The trip from Alleppey was a short 45 minute bus trip and an auto ride away, and soon we were being welcomed by the smiling faces of the owners of Backwaters Farm House. We were shown our room which was a spacious cottage with an outside bathroom and a balcony with deck chairs overlooking the water. We were called for lunch and after eating some delicious fish & veg with rice, we sat reading on our deck chairs for the rest of the afternoon - absolute bliss. In the evening we joined the other two guests for a short paddle on the backwaters before all sitting down to another big homecooked meal.

Saturday, 13 October was to be a relaxing day - in between eating delicious meals we pretty much just sat on our balcony drinking coffee & chai and reading. In the afternoon we went on a sunset canoe ride along some of the canals that make up the backwaters, where we could just sit back and watch the scenery. We got back back just as the rain was starting, which we sat watching from our cottage until dinner time. The mosquitos there are really bad when it gets dark, so after dinner we went straight back to the safety of our mosquito-net covered bed.

Sunday we were up early to finish packing and then ate our last breakfast overlooking the water. Afterwards, we gathered up our things and got a rickshaw up to the bus stop on the main road, where we managed to get another crowded local bus to our next stop - Fort Cochin.