Cochin Day Tours: Village Life Experience program & backwater cruises in Kochi by Indo World Tours
Are you looking for a day tour from Kochi? Try the Village Life Experience program, organized by Indo World Tours, through the villages in and around the backwaters of Kochi. Indo World Tours is one of the most reputed tour operators in Kochi. Read more about our recent experience with the Cochin Day Tour program.
Started at the boarding point near Murinjapuzha bridge. The boarding point itself is right behind an ordinary village house, which truly reflects the theme of this village tour. At the boarding point, there were 3 boats including our boat. All boats are typical wood made country style canoes, which can accommodate 12 to 20 people. Our canoe was the most comfortable one among the boats we found there. 
Started at 10:15 am. There was two staff rowing the boat using the long pole. They were moving the boat by pushing the boat using the long pole hitting the bottom in the lake. One of the staff was in the front and another person was at the far end. Excluding the front and back ends, the middle portion was fully covered and had the seating area for the people. We were 12 people in our canoe excluding the 2 staff and 1 tour guide.
After about 45 minutes of smooth cruise through the open lake, the boat entered a very narrow canal. In some areas, the canal was too narrow and there was just enough space for the canoe to pass through. In many places, the canoe rubbed the body against the wild plants on either side of the canal. It was an awesome experience to smoothly cruise through the narrow canals watching the amazing beauty of the backwaters and the village life around it.
Rest of the cruise was through the canals with small islands and agricultural lands on both sides of the canals. We spotted small village houses in some areas of the islands but most part of the journey, we saw nothing but birds, water, plantation and fishermen doing their job in the lakes.
Watch this video of our day tour from KochiVisit to Coir Manufacturing Unit
At about 12:30, the boat stopped at a home in one of the island villages, which has a coir production unit attached to the house. Alleppey has a number of similar coir based industrial factories. In addition to those factories, coir manufacturing is done by women in the houses, supported by government and co-operative societies. We stopped by one of such units where women in the family spin the fiber from coconuts to produce coir and coir-based products.
It is a typical Kerala house of a small family. They are making coir and other coir products for their living. It is a small family of a husband, wife, and their 2 children. The women in the family make the coir while the men go out for the job like fishing or picking clams. This family has a small coir making unit on the side of their house. They demonstrated us how they make coir. Even though they have a small motor to assist them, most part of the work is being carried out by their hand skill. I tried to figure out how they skillfully adjust their fingers and hands to convert the coconut shell's fiber into coir. It looks like it is a skill they acquired over the years of practice. It was fascinating to see the elaborate process involved in making a simple thing like "coir" which is part of our everyday life. The process involves beating up the coconut husks to make the raw material, decaying of husks for several weeks in the water, extracting fiber from decayed husks, weaving the fibers together to produce the end product - coir.
After watching the coir production and getting exposure to the process of coir-production, they showed us some of the hand made handicraft products. Some of the people in our group purchased some handicraft items. Unlike many other tourist places, the items sold here were at normal price. In many tourist shopping places, such handicraft items are sold to foreign tourists at an unusually high margin.
There was an interesting point along the canal route. There was a small board displayed that says "Please no photography". There was nothing unusual there other than this board and everyone in the boat were keen to pull out the camera and take pictures. I am still not sure why someone has placed a board there that says "no photography" in such a beautiful part of the canal!
We continued the cruise to our next destination - the Mangrove island for lunch.Authentic Kerala Lunch at Mangrove Island
At 1:15pm, we stopped for lunch at a small island called "Mangrove island". A portion of this small island was leased by Indo World Tours for serving lunch for their local tour guests. They have a shed there with roof covering and a few tables with chairs arranged. We all were hungry after the 2-hour long cruise and were waiting for the lunch.
The lunch was full Kerala meal with all sorts of vegetable dishes including puppad, thoran, sambar, rasam, buttermilk curry and many other dishes. Even though such big lunches were common for the weddings of Hindu families in Kerala, it was a very different experience to the foreign guests to see so many dishes served in banana leaves. Mineral water was served for drinking.
