Kondai Lip, Alleppey

Turn off the highway to Alleppey, onto a narrower road that winds its way through sleepy hamlets, going past prawn and shrimp farms and submerged fields of paddy. You gradually begin to feel the overwhelming presence of water. At times in the course of the journey it seems that for an instant one has dropped below the waterline.

The gateway to Kondai Lip welcomes you across a narrow canal fringed by palms. Greeted by the resort’s boatman, guests are then transported across in a country boat. The boatman uses a long pole, pushing down into the riverbed to propel the boat forward. Step ashore, stone lined pathways branch out and lead into the resort. A canal to the left has been dyked to form a large pond that stretches across on end of the property. Brick colored cottages built of laterite and wood with wooden gables, tiled roofs and verandahs are set amidst tall palm and coconut trees, tropical plants and cropped grass. The cottages are all over a hundred years old and were once traditional homes that have been translocated. Designed in Kerala’s vernacular style of architecture, with interiors in wood, elegantly furnished and equipped with all modern amenities, the cottages look out at canals on two sides and are set around a dining area that is open to the surrounding landscape.

A profound silence reigns, this is solitude in its purest form and within its embrace a million sounds that you wouldn’t normally hear. Step lightly, sit back, luxuriate in the beauty that surrounds you, soak in the silence, you are a heartbeat away from paradise.