After spending two beautiful nights at Fort Kochi, exploring in and around the beach road, and staying at a cosy hostel of Gostops, I decided to move from that island to another destination in God's country. It was a December winter Wednesday. I woke up early and prepared myself for another exciting journey after checking out from the hostel. As I was on a budgeted trip, I thought of spending smartly. Hence, I happily used public transportation in Kerala.
The distance between my hostel and the jetty station of Fort Kochi island is walkable. So I walked that morning and took a ticket to Ernakulam. You can find ferry boats going to and fro from Ernakulam via Vytilla Island. It was 6 rupees from Fort Kochi to Ernakulam. They will quickly charge you over 800 rupees if you take a cab. The journey was hassle-free, a new experience, cheap, and the best indeed.
I waited for hardly half an hour before boarding the boat. Those boats were accommodating enough for a good number of people. Even though it was rush hour, I got a seat in the back and got to experience the ferry ride. I captured videos and clicked like a kid on a sea. I also witnessed the richness of the Vytilla island's serene beauty and its tallest buildings, which were quite opposite to the vibe of Fort Kochi island.
Once I got off the ferry ride, I took an auto-rickshaw to the Ernakulam bus stand, which cost me 40 rupees. Before leaving Fort Kochi, I decided to visit Alleppey, one of the prominent tourist attractions of Kerala. It was off-season when I visited Kerala, so my budget immensely helped me. At the Gostops hostel in Fort Kochi, I booked a one-night accommodation in Gostops Alleppey.
My accommodation was less than 500 rupees per night in both hostels, and I stayed there on weekdays. Returning to my travel in Kerala, I boarded a regular bus to Alleppey. From Ernakulam, it took me precisely one and a half hours to reach the destination after crossing some beautiful roads but too many stops at various bus stands as a regular KSRTC bus. But the journey was worth the time.
When the bus entered the Alleppey premises, I could witness the scenic views of the backwaters and people sharing neighbourhoods on either side of the backwater channels. My stay at Alleppey was planned smartly so that I could explore the town for two days. So I left Fort Kochi on a Wednesday morning and reached Alleppey on the same day sharply at the check-in time. Soon after I got off the bus, I took an auto to the Gostops Alleppey hostel. Herevate transportation is comparatively expensive because the town attracts many tourists. But somehow, I always managed to go by walking to explore and around because I love walking, and I took advantage of it to witness things patiently.
The sad thing was I ran out of clothes because I only packed to stay one day in Coimbatore and ended up extending the trip for almost a week. When I went to the hostel, I found a Zudio store and decided to shop. So I checked in excitedly, assuming people would be in the hostel. But the receptionist burst my bubble, saying there would be only four people for the entire hostel and a couple would be in a private room. I booked a dormitory and felt like the whole hostel was for me. On the brighter side, having all the hostel facilities and amenities for myself was fun.
Unlike the Fort Kochi hostel, the Alleppey one is bigger. After a school vacated from there, Gostops took over the property, and the chain was beautifully renovated with a typical Kerala two-storey house. I explored the whole premises and took many clicks of the property as it was breathtaking, with scenic views everywhere. Except for the staff and a cute dog, no hostel mate was there when I checked in. Boredom hit me, but I was also starving like hell. So I walked to the nearest food point and had a chicken biryani over there. It was an old store but a famous one in that neighbourhood. I filled my tummy and started to walk towards the Zudio store of Alleppey.
It was huge as most of the Alleppey crowd visited it for shopping. Whatever money I saved on travel and accommodation on this trip, I spent on my shopping because I was done repeating my outfits, and my backpack needed new clothes and footwear. I also shopped for my people as travel souvenirs. After almost three hours of shopping and roaming around, I reached my hostel again to get ready to explore the nights of Alleppey Beach Road.
I took my sweet own time to get ready. I wore new clothes and felt excited to step out, but as there was no one at the hostel, I felt very different because, in a people person, staying alone was almost a nightmare. When I left, I hoped the guy who was also staying in my dormitory would return in the night.
It was dark, and the Alleppey Beach Road neighbourhood was dimly lit as I stayed near the Beach Road, a few km from Alleppey town. I walked to the beach road, and to my disappointment, it was not happening. Local vendors were selling ice creams, namkeen, mangoes, and peanuts on the beach, families were hanging around at the shore, and restaurants were only happening a little. Still, the only thing was that the town was rigorously preparing to celebrate Christmas in December. To my relief, I could see visitors, both Indian and foreign, walking on the beach roads, lazing around the open cafes and restaurants.
I have decided to hit a bar to have a beer to boost my spirits. It was a local bar, but a mixed crowd of locals and visitors was the most happening. I wore shorts, a tee with a cap, and loose, long hair. The locality took me for a foreigner, and I had to get along with it because their stares made me quite uncomfortable, especially when the waiter started flirting with me and asked me where I was staying and if I was all alone. That didn't encourage me to spend much time, though. I pulled my chair to the nearest table where a bunch of foreign folks chilled over. Their conversations were sweet and welcoming, whereas the Indian crowd judged me to the core. I gulped my beers and thought of leaving, accepting myself to wrap for the day after travelling, shopping, walking and exploring a new place I had never visited.
Walking was the best part because I got to clear the air, breathe the fresh breeze, explore the neighbourhoods and memorise the paths without using technology. That night, Alleppey Beach didn't attract me much, but I didn't give up on it because I had super fun the following day. I walked and reached to my hostel. I chilled a while with the staff, ordered my food from the nearest restaurant without going anywhere, and finally shared my food with the dogs at the property amidst beautifully lit incandescent lights, colourful tables, and vintage walls of the hostel.
After an hour or so, I met my fellow hostel mate, who is now my friend online and offline. He is a director who visited Alleppey for a film festival. If he wasn't there, I would be shit scared and bored as damn the whole night sleeping alone in that dormitory with high ceilings, chandelier and wooden brinks, looking like a typical Kerala storey room, straight out of a Malayalam movie.
That night, I had fantastic conversations with my hostel mate about life, career, philosophy, family, love, orientations, changes, and lifestyle scenarios. My thought of crashing early that night got substituted with spending a little more time with him over endless talks. Maybe the boredom made us connect quickly, but it was for the good until I learned that he must leave early in the morning the next day. That is the beauty of travelling: as we meet people, we also must leave people behind to meet new ones. The mates I met the previous night weren't there, and the mate I met that night was going to be there after I woke up the following day. As I was accustomed to these feelings, I felt good talking to him, knowing about him and finally bidding goodbye before I turned off my lamp and dozed off to sleep, hoping the following day in Alleppey would be fantastic as I had decided to leave the town in the night to leave back to Bangalore. Yes, I booked the return bus to Bangalore from Alleppey when I was bored at the hostel that evening out of anxiety. Just being a spontaneous traveller was more fun.
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