat will 6 bedrooms. Once the houseboats started, the fact that this whole thing is going to be ours took some time to sink in. Time actually flew.

We stopped in between where we bought fish. It was fresh, though not very cheap. We thought of having tender coconut water, but it was costlier that Bangalore. And the fact that the person was standing below a coconut tree, selling at the price, somehow did not sink in well. We gave it a pass.

Around evening the houseboat docked in a place. It also started raining heavily at that time.

We went around for a short walk in the evening in the village where they had docked the houseboat – and we saw fireflies! (We don’t see them in cities anymore, so it was a something for us)

And very soon it was next day morning.

Day 2: Alleppey Beach resort

Around 4 km from the Alleppey station is this resort. Couple of the rooms were good. As we were a big gang we had booked most of the rooms of this place. And the economy rooms were not good. The bathrooms were dirty. There were cobwebs in the ceiling, the bedsheets were not clean, etc. However, they had a very nice sitting area outside.

However, the place is quite conveniently located. It is a short walk from Alleppey light-house (it was closed the day we were there – Monday).

Another landmark – Revi Karunakaran Memorial Museum, is just a couple of kms away. By the way, this is a must visit place. It is a personal collection of a family. The collection of crystals, porcelain, ivory would leave you spell bound.

Alleppey beach itself gets quite crowded in the evening, with lot of local residents coming down to the beach. Morning was quite empty. Also, beside the beach is a road, and on the other side of the road are the resorts. So it is not that the resorts directly open up to the beach. Also the beach is quite broad.

We also visited Coir museum. Though you would be amazed at the plethora of things which has been made with coir, it is something you can give it a miss.