A vacation in the 'Venice of the East' and 'Scotland of Asia'

Crew Members: Dilip, Ashwini, Manish, Anusha, Meghashyam, Sindhu, Aparna and myself.
Duration: 4 days, 3 nights.
Date: 8th October 2016 - 11th October 2016.
Expense: 17k per couple.
Abstract: A gang of families on a vacation!

Note: This blog is seeing a post after almost a year now! Thanks to my friend Shan and his cousin brother Unni, without whom execution of this trip would have been tough.

This trip was what we were planning for almost a year. Marriage of the last member of the four member gang was what was we were waiting for. Finally our gang grew to an 8 member one in August!

We decided to do an Aleppey house boating trip during the Pooja holidays which was a 4-day long weekend. We started our preparations in August. Finding a good house boat deal was the first hurdle. Couple of years back, the same gang of boys had been to Aleppey and I was the one who organized it. So, I called the same house boat agency – Noah’s Ark with a requirement of 4-bedroom day and night package and they gave me a quote of 17000. But we were not very happy with the crew last time. As a next step, I decided to call up the ATDC (Aleppey Tourism Development Corporation) and they gave me an offer which I could refuse just like that. Tariff – 35000 INR and after special discount, 29000 INR!

As a last attempt, I contacted my friend Shan who is a native to Aleppey. He gave me his cousin Unni’s number who had lot of contacts in and around. So, I contacted Unni and he arranged us a 4-bedroom boat for 16000 INR and thus we decided to settle with it. A direct deal with a houseboat owner is the best way to do a houseboat trip in Aleppey. All the contacts you find searching for houseboats in google are of agents and remember, they take heavy commission. A day and night houseboat package generally starts at 11 AM on day 1 and ends at 9 AM, day 2. We were left with 2.5 days and we started pondering for a destination to make best use of the remaining days. Our options were:

1.  Munnar (171 kms)

2.  Thekkady (~100 kms)

3.  Vagamon(97 kms)

Shyam instantly declined as he visited Munnar for his honeymoon less than a year ago. So, we were left with two options. We almost finalized Thekkady decided and take up few of the adventure programs hosted by The Periyar Foundation (http://www.periyarfoundation.online). And that was when Dilip & Ashwini saw the movie Janatha Garage and came up with the desire to visit Vagamon where one of the songs was shot. Moreover, Vagamon was a cooler and lesser famous destination compared to Thekkady. Thus, Vagamon was finalized.

Through makemytrip, we could get an awesome deal with the hotel Holiday Vagamon, the #2 rated hotel as per the website. We could get rooms at less than 50% of the tariff, thanks to makemytrip.com. I consulted my travel freak friends Geo and Ruwise for recommendations. Thus a rough itinerary was made as follows:

Day 1:

-    Reach Aleppey and check-in to the house boat at 11 AM.

-    Spend the whole day in the boat.

Day 2:

-    Checkout from the houseboat and head straight towards Vagamon.

-    Checkin to the hotel by noon.

-    Visit some nearby tourist spots and take rest.

Day 3:

-    Head for Parunthumpara and then to Ramakkalmedu.

-    Return to Vagamon and visit some local spot in the evening.

Day 4:

-    Make sure all the spots in Vagamon is covered and then checkout from the hotel by noon.

-    Head towards Pala/Ettumanoor and board a bus to Bangalore.

So, next step was to book to and fro tickets. We decided to go for bus as the only train reached Aleppey at 5:30 AM and spending time till the boat check-in time would be tough. We found a bus (Kallada Travels) which leaves Bangalore at 11 PM and reached Aleppey at 9:30 AM. Return bus was booked from Etumanoor which is like 50 kms away from Vagamon. Final step in the preparation phase was to freeze a travel means to ply from Aleppey to Vagamon and to roam around in Vagamon. Car rental service like Zoomcar isn’t easy to find in Kerala. Secondly, public transport wouldn’t be practical with so much luggage. So, our only option was to find an 8-seater tempo traveler or which I had no one to rely on other than Unni again. Unni had a tough time arranging one as the weekend we were looking for was a high demand one and almost all the vehicles were already booked. So, it took more than a month for him to find one TT. Finally, we got one 12-seater A/C TT from Ernakulam. Thus all the preparations were done before hand.

