After a month in the north states of India we are now travelling to the southern state of Kerala which is a 24 hour journey away by (another!) overnight train to Mumbai followed by a flight to the city of Cochin. Our reward for this arduous journey is three nights on our own private houseboat chugging around the backwaters and lakes of Kerala.

After our long journey we arrive in the evening and are whisked away to a smart city hotel. It's almost Christmas so we spend an hour walking around the city (unsuccessfully) searching for some Christmas decorations to brighten up our hotel in Goa when we arrive there for Christmas.

Next morning we are taken to our houseboat and meet the three members of crew who will be looking after us for our voyage. The crew consist of a driver, an engineer and a chef, non of whom speak much English, but all of whom are very pleasant.

Life on a houseboat is a very slow, pleasurable affair, the boat effortlessly drifts along during the day, mooring for lunch and then again at sunset. Our chef whips up a great breakfast and enormous lunches and dinners in which freshly caught fish and tiger prawns are the staple. The scenery is incredibly unspoilt and very beautiful whilst the temperature hovers around the 30°c mark. In this environment bird life thrives and we see kingfishers perched on the riverbanks, lots of heron and even hawks swooping down to pluck fish out of the river.

Excursions off the boat are limited, restricted to a couple of visits to riverside villages (to buy fish), some famous churches and local temples. We also made a very ill-advised excursion to a bird sanctuary (which had no birds!) on our penultimate day. We had been in India now for three weeks and had seen lots of stray dogs which had largely kept out of our way. When we saw a small dog at the bird sanctuary we thought nothing of it, until, when we walked past, it leaped at Craig and bit him on the calf. Cue much reviewing of the health section of our Rough Guide, cleaning with antiseptic wipes, reviewing of Craig's vaccination record and discussion as to whether to visit the hospital. Eventually, after a call from the tour operator, we went to the local accident and emergency where Craig was given a tetanus injection and prescribed four courses of tablets (no idea what they were but when mixed with malaria tablets they made Craig vomit!). The doctor also prescribed a month long course of 4 injections to prevent rabies.

All in all the boat trip was incredibly relaxing making a very welcome contrast to the full-on cities of India that we had previously visited. In Delhi, Agra and Varanasi people are relentlessly clamouring to attract your attention, usually to relieve you of rupees, in Kerala we felt less like walking ATMs and were therefore more able to appreciate the natural beauty of the backwaters.