The house boat

After a few hours heading south by train we got to Aleppey which is the main town linked to the back waters and where you can hire houses boats from for any given time you want.We managed to find a good government hostel and stayed there for a night before getting on the boat that we had book, this was also a government tourist boat and for the three of us it was not a bad price for what you get. The hostel was a listed building and had a nice garden and funny staff; this was because they were wall young lads getting stoned all day working for the government tourist board, which seemed to be an easy number for them.

After a good night rest we were taken down to the boat we hired for 24 hours and woo it was so big, none of us thought that it would be as big as it was, you can see in the pics the size we are talking about. Once we were on the boat you basically just chilled out for the next 24 hours, with the crew tending to your every need as then sailed you through the back waters of the area.

It was a really good time to just chill out and watch the world go by as you float along, lots of reading was done and taking pics of the villages we pasted and the people that we sore. The crew cooked us breakfast, lunch and dinner and they were all really good Keralan meals, and once dish was amazing, it was fried cabbage with lots of spices and it was the best cabbage I have ever had.

In the evening we moored up by the side of the river before heading to bed, we did have plans to stay up late chatting but this was soon stopped by the sheer number of insects and bugs that were attracted to us and the lights of the boat at night, so we all ended up in one of the bedrooms watching a film safe from the bugs.

In the morning it took us a few hours to get back to Aleppey and once back we said our goodbyes to the boat and crew and headed down to the bus station to get a bus a few hours down the road the city of Trivandrum in the south of India. Trivandrum was to be our last stop in India, out flight to Sri Lanker was booked and we flew from here in two days.

The next few days were spent getting washing done and sorting our bags out for the next part of our trip, it was also the last place that we would spend some time with Chloe, who has been with us for the last week or so. To celebrate our last night together I suggested that we should all go the top hotel and have meal there, so on our last night we walked to a five star hotel and all had dinner together. The meal was great because we had a buffet, which was help yourself and all the food was amazing, lots of different curry dishes, meat dishes, breads, salads, dips and deserts. W e was all waited on by hand and foot and the whole night was great fun and a great thing to do for our last night together. The total cost of the meal with drinks came to the grand sum and about £10 each, so so cheap.

The following morning we were up early and we said our good buys and off the airport, Sri Lanker here we come........