Our boarding point was Hebbal as it was Hyderabad – Aleppey bus. With all the excitement, 2 hours long travel from Bellandur didn’t seem very tiring. We all except Dilip and Ashwini assembled at Hebbal right on time only to receive news that bus was 1 hr late. By the time we reached Kalasipalayam and the last couple boarded, it was 12:30 AM. We all slept soon.

Day - 1

We woke up when sun light pierced into our eyes at around 8:30 AM and bus had only reached Palakkad by then! Aleppey was another ~200kms away and we were sure that we aren’t gonna reach Aleppey before 12:30 PM! Thanks to Kallada, by the time we reached Aleppey, it was 1:30 PM. We had lost precious 3 hours in boat. I had informed Unni about the delay and thus the crew was prepared. We boarded the boat at around 2 PM and we were in the back waters immediately.

Let me make a short description on what a house boat is like. A house boat is one which will have full-fledged facilities for a night stay. It is comprised of a hall with sit-out in front with a couch set, a dining table, bedrooms with attached bathrooms and a kitchen. A day and night package generally includes a welcome drink upon check-in, lunch, tea & snacks, dinner and breakfast. There are fully air conditioned boats as well as bedroom alone air conditioned ones. Switching on A/C throughout the cruise or just during the night are optional. Rates change accordingly. There are day packages as well which start at 11 in morning and end my 5 in the evening. Apart from these kind of house boats, there are small banana boats and shikhar boats which does hourly priced cruises.

In another 30 mins, we all got freshened up. The crew suggested us a fish dealer in case anyone wanted fish for dinner. By default, non-vegetarians had chicken in the dinner menu. But the non-veggie folks wanted fish as well for dinner and we took a stop there. They had a wide range of options – Prawns (in three sizes), Crabs, Karimeen and what not! Finally these guys settled on a fish, name of which I am not very sure and struck a deal of 600 Rs/kg! Few of those who wanted to taste sweet toddy, had a chance to do that as well.

I in fact captured the vendor picking fresh fishes kept in captivity in the backwaters.

The luscious lunch was served in the table by then. 5 of us opted for non-vegetarian meals and 3 went for vegetarian. This was communicated to the crew a week ago. So, the non-vegetarians had a Karimeen fry. Food was tasty and filling.

By then, the crew took us to a point where there were small banana row boats for canal ride. Tariff was 600 INR per boat and one boat can carry max of 2 people. So, all of us took the ride through a scenic canal with row of houses on one side and paddy fields on the other. The Tamil movie “I” and bollywood movie “Chennai Express” had shots from this canal it seems. In between, the boat stopped for those who wanted tender coconut water or ice creams. We were given paddles to try rowing the boat by ourselves. It was a fun rich 45 mins.

We were back in the houseboat with a bunch of pics clicked. And the boat cruise started again. By 5:30 PM, the boat was docked beside a paddy field as there is a restriction on boats to ply beyond late evening. Tea and banana fritter AKA Pazham Pori was served in the boat. Dilip, Manish and Shyam went for a walk and got mosquito repellents and some snacks.

We had plans on getting Carrom board on to the boat and Unni was supposed to get it. But for some unfortunate reasons, he couldn’t. But anyway, we had enough time pass options with us. We had Uno and playing cards and also the board game MAD. We kicked off the evening games with Uno. Another boat came and docked next to us. It was a fully air conditioned boat which I didn’t opt at the time of booking. What is the fun in sitting in A/C in the middle of backwaters? After all, we spend most of our hours in A/C office space every day.

