Thursday, June 08, 2006,7:16 PM
ALLEPPY HOUSE BOATS
These are house boats inAlleppy,Kerala, Kashmir style. There are hotels in Alleppy, these house boats are just for tourists, locals don't live in them like kashmir.
All of them are well furnished and clean, but very expensive, starting from 1500 to 5000 rupees or more per day. I can't even think of stepping into them. (30 to 100 dollars a day) I sleep on Railway platforms or in cheap hotels, no more than rupess 200 a day. That too I keep bargaining. You get rooms to suit all pockets in Kerala, except for some places like Kumarakomwhere only rich can have a holiday.
Yes, they can move about. I'll try to dig out some old pictures of Kashmir house boats which are furnished like palaces, with expensive carpets. Most of them are in slides. The one below is perhaps under maintainance, they are ususally well maintained.
Daylight AgainWake up blog
posted by rauf
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Arent they cool?!?I havent stepped into one either.Too expensive for me as well. Imagined myself cruising across the backwaters numerous times.Helps to have a decent imagination when there is no money in the pockets. :)
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Rauf...I don't think you ever miss anything with your camera. What type of camera do you use normally.
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I'll have a post on Kerala water ways e2dees, Next time I'll go see what is inside looks well furnished from outside. There are no cheaper houseboats here unlike Kashmir. Dal lake houseboats were 300 rupees plus in 1980 before you were born e2dees 300 were a fortune. smaller houseboats in nearby canals were cheaper, for Rs.15 I stayed just for a day in a house boat just for experience as 15 rupees too was very expensive for me.
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I used Olympus film camera all these years Don, Now i carry a digital, the above pictures were taken with a film cameras a couple of years ago.
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oh, Rauf, thank you for these photos. I have dreamed of Kashmir and the houseboats for 15 -20 years. Too difficult, we are told. Americans not wanted, too dangerous. And always the beauty, the incomperable beauty, of Kashmir - like a siren calling -
we have a saying "a once in a lifetime trip" meaning we could not afford this except through careful planning, and only once, if we are frugal, just maybe- - many americans visit India and Europe this way. But most americans never leave home. The tourists you see are the rich ones. The rest of us are home, dreaming, reading your posts.
Kashmir, for me, would be a once in a lifetime trip. And I would love to stay on a houseboat, always to remember that gentle rocking....it would be worth a lot of sacrifice, of giving up other things... to rock to sleep on a houseboat in Kashmir ....
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Now even Indians are not welcome in Kashmir Hayden. Its risky. been there thrice,25 - 30 years ago. Kashmir is a good example how a misguided movement can destroy a place. 90% of the state income used to come from tourism, hardly any one goes there now.
I'll dig out old Kashmir pictures and post them in a couple of weeks Hayden
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The craftsmanship of these boats is amazing. Do you know the material used, Rauf?
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Bamboo mostly Ruth, they make good screens, floor matts out of bamboo strips. They make wall partitions too, coconut leaves also are used as roofing material.
Arent they cool?!?I havent stepped into one either.Too expensive for me as well. Imagined myself cruising across the backwaters numerous times.Helps to have a decent imagination when there is no money in the pockets. :)