The Eastern Venice

Alleypey – Mar 8


Not-so-deeply buried in the backwaters of Kerala we dig ourselves out of the Ashram refreshed from Darshan and a short spiritual awakening. We head into the town of Alleypey to find the inlet to the famous backwaters of Kerala. “Eastern Venice” as it’s often referred to as sits lower than sea level. Fresh and salt water mixes through the canals and through its estuaries. They provide romantic get-a-ways with house boats where your hire a personal chef, driver, and porter to satisfy all your luxurious needs. Yes, rich people needs. Which we apparently are now.


We’re so rich, we hired out a canoe to paddle us around the whole day. If you’re to splurge, this place isn’t a bad idea. For a whole 14(USD) we got ourselves a full day paddle tour of the Kerala backwaters. This includes breakfast, lunch, and transportation. Relatively speaking, it is a little more expensive than most things in India, but what the heck, how often do you get to see rural village life in a pretty rare terrain (Backwaters). Our boat paddler expertly needled the canoe through the tightest twists and turns the canals have to offer. In some cases, the canals are only as wide as the canoe itself. 

We also tried a local specialty; coconut beer. At first it tasted sweet and flavourful. Toward the end of the bottle, it became chore to drink as the drink slowly evolved to a drink that makes you go “Blargh” after every swig.

After lunch, the paddler recruited Ian to help paddle the canoe back to Alleypey. A gruelling 30 minutes of paddling in the hot Indian sun with not much relief from the waters. As boats passed by, the passengers cheered Ian on paddling; we’re not sure why – maybe because it’s a rare thing to see the tourists doing a “local’s” job or they mistaken Ian for a Tibetan refugee and is now working in the backwaters.Whatever the reason, it’s a good thing Ian knows how to paddle. Not because anything went wrong but because he just knows how to paddle. And is now paddling. In hindsight, we probably should’ve haggled for a discount seeing as the tourists worked.


With the canoe trip concluding on the dock, the day isn’t complete without a mandatory soak of relief from the South Indian thunder showers. It puked rain for a good half hour before anyone dared to crawl out from their hiding holes to brave the remaining pitter patter. We covered our heads and ran back to our hotel, Lemon Dew.

Kerala backwaters, check – done.