By the time, we completed 5-6 rounds of Uno, dinner was served. There a lot of options and it was delicious spread. Non-veggies had a good time fighting the chicken and the fish! Once all 8 tummies were on the verge of bursting, we switched to playing the board game MAD. That was one hell of a time we had! Woah, how much we all laughed!!

We all slept by around 12:30 AM and had a sound sleep.

Day - 2

I woke up next day upon the roar of the engine as our room was the last in the row, next to kitchen and engine. Got freshened up in a jiffy and knocked at the rest of the bedroom doors. We had some time chatting with the captain of our boat and he took us around the Nehru Trophy Boat race finishing point and docked the boat by around 8:30 AM. By then everyone was ready and tea was served. Shortly, breakfast – Puttu and Kadala was served. Generally, they serve Dosa/Idly for breakfast. Since my Kannadiga friends wanted to try Puttu, I had asked them to make it for breakfast. Breakfast was decent enough. I got call from Unni saying our TT is already available and is waiting by the road near our docked point. The captain took me to meet the houseboat owner and we parted there by around 9:45 AM and got into the TT.

In no time, we started our journey for Vagamon which almost 97 kms from Aleppey. We had to take couple of stops in between as ladies wanted to use restroom and we had to refill our snacks stock. Around 15 mins away from Vagamon, we had stopped to take a stretch at view point. The place was an eye candy.

Clicked some pics and soon got back into our vehicle. Our hotel, "Holiday Vagamon" was a bit off from the Vagamon town. Vagamon weather then wasn’t as cold as I expected. We reached our hotel by around 3:30 PM and the person in charge, Jills, welcomed us with a wide smile. He took us to the cottage instantly and we were already in love with the place. The hotel had a private tea estate and a stream flowing through their premise. To our misfortune, the swimming pool was just nearing completion and wasn’t ready to use yet. Similarly, rooms for drivers weren’t ready yet. But, overall the place was superb and the rooms were damn spacious and clean. Our plan was to leave the luggage there and soon head for Vagamon Meadows AKA Mottapara. We reached the place by around 4:45 PM and the place was heavily crowded. The place had lot of small hills covered with grass. We saw one hill were there nobody and we decided to venture for that. The reason why no one preferred that hill was, there was a stretch of swamp around it and we decided to make an attempt to cross it and we succeeded.

  

Thus we virtually had a private hill! The ambience was very soothing and we sat there lost in the beauty of the hills around. Soon the sun went down and it started getting cold.

By 5:45 PM, we left the place and headed for the hotel. We had placed the order for dinner beforehand so that by 8 PM, we’ll have it ready. So did it happen and we were all fresh by then. Dinner was decent enough and only compromise was with the quantity. Soon after the dinner, we started with our Uno rounds which went on till 11:30 PM. Cozy bed and the cool climate gave us a good night sleep.

Day - 3

Plan was to leave early for the view point Parunthumpara, which is like 30kms away from Vagamon. But by the time, we got ready and left after breakfast, it was 9 AM. Parunthumpara drive took almost an hour through the hilly tea estates. The journey was satisfying with scenic views around. Parunthumpara was again crowded. We took a walk around and we decided to take up some adventurous downhill tour on foot to a secluded rock. Of all the tourists, only a handful were courageous enough to get to that point. Shyam and Sindhu didn’t risk going for it and remaining six of us did. That was one awesome place to be. We sat there for some time rendering the greenery around. There was a waterfall to be seen at a distance in the midst of mountains. It appeared like a painting.

We took a different route climbing up back and spend some quality time climbing back. By the time, we got back, we were hungry and equally thirsty. There were a lot of tuck shops around selling bajjis and snacks. We had some and then there was this shop were a guy was selling the drink named ‘Kulukki Sarbhat’. This drink is a favorite of mine and I generally have it from where ever I see it. This one was special with 13 ingredients added in it! It was a mixture of lime, orange, pineapple, cuscus, chilli, ginger, ashola (an Ayurvedic body cooling agent) and the rest I don’t even remember. A sip would make your tongue feel sweet, sour and hot tastes. I took a video of the process of making the drink. This is a must try thing at Parunthumpara. 

