Our reason for including Kollam in our itinerary was so that we could travel from there by ferry to our next stop, Alleppey. In the event, we had missed the last boat of the season by a couple of days. The service wasn’t due to resume until November. We were offered the opportunity to make the eight-hour journey by houseboat for 27,000 rupees (about £335)!! Not surprisingly, we opted for the bus at a cost of 70 rupees each!
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Our accommodation
Despite the fact that we couldn’t organise the onward travel we’d wanted, we still enjoyed our couple of days in Kollam. We actually stayed in Ashtamudi Villas on Ashtamudi Lake, a distance out of town. Our brick built villa was well-furnished and comfortable with a new-looking ensuite. The garden was lovely, full of palm trees with hammocks slung between them. The only downfall was the food – undoubtedly the worst meal we had in two months in India! Our host, Joseph, was unapologetic, blaming the fact that it was the end of the season!
Boat trip to Monroe Island
Whilst in Kollam we took a trip to Munroe Island. The day began with a 15-kilometre tuk-tuk ride to the boat pick-up point, including a river crossing by ferry. Our driver had pretentions of Formula 1 and drove like a lunatic! Luckily, we made it to the boat in one piece. It was a punt-powered canoe like the one we had in Kovalam, but our punter this time was a young guy, Ooni, who spoke excellent English and who had a wealth of knowledge to share about the Keralan backwaters.
It was so peaceful drifting along. We began our trip on the Kalada River, surrounded by huge houseboats. They certainly seemed enormous from our vantage point low down in the water. We soon moved on to smaller, narrower canals, some man-made and some natural. We saw lots of birds, including cormorants, egrets, kingfishers and kites. We also got fascinating glimpses into the lives of people who make their living on the backwaters – fishermen; smallholders washing their cattle; a man depositing alluvial mud, collected from the bed of the lake, around the bases of his palm trees to act as a fertiliser for his coconuts; children having fun in the water. As we passed a Hindu temple we could hear singing which we assumed was recorded, but Ooni explained that it was a lady who sings live from morning until night without a break. It’s a job which is assigned to chosen girls as children, who then spend years learning the complicated Hindu texts they have to sing.
After a while on the water, we stopped for chai and a savoury snack. We chatted to Ooni who explained that he has a politics degree, but that he prefers to stay close to home and make his living guiding tourists. He told us about the arranged marriage system in Kerala and how it had worked in his family. He was proud to report that Keralan women have gained in confidence in recent years through being given the opportunity to earn their own money.
Back in the boat, we saw (and heard) fish sellers who ply the waterways, breaking the silence with their calls to draw customers from their houses.
We also passed through tiger prawn beds, protected from birds with vibrant blue netting. Astonishingly, all of the prawns produced here are exported to Europe!
It was an extremely interesting day and I would definitely recommend the trip.
On a houseboat!
When the time came for us to leave Kovalam, we already knew that we would be travelling by bus rather than our preferred ferry, and had organised a tuk-tuk to take us to the bus station. We had an unexpected bonus, though! Just before our transport was due, a houseboat moored at the lakeside near our accommodation to drop off some passengers and the captain offered us a free ride across the lake to the bus station. The 15-minute trip is probably the only time we’ll ever be on such a lovely houseboat!
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First of all, the photos are excellent. I never tried before backwaters in Kollam. After reading this article I would like to plan a trip to Kollam. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Munroe island is truly a hidden treasure of Kerala. Even people outside Quilon also may don’t have an idea that such a place exist. Great work.