Alleppey to Cherai Beach, Vypeen Island

Living the boat life

Breakfast on the backwaters

After a peaceful sleep on the Keralan backwaters we watched the fishermen and their families float around checking their nets in tiny circular boats. We watched men selling fish pull up for Chai in their boats at the nearby restaurant and watched a old man taxi people back and forth across the water.

Once Captain and Cook were ready, we set sail again. While on our way we enjoyed an English style omelette and toast for breakfast before docking back where we had started yesterday. We finished packing our things, disembarked and then realised we had forgotten the one overpriced beer we hadn't consumed. Chris went back looking only to find that, within the two minutes we had been gone, the 'fridge man' had apparently come and taken the ice box. Either that or Captain and Cook are enjoying a drink on us.

We jumped on Big Red, who had enjoyed a night sleeping with the bus drivers, paid our 20 INR parking fee and set off for Kochi. It was an easy, short ride (100km-ish) to reach the outskirts of the city. We stopped to make our first attempt at getting new SIM cards after ours ceased to work once we entered Kerala. The man at the mobile shop on the corner informed us that the recharge card Captain had bought us in Alleppey was broken and sold us another. Still, our internet was not fixed. A helpful customer who spoke English then informed us that our best bet was to head into town to the Idea Showroom!

The people at the Idea Showroom told us we should go to the Idea Headquarters. We really were moving up and up. They gave us some vague directions, telling us only to go across the bridge, straight and near the shipping yard. They looked at us like we were idiots when we questioned where said shipping yard may be. Regardless, we found the shipping yard, and then the Idea Headquarters, with little problem. After a short wait we were told that the SIM cards we had would charge us roaming fees when outside Tamil Nadu where they were purchased. We needed data sims and these could only be bought if we had the details of a local Keralan person who would act as our reference. Apparently they didn't see the luggage still strapped to Big Red as they were surprised when we didn't have a local friend. Despite Chris' best efforts to get the saleswoman to allow us to grab the details of another customer, we were told to come back once we had a hotel.

Then came the ride to Vypeen Island, just off the coast of Kochi. When we set off we weren't even sure there would be a road but, Chris' reasoning that "this is India, they prefer to drive" proved true. A road took us all the way. A long way. 24km of heavy traffic, one way bridges and narrow roads made it a long way to Cherai Beach. After asking at just a couple of different guesthouses, we settled on Sea Line, a beachfront place that we bargained down from 3500 to just 2000 INR per night. With hot water, wifi and a beach out the back we were happy despite the power outage which was expected to go from 10am-5pm both today and tomorrow. Oh India.

We jumped into the Arabian Sea which was even warmer than the water we swam in in Sri Lanka. The kind of water you could stay in all day and not get cold. Deciding Big Red was making us lazy, we left him at home and walked the three kilometres into town to find some lunch. Happy with our samosas and onion bajis we sat on the footpath to eat, and down some much needed water, while locals giggled at us. We then found some much needed sunscreen that would actually keep the Indian sun's damage to a minimum. Getting a high SPF rating, over 15%, sunscreen is hard! Finally the pharmacist dusted off a small tube which was, according to the label, only to be used if prescribed by a medical practitioner. Hack duty...exactly what we needed.

Sunset from Sea Line Hotel, Cherai Beach

We watched the sunset over the sea from the hotel balcony then set off into the little town of Cherai in search of dinner. There were limited options and when we finally settled on a place we were quickly directed by a owner in to his 'AC family restaurant' so he could charge us more. We enjoyed our first parota (flakey bread that's been spiralled before cooking), steam cake (an South Indian breakfkast bread), veg biriyani and a cauliflower (gobi) dish.

We returned home and I had a rough ten minutes. First I was confused when my phone wouldn't charge but then realised I had one charger plugged into my phone and another plugged into the wall. Then I stood on Chris' tripod and cut my toe open. It was definitely time for bed.