The sweeping network of canals honey-combing the town of Alleppey (Alappuzha) has earned for the place its sobriquet - "The Venice of the East". Small, low-slung country are the taxis of this waterland. It is a heartwarming sight to see them carry a motley assemblage of cycles, goats, fisherwomen with cane baskets, school children, toddy-tappers with there knives and pots, duennas in white and gold earings , Syrain Christian priest and the bare-chested boatman apiece. Do not miss out on a rode into Kuttanad through shimmering, green paddy fields and tail-wagging, head-bobbing groups of ducks. The coir-workers too present an interesting sight as they soak coconut fibre in pool, beat them out and weave the tough brown strands into long ropes on spindles stretched between endless coconut trees.