By the time we finished lunch, the second boat operated by Indo World Tours came with a group of foreign tourists for their lunch in the same location.Local village Tour by the Road
Post lunch, we boarded the boat again. After the heavy lunch, everyone was kind of sleepy. The breeze from the west side of the lake made the ambiance right for everyone to enjoy sleep in the canoe but all good things have to come to an end. In a few minutes, we reached our drop-off location on the other side of the canal at a place called "Poothotta".
This drop-off location was about 4 km from away from our pickup point. Tour company had made arrangements to bring the car from our parking location to here for pickup. Everyone boarded the cars and started to the next location - the handloom weaving unit.Handloom Weaving Unit
The handloom weaving unit we visited was located at a place called "Kulasekharamangalam". The house belongs to a family part of "Pattarya" caste who are traditionally doing weaving as their "kulathozhil" (traditional family business). While the women in this cast do the weaving as their primary job for the living, men would go out for selling the clothes. In the recent years, many welfare societies have been formed which helps these women to acquire the raw materials as well as help them sell the products.
The specific unit we visited make handloom towels in the weaving unit attached to their small home. The entire family helps in various steps in the weaving process. They were happy to demonstrate the entire process of making hand towels from the cotton threads.
We bought few hand towels from them and bid good-bye to the family. It was an eye-opener for us to learn the skills and process involved in making the handloom towels.Pottery Making Unit
Our next destination was a pottery unit where they make a wide variety of pottery using clay. This family also belongs to a specific caste who are working with pottery since generations. The entire family including the children in the family have specific roles to play in the pottery unit. The have a big furnace attached to the house which is used to process the products made out of clay. Typically, anything made out of clay must be processed in the furnace for 3 days to make it strong and ready for daily use.
Someone from our group requested them to make a coffee cup and a jar. It was amazing to watch how quickly they made the shapes just by adjusting their finger a bit on the rotating dough of clay! The pottery man was like a magician who can make anything out of clay!
I bought a fish-cooking pan for my wife, hoping that will make her calm down when I return home after a full day of the tour without her!Visit to Local Tea-Shop - the Typical, Country-Style Tea Stall in Kerala
Being a resident of Kerala, I've been to local tea shops numerous times. The tea shop we visited as part of this Cochin Village Tour program was no different from the rest of the tea-shops I often visit, except that this place is a lot cleaner and well maintained. This tea shop located adjacent to the famous Vaikom temple is very clean and tidy. They have hot snacks like "Pazhampori", "Parippuvada", "Suhiyan", "vada" etc. Also, they serve various vegetarian items like Poori, Thattudosa, Masala dosa etc. Our group included a few foreigners and they were very keen to try out various Kerala snacks.Plantation Visit and Visit to a Traditional Kerala Home
After filling our stomach with a few snacks, we headed to the next local destination - a generations-old Kerala style house and a plantation spread across 7 acres of land. We traveled through the local villages and finally reached a house named "White House". While the house itself is centuries old and looks like an old palace, the name of the house was a bit awkward for such a heritage home. Anyway, we were greeted by the owner and his wife, who protect this old tharavadu with great care and passion. They happily showed us the entire house and explained each and every part of the house. That was a wonderful experience for the people who live in modern homes and apartments. After visiting the house, we went through their plantation filled with old trees including spices and fruit trees. The owner has very happy to come all the way with us and helped us learn about various trees that we haven't seen anywhere else in Kerala. There were a few ponds in the plantation and a canal along the side. Vaikom Temple
The last and final destination of the Cochin Day Tour program was the visit to the famous Vaikom Temple. The primary deity of this temple is Lord Shiva, fondly called "Vaikkathappan". This temple is one of the oldest temples in Kerala and is visited by thousands of local devotees as well as tourists. The temple is spread over 4.5 acres of land and has multiple structures for worshiping as well as other administration and education purpose. The day we visited was a festival day and there were hundreds of people lighting the lamps around the temple. It was evening and people had just started lighting the lamps. In about 30 minutes, the entire temple was illuminated with thousands of "Diyas" (small lamps lighted with oil), giving the great and divine ambiance all around the temple. It was very hard to pull out the camera while the rest of the people are immersed in chanting and prayers.
