Guide to discovering Kerala Backwaters, India… 3 days in Alleppey {part 2} Kainakari Island and Marari Beach.
On the second day in Alleppey, Juan and I went out on Vembanad Lagoon catching a public ferry to Kainakari, a small peaceful island which could only be reached by boat until recently – it’s an amazingly undeveloped little bit of paradise. The ferry staff are very helpful explaining the schedule, telling you where to get off and the time of the last boat back! It’s a very cheap ride.
Kainakari is a picturesque island laced with small canals shaded by palms and tropical trees. We walked along the lakeside path which winds around a shoreline where the villagers’ small wooden canoes are tied up, their brightly painted houses peeking out from the foliage on the other side of the pathway beside the local school ground where smiling children play in the sunlight.
Although much of the land is planted with rice crops, the green shoots in the paddy fields had been cut the previous day leaving a mess of stubbly brown mud. Not the scene I had in mind for taking photos but, as it turned out, a lot more interesting…
Alleppey {also known as Alappuzha} is famous for its Kettuvallam boathouses…these are up-market holiday homes converted from the thatched canal barges that traditionally navigated the Keralan waterways. However, original work boats are still in use – several of them piled high with straw gently glided past so, really intrigued, I followed them along a canal to watch how teams of men manually unloaded them in the old fashioned way onto colourful trucks.
There’s a large convent in the distance on the other side of the fields but we never actually got there…we got waylaid wandering down the footpaths beside the narrow canals. Juan was impressed by the unusual architecture of a particular house which vaguely resembled a smart tree-house and I was looking at the kittens and baby goats in the garden when a guy came out and invited inside to meet his wife. The interior deco is unique, the children’s room has beautifully painted murals of the green rice fields, an altar with a peace dove takes pride of place by the front door and the cute kitchen is colour coordinated in crimson and pinks – apart from the artistic value it must be the cleanest and tidiest home in the whole of India! This friendly man, Benny Kainakary is a talented artist commissioned to make sculptures for Christian churches as well as interior decoration and landscaped gardens.
Cutting across inland and back towards the jetty, women armed with scythes were burning the remains of the rice grain stubble on the verge of the road. A dilapidated chai shop on stilts beside the fields was a great place to stop for some hot masala tea and wave back at the kids coming home from school on their bikes.
It takes 90 minutes to reach Alleppey by boat so the majority of villagers now get into town on their scooters, it’s only 15 minutes as there’s now a connecting bridge.
The ferry is still popular though for getting from island to island, it has a circular route so we had the chance to see different canals and landscapes before chugging into the main lagoon just in time to catch sunset.
Marari Beach
MarariKulam is a small coastal town just 11km north of Alleppey, more commonly known as Marari beach. One morning Juan and I caught a local bus from the main depot, after a lot messing around…long distance buses tend to have the name in English on the front but the local ones are only in Indian, the drivers only speak Indian and friendly passengers who try to help don’t necessarily know where the bus is going…and there are two bus stations! I wonder if the official looking guy in the ticket booth who had told me the time, number and place the bus would depart had actually made it up. After getting on and off of 3 buses and changing stations we finally made it to MarariKulam junction…the beach was 30 minutes walk down the lane.
It was a pleasant walk through the countryside and we stopped to have a quick look around Mararikulam Shiva Temple on the way, with intricate wooden architecture and impressive statues of deities at the gates this is one of Kerala’s ancient legendary Hindu temples.
Marari beach is gorgeous, clean golden sands stretching for miles backed by coconut trees and tropical jungle. There are a couple of stalls selling refreshments in an opening just before the beach, a few sun umbrellas and loungers on the sand for the few tourists around, a couple of signs pointing to seafront homestay and guesthouse accommodation, a traditional resort peacefully concealed in acres of parkland and not much more in the way of amenities…it’s lovely!
The sun was scorching so we strolled along looking for a shady palm tree to sit underneath; the sea looked too fierce for safe swimming. A fishing village of little shacks lies just back from the beach, the brightly painted boats, boards and nets pulled up from the shores of the Arabian Sea.
A flat dinghy is used to throw fishing nets out into the water. Little fish get entwined in the thin mesh which is then hauled in. Back on the beach it takes three or four men to unwind the net and pick the fish out. The meager catch is put on a cloth, or directly on the sand, and auctioned off in batches.
There were few people around except for the fishermen, a young Indian couple romantically holding hands and whispering in the shade of a palm tree, and the occasional foreign traveler walking along the sands.
A group of young Indian friends were on a photo shoot and we ended up taking photos of each other…my blond hair looks unusual to them, the nun and her friend with the sun umbrella looked quite exotic to me.
This vast stretch of sand is bordered by tropical woodland. I heard some eagles crying and we watched them, maybe a dozen or so flying overhead.
Juan and I got the coastal bus back from Marari Beach to Alleppey town centre, finding the non-signposted stop without difficulty. Indians are generally so friendly, polite and ready to help foreign strangers, and younger people particularly understand English so just ask and they’ll point you in the right direction. The late afternoon bus was crammed with women beautifully dressed in their best saris…a few miles on everyone got out at the local St. Michael’s Church where there was a huge fete party going on with loads of street food and loud music. I was really tempted to get off and join in the lively event but we had to get back, throw our things together for an early start next morning up the coast to Kochi and the final part of our 8 week adventure in India.
