day10

Day 10 : Palm Grove Lake Resort

Really in the Holiday swing now, we didn't get up until 7.10.am., or should I say I didn't get up until 7.10.a.m.
Nick was already up and had done everything he had to, including taking a shower. I must have been tired because I don't remember waking in the night, so must have slept solid for over nine hours.
There were no distractions in the field this morning as we ate our breakfast, not that it would have bothered us, we should have been used to it by now.

Newspapers are great things to look at when there is nothing else to do, and being that Nick was not in a very talkative mood this morning we sat quietly reading over our breakfast.

We had decided to move on today, so asked the young man if he could sort us out a taxi to take us on to Allepey, which was to be our next stop. Of course this was no problem and simply a matter of us giving him a time we wanted picking up. About nine thirty would be good, as we wanted to change some money before we left, just in case we didn't have enough to cover everything.

The moneychanger with the babe in his arms just along beach road was not there after I had made the effort to keep my promise, oh well I did try. We changed the money just across the way from the Panchavadi, in the place where we had used the e-mail facility the previous night.

Our taxi turned up at exactly nine thirty and so began the negotiations over the fare. The driver was sticking to his guns for 1200 rupees; we figured this was about right so agreed without too much haggling.
I sat in the front again to give myself a chance of seeing a bit more, Nick was not to bothered about where he sat, he was feeling a little tired so tried to sleep a bit of the way. I say tried because it was difficult, this driver was another one who was on a mission and put his foot down wherever he could.

The drive along the coast road at first, then through the winding roads of the backwaters through the now familiar palm groves and agricultural countryside was a pleasant enough trip. All things considered!

Just before we reached Alleppey I asked Nick if he had chosen somewhere to stay, something I assumed he would have done earlier that morning as he read the guidebook while on the throne.
"There is a couple of places that look alright" he said, "but why don't you have a look in Case you fancy something different?"

I looked through the book and rather took a fancy to a place called "Palm Grove Lake Resort" surprisingly enough. Everything was somewhere in a palm grove down this part of the country.
Nick had also seen this in the book and thought it would be worth taking a look at. So that was settled, we were going to the Palm Grove and informed the driver this was where we wanted to be, and nowhere else!

We stopped at the cross roads at the entrance to town where the driver asked for directions, we had no sooner stopped when a man came over and handed me a business card through the open window.
He was a boatman offering his services to take us on a backwater trip. I said I would let him know should we decide to take a trip. We were going to take a backwater trip of course, it was one of the main reasons for us being here, but we were not going to commit to anything just yet, especially not while we had only stopped to ask directions.

The taxi turned left from where we were stood and headed down a country road only wide enough to take one car, luckily we met nothing coming the other way because our driver was not in the mood to give way to anyone or anything. He asked for directions another couple of times. And each time he was told keep going as he was on the right road. The road snaked in and out along the main waterway and past small hamlets for three kilometres before we reached our destination. To actually get to the Palm Grove resort meant a walk of around 500 metres along a narrow path that lead of the main road, and this path was made even narrower due to a trench being dug to facilitate some pipe work being laid.

I went to look at the place while Nick waited in the taxi for my return, just in case it was no good or the place was full.
If first impressions are anything to go by, this place certainly had the "Wow!" factor. There was no question of us staying anywhere else, this would do very nicely.
I was met by the young man who introduced himself as Vijay, a slim dark skinned young man of around 25 he ran the place and he showed me around. There would be no trouble getting a room he informed me, in fact we could have any room we fancied as there was absolutely no one else there.

The Palm Grove Resort was not a big place, but it was beautifully laid out in a tropical garden. A series of tree lined paths snaked around the grounds towards the large pond in the centre, then lead off in the direction of the cabins. There are only four bamboo cabins dotted around the Grove, which is situated right on the river bank and has a one hundred and twenty metre water frontage. Each of the four cabins being just far enough away from it's neighbour, so as not to be overlooked in any way.

I chose the one nearest the water and in a little shade given off by the palm trees that lined the banks edge, and jus in case anyone else did turn up this was furthest away from the rest. These charming fair sized cabins were made entirely out of bamboo, they had a porch on which stood some wicker furniture, the beds were also wicker, and in fact all the furniture was wicker. There were no glass windows, just a hatch door opening in the bamboo walls that could be swung outwards to let the air and light in. There was no bathroom internally; the sink, pedestal and shower were all out in the back garden, which was surrounded by palm fencing to give you privacy when using the toilet or shower Al fresco!

