Travelogue - Alluring Alleppey

The bus was from Perungulathur so we had to first take local bus from our place to Perungulathur. If that was not enough, we had to buy an extra ticket for luggage. If we had put some more money we could've gone there comfortably in cab. We were supposed to have dinner there but not a single place was good. Finally, we ate dosa in some corner which wasn't good. After waiting about an hour, we got into our bus.

We were dead tired and slept immediately. Even though it was a sleeper bus, it wasn't very comfortable. In fact, I find the non-AC sleeper buses to be the most uncomfortable.

Day 1 - Lazy lounging

8/23/2019

In fact, the whole trip was a lazy one but I guess the first day was the laziest of all. The bus reached well beyond time. Being a sleeper bus, I wasn't able to even sit properly and look outside. When I woke up, it was near Angamaly. That's the time we were supposed to reach Alleppey but were easily three to four hours behind. After uncomfortably adjusting in the top seat for an hour, I went down and sat in seater comfortably. With rains and wet road, the sceneries were a treat to watch. Especially when it got closer and closer to Alleppey.

I expected Alleppey to be different. It was more secluded and calmer than I thought. I thought it would be more touristy and would have more vibe. Anyways thanks to that, I liked it even better. Our Lake and Paddy Resort was near the place where the bus stopped, we took an auto, by far the best option in Kerala. Even then I could see that they were charging a bit more for us than locals. The place was economical but beautiful. Total value for money. There was lot of space and we were the only guests there. The host too was a pretty cool guy and was really helpful.

Smitha and her Husband, Mani had reached the place much earlier and gone to beach as the rooms were not ready. It wasn't ready even after we reached so we just took a walk around the place, had great breakfast in Annam Restaurant and came back. Smitha and co. had reached by that time. While we were lazing around, John and his wife Shilpa too reached. Everyone had a story before reaching there. John had high fever and had taken injection. Soma had met with an accident and I think I had bad cold too. In spite of all that everyone assembled, that showed the dedication and how much this trip meant to everyone.

Soma and his wife Rekha were supposed to reach the next day so for that day our team was set. The rooms were still not ready but we didn’t mind. Soma, Smitha, John and I were part of a theatre group and we know how we are. No matter what the place is we could just sit, talk, talk and talk the day out. That’s why even the pictures are really less in this travelogue. We hardly feel like clicking pics. In the last trip which Soma, Smitha and I went. We just took one selfie of us, that too for the sake of it. But with our spouses we didn’t know how it’d turn out. Smitha and I were thinking about this a lot. But we had an inner feeling that they’d enjoy the company too. That became evident within the time we checked in our room where we had like good two hours to talk.

Around 1 PM our rooms were ready. Rooms were quite spacious and comfortable, especially for that cost. We were all damn hungry so as soon as we freshened up, we went to a famous non veg restaurant nearby called Thaff Delicacy. We feasted with Fish Rice, Biryani, Beef and Fish Fry. Everything was great. Even though not a great fan of Kerala style Biryani, I love it with Papadum.

For the remaining part of the day we chose to do sightseeing. As usual took autos and local transport. First took a bus which goes to Cherthala and got down at Arthunkal Church which was beautiful but as there was some shed in front of it, couldn't take a proper photo of its elevation. There were a lot of churches which were beautiful on the way. From there we walked to Arthunkal Beach, a calm beach across the church and took a bus to the more famous Marari Beach, which was shabbier than the former but to our luck we spotted Dolphin there. My wife has a knack of spotting animals which was evident in Nagarhole as well. I thought the whole Dolphin spotting thing was a myth but when I saw it live it felt awesome. They go together with a formation so it was nice to watch.