Kollam Stories


Awaiting Amma at the Amritapuri Ashram

After Alleppy I decided to see what all the hubbub was surrounding the "hugging mother" otherwise known as Amma who has a huge ashram on an island between the backwaters and the ocean. The place has grown to be a massive, yet extremely efficient place where some 2000 people are living at any given moment. Some are there just for a night or two while oth...


Kollam to Aleppey

Kollam to Aleppey After the houseboat we got straight onto the ferry from Kollam to Aleppey. The first 2 hours repeated some of the route we'd done on the houseboat but the next 7 hours were new, if familiar-looking, backwater scenery. Highlights included sunset over the paddy fields with buffalo and large flocks (hundreds) of ducks being herded down...


Houseboat on the backwaters

After a lovely time doing the beach resort thing in Kovalam it was time to get traveling again. We decided to go up to Kollam and look into hirning a houseboat to cruise the backwaters. Having seen the chaos at Trivandrum railway station we opted for the easy option of a taxi rather than train, which was definitely worth the extra few quid. At Ko...