By the door that led out into the garden cum bathroom was a wooden block measuring about 12 inches by 4 inches, which on first impressions, I thought was some kind of doorstop.
Nick asked Vijay what is was? he replied as cool as you like "It's a rat trap"
"What's it for?" asked Nick, obviously surprised by the reply. "Well it's not for catching Elephants is it Nick!" I thought.
Vijay explained they had a small problem with water rats that sometimes came into the cabins looking for food. By the size of the trap these were not going to be small rats that was for sure.
This was not going to put us off, who's going to be scared of a rat that can only just fit into a shoebox!

I especially liked the simplistic way the cabins had been designed and also the minimalist way they had been kitted out with basic furniture. There was everything you would need, but no more.
The beds had a mosquito net strung up above them, which would be handy being so close to the water, and to add the final nice little touch there was even a couple of hammocks strung up outside between two palm trees.

From the bamboo jetty that reached just a few feet out into the water I stood in awe, taking in as much as I could of the fantastic scenery all around me. There were a couple of house boats moored on the opposite bank and some more came gliding up and down the waterway, small tourist boats were also coming and going. Local men smiled and waved as they floated past in their dug out canoes, carrying all kinds of things into the back water community. Children were swimming while their mothers did the weekly wash on the banks of the water, slapping the clothes against the rocks in rhythm to beat out the dirt.

For miles all you could see was this great expanse of water, seemingly being held in on each bank by palm trees that stood so high they almost went on forever. Everything looked so green and fresh where it was being fed by the life-giving waterway.

Both Nick and I had to agree that it was worth every rupee of the 700 that it would cost to stay here per night, and to be honest I don't think we would have complained had it been twice that price. What we were paying for here was the location and peacefulness of the whole place. There are some things money can't buy, but then again there are lot it can.
This was somewhere that no one was going to bug you for anything, that kind of thing was three kilometres back up the road in the main town.

The reason Vijay gave for there being no one else there, was that it was now near the end of the season, with not too many travellers around, and those that were, had probably hired themselves houseboats on the backwaters at end of season discounted rates. We were glad they had, we had the whole place to ourselves.
Vijay asked us what we had planned in the way of eating that night, apologising that there was no restaurant here, but went on to say that if we were prepared to leave it up to him, he could arrange a meal for us. Yes that sounded great, whatever he was able to cook would be fine by us, so we arranged to eat around seven'ish, he would let us know exactly when it was ready.

Vijay took great interest in the binoculars that Nick was looking through, as he checked out some great crested whatever it was. He asked if he could have a look through them? "No problem" said Nick handing them over. That was the last we saw of Vijay for about half an hour as he went off along the riverbank, perhaps he was a bird spotter also?

After we had settled in, simply a case of throwing our rucksacks into the cabin and a quick orientation of our surroundings, we went for a walk along the country road heading back towards the town in search of somewhere to get lunch. All of the local kids thought it was great when they saw us and we soon had a few in tow, quite a few at one stage, but a few pens and some sweets soon broke the numbers up and gave us the chance to move on a bit smartly. I was enjoying this walk as it gave us the chance to see the real way of life here in the backwaters.
There were some little roadside shacks that served as the local stores, selling everything from bananas to razor blades, they were like the Ark with usually just two of everything. This kind of shop certainly knew what to store on the basis of supply and demand.

The rickshaw that stopped beside us was the saving grace here and we quickly hopped on board heading for town. As soon as we were out of the rickshaw a tout pounced on us, he was trying to sell us a trip on the backwaters. I made no promises, this was a small town and he would surely find us had we done so. Instead we told him that we would look around before making any decisions, he promised to beat any quote we received. A bit of reverse psychology there I think.

We ate at the restaurant attached to the Tourist reception, after first checking out the official rates for the various backwater tours on offer.
From where we were sat in the restaurant we could see the boat traffic that was moving up and down the North canal. Apart from the tourist crafts and cargo carrying small boats there were the waterbuses spewing out thick black diesel smoke as they chugged along. These boats were riding very low in the water, mostly due to them being full to bursting point. These boats are regular and serve the rural community, stopping at various landing stages along the backwaters.
Kerala's backwaters are situated around the 29 major lakes covering over a 350 sq km area.

Alappuzha (The Malayalam name for Alleppey ) is a bustling market town with a population of approx 250,000 and was founded in 1762 by Raja Kesavadasan, the Dewan of Travencore. Originally there was just one strip of water that ran between the backwaters and the sea. More canals were added as the town grew with the influx of commerce. The main commercial part of town being now hemmed in on both sides by the North and South canals, with other smaller ones criss crossing. The town is surround by numerous coconut plantations, rice paddies and mangroves.

