Backwaters of Kerala

After a good nights' sleep under our mosquito net we woke to see the location of our home-stay for the first time; the canal on one side of us and flooded rice paddies on the other. During breakfast on the veranda area we were able to watch the infamous Keralan houseboats chugging up and down the canal, ferrying tourists through the backwaters of Kerala. On our first day in Kerala we got a small ferry for the 10 minute journey along the canal to take a look around the local town of Alleppey. Some have likened Kerala to an Asian Venice, where people use the waterways almost more than the roads for transport of people and goods, although I think most would agree it is quite a bit more rustic than Venice (in a typically India way...)! On arrival in the main town we had a brief search for deals to do an overnight trip on a houseboat, and stumbled across a newly set-up company, 'My House Boat . Com'. This is the first company to set up a website on which you can book houseboat trips before arriving in Kerala, and they happened to have an opening offer on at the time, making our trip about a third cheaper than any other company. The price for an overnight trip on the boat including food came to 40GBP so we booked up the following day!

That evening we went to 'Harbour View Restaurant' down on Beach Road and Trevor tucked into a Keralan fish curry, which Sophie turned her nose up at for being far too fishy and bony. After dinner we decided to have a tea in an 'Indian Coffee House'; a chain of cafes throughout India owned by the employees who wear traditional peacock hats, with extremely cheap prices for food and drink - 7p for a cup of tea. We learnt quickly that you don't want to be too far from your guesthouse in the evening, when massive storms seem to occur daily with torrential sheet rain, thunder and fork lighting. Unfortunately, not being aware of this on the first evening we got caught right in one of these, and so ran into what we thought was an internet cafe to see if we could wait for the rain to die down! We soon realised it wasn't an internet cafe, but instead a photography studio, where the owner proceeded to proudly show us all his camera equipment and photo albums of models. Keeping the conversation going for a while with false enthusiasm to remain out of the rain, we eventually decided that the storm was not just a passing shower and we would have to brave it and try to get back somehow. With Trevor sent out into the torrent of rain to try and hail down a rickshaw and getting soaked to the bone in the process, we were soon happy to be in the back of one, hoping the driver could see out of the windows a lot better than we could. However, this relief was short lived when it soon became clear that he didn't actually know where our guesthouse was and had to ask about 3 different groups of people, stopping at other hotels to ask for directions. At one point we were speeding down the narrow dirt track between the canal and the flooded paddy fields, Sophie trying to decided which would be better to fall into, as it was inevitably going to happen, while thunder and lighting crashed around us. After a white knuckle ride we were eventually dropped 100metres from our guesthouse and walked the last part, giant toads jumping around on the path in front of us. Oh well...back to the dryness of our room we thought...no such luck; water all over the floor of our room, with half the contents of our bags soaked and water dripping from the ceiling onto our bed. After arguing with the owner about what he was going to do about it and assuring him we would not be paying full price the following morning, we transformed our room once again into a laundrette and curled up in half of the bed to avoid the water dripping onto us!

The next day the owner moved us into a better quality room for the same price we had been paying so we begrudgingly agreed and transferred our wet-dog smelling clothes over. That day we went and booked our boat trip for the following morning, and visited the Indian Coffee House again for food, with a large tasty lunch and the best vegetable Byriani we experienced in India coming to only about 1pound 30 for both of us! We spent the rest of that day chilling out back at the guesthouse, giving Trevor some time to think about his family back home as it was his nan's funeral that afternoon, watching the houseboats go by down the canal and the sun set over the paddy fields. Later in the evening we tucked into some local snacks that we had bought from a delicatessen in town; a vegetable samosa, a strange Keralan Special savoury/sweet ball, freshly fried potato chips, onion bhajis and then Sophie's choice of some Cadbury's chocolate for dessert, both of us feeling pretty stuffed by the end. The remainder of the evening was spent chatting to a lovely couple, Tony and Lynn, living in Nova-Scotia in Canada, who had both emigrated from the UK and with family members still living in Whitstable...it's a small world! While retired, they were experienced travelers who had started back in the 1970's when it would have been far more challenging to get around. As it turned out, this wasn't to be the last time we would bump into them on our travels...

The next morning we spent two hours waiting and queuing in the train station to try and buy Taktal (last minute) tickets for the train to Goa the following day, only to reach the front of the queue and be told that all the tickets had gone. Pretty pi**ed off with the typical chaos of India, we headed off to our boat trip. On arrival at the dock we were led past some boats falling apart which we prayed we wouldn't be shown onto. Instead we were pleasantly surprised with our houseboat, which looked pretty new and had a front open dining area, two luxury bedrooms with attached bathrooms (compared to what we are used to anyway), a small kitchen area, and an upper deck with sunbathing space and cushions to relax on. We were lucky as no-one else had booked the boat for that day so we had the whole thing to ourselves, accompanied by 3 members of crew to look after us; a cook, engineer and the captain - not bad for 40GBP from 12pm to 9am the following morning. We spent the trip meandering down the backwater canals and stopping for delicious meals (once again some of the best food we have eaten was provided on one of our organised trips - authentic Keralan and southern India food). After lunch another huge storm began while we were moored at the side of the canal, during which we could feel the claps of thunder shake the boat, and there was an impressive fork lighting show across the water! We relaxed on the boat, played cards, read and felt very posh having staff for the day! The trip was a great experience with some excellent views of the backwaters, fringed with palm trees and people going about their daily lives of washing, fishing and household tasks on the banks - all a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of the cities in the north of India!