We didn’t have a concrete plan on what next. Driver recommended to head for Thekkady which was like 20kms away from the place. But then again, the possibility of the place being crowded was high and chance of getting tickets for boating being low, we decided to drop it and get back to Vagamon and visit the Pine Forest and do the adventure activities – Kayaking, Zorbing etc.

We had a terrible lunch from the place Elappara at 2:30 PM. And the 20km journey from there to Vagamon took us almost 3 hours because of the traffic. This was supposed to be an escape from the Bangalore traffic and it felt like home there! But since it was midst the misty tea estates, it was nice gazing outside unlike in Bangalore.

By the time we reached Vagamon, it was 5:15 PM and we decided to visit Pine forest and get back to hotel. Pine forest again was crowded like anything. That was when myself and my wife decided that we wouldn’t make any more trips on a holiday. If one got to see the beauty of a place, we got to be there on a working day! We took a round in the pine forest which was cold as it had drizzled slightly some time back. We clicked some pics and left for the hotel. There were lot of tuck shops on the way to pine forest and I noticed that the prices were simply hiked by up to 40% from the cost in the Vagamon town.

We had dinner from the hotel and we had some good time spent with playing Dumb Charades which went on till 11 PM. Myself and Aparna decided that we’ll wake up a little early and take a walk around the premises of the hotel in the morning.

Day – 4

Our plan was to finish off the adventure activities as soon as possible, check-out from the hotel and then head for Ettumanoor from where our return bus was booked. And if time permits, visit the Illikal Kallu view point en-route Ettumanoor.

With this in mind, we set for the Tea Lake after breakfast from hotel at 9 AM. There were a big list of activities and all of them were priced pretty low compared to the tariff in Bangalore.

Kayaking – 100 INR per boat (two people in a boat).

Pedal boat – 100 INR per boat

Row boat – 100 INR per boat

Zorbing – 100 INR per head.

Archery – 100 INR for 10 shots.

Burma Bridge – 100 INR per head.

Zip line – 100 INR per head.

ATV – 200 INR per lap.

We decided to take up almost all the activities. By the time we finished Kayaking, Pedal boating and Zorbing, it was 11 AM and our check-out time at the hotel was 12 noon. We had a talk with the Tea Lake management and decided to do the rest of the activities after check-out from the hotel. We did checkout at 12:15 PM and then had lunch there and reached back at Tea Lake by 1:45 PM. By the time we finished all the activities, it was 4 PM. It was an entertaining day and since it got late, we had to drop our Illikallu plan. We instantly left Vagamon as we had to ply 50 kms downhill to reach the bus boarding point and all of us wanted to get the famous Kerala Banana Chips and other bakery items to friends and family in Bangalore. We reached Ettumanoor by 6 PM and we were ready with all the bakery shopping by 7:15 PM which was our bus pickup time. But, as expected, bus was delayed by 45 mins.

Overall, the trip was an overwhelming and relaxed one. We almost forgot what we were engaged at our work! It would have been tough and way damn expensive if not with the help from my friends Shan and Unni.

Our group pic:

Things to remember:

1. Try making deals directly with the house boat owners rather than through the brokers.

2. Carry mosquito repellents while planning for night stay in house boat.

3. Make house boat booking at least a month in prior to your vacation. Price can go to double the amount as you get closer to the trip date.

4. Carry thermals while visit Vagamon as temperature can drop abruptly.

Do's:

1. If you are planning to visit Tea Lake adventure activities, allot at least a half day for it.

Don'ts:

1. Vagamon meadows get crowded often and the crowd leave all the plastic debris every where. Please refrain yourself from doing this.

2. Don't plan on buying chocolates/spices in boulevard to Pine valley, there are enough shops in the Vagamon town.