After it's founding the town did not take long to establish itself as a trade centre, its population was soon built up on the backwater canals that serve the local coir making industry. Known today by many as the Venice of India, I don't think this is a true reflection on the area that is nowhere near as commercial in the sense of tourism. But with these fancy comparisons being made by hackneyed travel writers it won't be long before tourism is the main source of income for the local people. I just hope they don't spoil it's natural beauty with high rise hotel complexes and tacky shops that spring up to cater for lazy holiday makers, who want everything on a plate and are not prepared to discover anything for themselves.

Coir is made from the ruff hairy part of the coconut, this in turn is then used to make rope, door mats, brushes e.t.c. The coir industry is very big in this part of Kerala, employing a good majority of the work force, in one way or another.
Kerala literally translated means "Land of coconuts" It is estimated that over one million men and women make a living from this coconut cottage industry. The coconut tree has many uses apart from coir, toddy tapping is when the sap is extracted from the coconut tree to make a form of alcohol known as coconut feni, and oil is also extracted from coconuts. The spent coconut shells are used as fuel, the large leaf from the tree is used to thatch roofs, make baskets and bindings then finally the coconut flesh is dried and used in various forms of cooking. Apart from coconuts, the local people also rely on the sale of locally caught fish, rice, tapioca and other farmed produce such as bananas, pineapples and cashew nuts.

Probably the biggest industry now in the backwaters has got to be tourism, this tends to work hand in hand with the other local industry, which apart from the boat rides is what the tourist really wants to see.
People love to visit the toddy tapping and coir making, they love to see the way of life in the small backwater villages that have not really changed that much over the years. The local cottage industries are only to pleased to have boatloads of tourists visit them, as this will generally produce extra income from the sale of the products and by products.

Every piece of available space on the backwaters is used in one form or another, with small areas of reclaimed land being used by people to live on, they not only build themselves a place to live in, they can even manage to keep cows, pigs, chickens e.t.c. on what is basically a tiny little island.
After the meal we ran the gauntlet that was the main street, the tout who had approached me on getting out of the rickshaw was still following us, I had to promise I would get back to him, breaking my own promise not to make any more promises. Anything for an easy life that's me!

A quick look around the towns main area proved less than interesting, so we started to make our way back to the Palm Grove, planning to walk as we had lots of time on our side.

Now if only we could remember the way to go we would be laughing. We stood there scratching our heads "Hello again Sir" said the voice beside me. I looked around to see the tout who had shoved his business card in my hand earlier while in the taxi. "would you like to see backwaters on my boat?" "How much for a boat with just the two of us?" I replied. This is where the negotiating started as we continued to walk.
We went to have a look at his boat, which was moored up on the North canal, this proved to be handy as I recognised the buildings around here, and was soon able to get my bearings for the walk back.

The tout introduced us to a few of his fellow boatmen and showed us to the boats he had for hire, he was simply pulling in people for the other boatmen who did not speak good English.
Not knowing anything about boats we readily agreed that they were fine and would be ideal, providing of course that we could agree on a price. We wanted to hire the boat by the hour just in case we got bored or wanted to stay out on the waters for longer.

150 rupees per hour was the agreed price we came to, but for this price we had to take a minimum of 4 hours. This seemed about the right length of time, as we could not see ourselves wanting much longer.   It was arranged that the boat would pick us up from the Palm grove Jetty at eight the following morning, which meant we could have a lay in until at least seven.
The boatman asked if we would like to ride his boat back to our hotel, "No thanks we are going to walk" we replied. "it is a long way" said the boatman, "that's ok we need the exercise" we replied, striding out on our way. About 50 metres along the road a rickshaw pulled up beside us "Taxi sir?" We looked at each other knowingly and jumped in!

"Can you drop us here" we said to the driver, he replied "it is still another half a kilometre to the Palm Grove!" "No that's Ok we want to walk the rest of the way".
This was to be our bit of exercise and we wanted to explore a little around here in the village area.
Nick bought some cigarettes from a small shack store, they were a brand we had not seen before, but were just what he was looking for, as they were untipped. They cost the ridiculous price of 8 rupees for twenty, that's about 12p in English money!

The children had spotted us again and came running looking for pens and sweets in return for a picture. One old lady marched up to me and proceeded to prod me on the arm "pen for children" she said almost stern faced, I gave her a pen, she just snatched it and walked away without so much as a please, thank you, kiss my arse or anything? Maybe she was expecting a gold parker rather than a cheap plastic biro.

