Kollan and Allepy are the gateways to Keralas fascinating palm fringed backwaters and has over 900km of navigatable canals. We set off from VArkala to Kollam, the first drop off point for the backwaters and did an 8 hour cruise from Kollam to Allepy the most popular drop off point. The scenery was stunning and we went through on a boat with a top deck. We saw all the local villages and village people. Its serene quiet and a milllion miles away from the India as we know it. But its just as much part of India and its inhabitants still live in huts, washing in the waters and living their daily lives like this. 8 hours seems like a long time but there was always something to watch or take photos of. Overall it was a great way to expeience the backwaters. When we arrived In Allepy we stayed in a gorgeous homestay which was styled like the huge houseboats you can rent out on the backwaters. All bamboo. The only downside was the mosquitos getting in through the cracks, but otherwise very quaint with a lovely little comunnal area for chilling out of the oppressive heat. We did another quieter backwaters cruise on a 3 person canoe type thing and had a local guy paddling us around. We saw 2 poisonous water snakes on our journey and at one stage thought my life was going to end, but Paul and his dad were just laughing (at mne being so terrified that is). The rest of the trip was spent with Paul searching for more snakes (typical boy). We went through some smaller canals and through some gorgeous scenery, and saw the village life a little more up close and personal. I was amazed to see the little thatched huts had TVs in them! Apart from the backwaters Allepy is a small but very busy town which seems to ge most of its income from tourists hiring out the houseboats (which are mega expensive, at least in indian terms), and chartering them for a couple of days all inclusive of meals and crew. There are smaller canals running through the town and it calls itself the venice of the east, but really, its nothing like venice at all. We had 2 sleepless nights due to the mosquito net which had holes as large as donuts for the damn mosquitos to come and get us, so when we got to Fort Kochin we finally got some sleep...more on that in the next upddate!