With the visit to the Vaikom temple, this day tour program came to an end. Everyone bid good-bye to each other shaking hands and thanking the tour guide Mr. Shajas. About Mr. Ramesh P. K, the Promoter of Indo World Tours and a Man with Passion for Hospitality Business
I first met Mr. Ramesh (popularly known as "Swami" in the local tourism circles) at Kerala Travel Mart, which eventually led to trying out his "Cochin Day Tour" program. When he proudly talked about the Kochi Local Tour, I never thought it would be so much to enjoy. Being a person living close to Kochi, I never realized Kochi is so beautiful. For me and my family, a family outing usually means a visit to Cherai beach, an evening walk in Marine drive, boating at Marine drive, some shopping/movie at Lulu Mall etc. If we have a little more time to spend, then we might go outskirts like Athirappilly, Munnar etc. Thanks to Mr. Ramesh for showing us the real beauty of Kochi, which is not in the shopping malls or beaches but is hidden at the backwater villages.
Mr. Ramesh is a man of ethics and a role model in the hospitality business. We got an opportunity to speak to him for about an hour after the day tour and he talked about the history of backwater tourism and village life experience program. He is one of the leaders who is putting a lot of efforts to promote Responsible Tourism in the state and especially in Vaikom region of Kochi. Having been in the local village tour industry for more than a decade, he is a trusted name in Local Tour operations in Kerala. We were surprised to see the number of foreign tourists using his local tours and more importantly, most of them come here specifically asking for the tours operated by Mr. Ramesh.Contact Indo World Tours
You can contact Indo World Tours by calling the owner Mr. Ramesh directly at his mobile phone: 94470 37527
Office phone: 0484 2370127
Website: indoworldtours.com
Package Charges : Rs 1950/- Including Taxi charges(Additional Charges for pickup from outskirts of Kochi).
Office address: indoworldtours
Heera House, M. G. Road,
Ravipuram, Cochin - 682 016
Email: mail@indoworldtours.comShajas - Our Tour Guide Deserve a Mention
I rarely depend on a tour guide for any local tours no matter where I go. I usually collect information from the internet and use the same. During our day tour from Kochi, Indo World Tours arranged a tour guide as part of the tour package. The cost of the tour guide is included in the tour package, so there is no extra cost for using the services of the guide. Our guide was Mr. Shajas, which is a government-approved tour guide. He was born and bought up in a backwater fishing village near Kochi and he knows every nook and corner of the city and adjacent villages. Talking in very fluent English (and of course some Malayalam to us occasionally), he was very helpful in learning more about the village life and backwaters of Kochi. In fact, he has a story to tell behind everything we see. During our visits to the pottery unit, weaving unit and coir manufacturing, his in-depth knowledge of how these work has been very helpful for us to enjoy everything to its best.
If you need a tour guide in Kochi, I would recommend Mr. Shajas for you. He is a dependable guide who can help explore all popular as well as off-beat destinations in Kochi.
Contact details:
Name: Shajas P. S
Phone: +91-9947444972 , 04829-224876 , +91-9526538014Overall Review of Cochin Day Tours by Indo World Tours
It was a day full of fun and enjoyment. 12 people from different countries in a country style boat enjoyed the beauty of the backwaters in Kochi. Being residents of Kochi, this day tour program organized by Indo World Tours revealed the hidden beauty of Kochi to us. This was a perfectly managed tour with no flaws anywhere. The promoter of Indo World Tours Mr. Ramesh P. K. was present in the boarding point and at the place where the arranged the lunch. Also, he used to call our tour guide occasionally to make sure all the guests are happy and enjoying the tour.
I would recommend this Cochin Day Tour program through the backwaters and villages of Kochi to everyone looking for a day out in Kochi. If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask your questions below.
Can you arrange 6 day tour program for 8 people in Kerala in last week of May 2017. I am planning a vacation in Kerala and like to connect with reliable travel agencies in Kerala. Please let know how much it would cost for a 6 day tour program.