A good day of travelling

I had travelled by bus to Fort Kochi, but decided to take the ferry on my way back, even though the walks from both Kochi and Ernakulum would take a bit more time. One has to experience such a boat trip once! You do realise that you can't expect a ferry service like the one from Gouderak to Moordrecht in Holland, I hope? (I am mentioning this because my family is involved in all sorts of businesses.) What sort of service can you expect? In brief you can expect a) a bit of a shock, b) an incredibly crowded boat and c) a ferry even a Vietnamese boat refugee would have doubts about. Getting on the ferry was easiest of all - that was only a matter of surivival of the fittest... There were about 150 people on the quay who all seemed to have good reasons to get on this, and not a later, boat. With freshly sharpened elbows, in a good mood and uncannily speedy, I was on the ferry in no time. (Afterwards I've been wondering how I managed to get in through the window at all, with it being so packed). Of course I stayed as close to the exit as possible in case the ferry would sink, so that I would have just as easily got off. But I must say the water was not really tempting! Believe it or not, all of us safely reached Ernakulum. I must have been the only one who wondered if we'd get there at all, but then I had been the only 'white' person on board, which again attracted a lot of stares.

After a bit of shopping (films for my camera, toothpaste, a bottle of mineral water) I walked on. It was getting warmer by the minute and my rucksack was getting heavier just as quickly, but I still had to find a cash machine. After half an hour I managed to find one. I was really shattered by then, but I decided to keep on going, so that I would at least get to the bus stop. But no - the bus to Alleppey turned out to depart from a different bus station. I was about to collapse, but, as usual, also about to be "saved" again! A gentleman who must have been about fifty years old who spoke very good English took me to another bus stop, made sure I got on the bus and told me where to change buses. Unfortunately... this was very close to where I'd got off the ferry! Once inside the bus I'd been searching for, my misery soon came to an end. The airconditioning in local buses is magnificent. There are no windows at all. So, it's delightfully cool. The only disadvantage is that when you get off the bus your hair style has turned into the sort: 'But Madam, your hair dryer must have exploded!". I was fortunate again in still being the only non-local and yet not to be captured on camera by the Indians.

Alleppey is very crowded, especially when it comes to buses. There aren't any spectacular sights to be seen. What am I going to do here, in the middle of nowhere? Well, a ferry departs from here every day (please, not again!) to Kollum. Nothing special in itself, but it's a so-called backwater trip, about which I will soon tell more.

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