The road crossed over a series of small hump back bridges that allowed the smaller canal ways to flow under, "let's have a look down this way" I said to Nick cutting in to the right and along one of the small canals. It was no more than five or six feet wide and led out into the bigger waterway that ran alongside the Palm Grove. There was a small dwelling a little way down where some hens and what could have been only days old chicks were roaming around. I stopped to take a look and was greeted by a woman who came out of the doorway, she was dressed in a bright traditional style sari complimented by a very warm smile across her face. The lady did not speak good English, so she called her daughter out, this girl was around 16 or 17 and dressed in western style clothing. This I thought was quite a contrast in style here on the backwaters, where everything and everyone was a little more traditional.

We chatted for a few minutes about this and that, what country we were from e.t.c, the girl told us that she was on holiday from school where she was studying medicine. It was quite enjoyable until a small boat pulled up and the boatman started the hard sell to take us around to see the small canals, which according to him were the real backwaters. It all sounded like a good idea, but there was no way we were getting on that little dug out canoe, no matter how cheap it was going to be.
I made another promise to come back and then shot off a bit smartish, but this didn't put off the boatman who followed on foot to ask for a pen.
He was not too happy with the biro I gave him and asked if I had a better one! Maybe he was the old woman's husband? He was out of luck whoever he was, as these were the only type I had.
He went away wagging his head like only Indian men can, this made me stop and think, I had not yet seen a Indian woman perform this wagging motion, must check this out I thought.

Back at the Palm Grove Vijay brought us some tea, then asked if he could use the binoculars again? Nick gave him the binoculars and that was the last we saw of him for the afternoon!
We had a new friend now; it was a small white husky type dog that sat itself on our porch for a while, before eventually stretching out and falling asleep.

We had no further plans for the day and so spent the best part of the afternoon lounging around in the hammocks, and sitting on the veranda drinking tea; smoking cigarettes and watching the various crafts sail up and down. Most of the people on these boats made a point of waving to us as they sailed by, we were another novelty attraction for them to look at.

While it's nice to laze around in these beautiful gardens with nothing to do except rock on a hammock, and raise your arm occasionally to acknowledge boats go by, you soon get bored, or at least I did.
Out came the camera and I went in search of something to photograph, this amounted to a few flowers and the general lay out of the Palm grove setting. Nick who was not wearing a shirt, dropped off to sleep in the string hammock and looked like he had been pulled through a cheese grater when he got up.

Vijay returned around sunset with the binoculars, "What have you been looking at all afternoon?" I asked inquiringly, "oh, just the trees and birds" he replied with a big grin on his face. "For over two hours!" I thought to myself, "I bet he's been looking at something other than trees and birds, or maybe he meant birds in the other sense we know birds."

"What's your dogs name" I asked pointing to the comatose ball of fur curled up on the veranda. "He's not my dog" replied Vijay, further explaining that he had found him wandering around the grounds a few days previously, and having given the dog some food it had just stayed around ever since!

Vijay was not a local man, he had come to work here only for the season, having been recommended for the job through a friend from up north where he lived. He got the job through his qualifications, having studied hotel management at college. I asked if his wife had come to Alleppey with him, to which he replied he was not married. The binocular thing was starting to make some sense to me now, I would just have to find out where he was pointing them!

"I will give you a call twenty minutes before dinner is ready, then you come over to the kitchen" Vijay said as he walked away, leaving the dog with us.
I had a shower al fresco before putting on my Madurai tailored long sleeve shirt for dinner. I thought it best to wear trousers and long sleeves, as I did not want to be bitten alive by the mosquitos while we ate.
There were no mosquito's around and I sat there sweating like a pig, needlessly dressed up with very little skin exposed, still you can't be to careful.

We sat at a table with a grubby check tablecloth that had been brought out onto a patio that served as a dining area.   With only a couple of candles for light, it was a shame the only eyes I had to stare into across this romantic candle lit dinner table was Nicks. I tried to read the paper instead.

The food we were served was excellent and consisted of a couple of vegetarian curry dishes, rice and chapattis. Vijay told us that he had got a local man in to cook this meal. This man had apparently been a cook for over fifty years, so knew what he was doing. I asked if there was any soft drinks we could have?, there wasn't, but there soon would be as Vijay jumped on his bike and headed into the village, returning a few minutes later with a couple of bottles of coke. How was that for service, a waiter on a bike.

We arranged for the old man to cook us some breakfast the following morning for around 7.30, again leaving it up to him what he served. We were just pleased not to have to leave our tropical garden paradise in search of food.

The dog had gone when we returned to the cabin, probably in search of food, but there was no need to worry about him as he soon turned up again. We sat on the porch drinking our coffee for around an hour, before finally turning in for the night. It was only 9.30 p.m.! I felt as though I had been up for a week.