Backwaters Cruise

I spent yesterday cruising the backwaters of Kerala on a houseboat.  It was awesome!  This is a must do for anyone who comes to India.  It is peaceful and quiet (although the boats have horns but, they don’t use them nearly as much as the cars do).  It gives you a front row view of the lives of the people living in the villages along the shores. 

I arrive as the crew is preparing the houseboat, Spice Coast No. 5.  I get a quick tour of the boat that is to be my home for the day and then we are off.

 It is raining, still, but I am cozy and dry under the awning.  I cannot say the same for Captain Tommy, who must endure the rain to pilot the boat.

 We start by cruising along the shores of Lake Vembanad.  The shoreline here is quite lush and beautiful despite the rain.

 As in Cochin there are Chinese fishing nets but most of the fishermen here prefer to fish by hand. 

A few boats hitch a ride behind us on their way to their favorite fishing spot.  They even show me a fish they caught (little do I know this is to be my lunch).

I see plenty of birds, ducks, cranes and even a few eagles.

We cruise for a few hours and then pull off  for lunch.  And what a lunch it is.

I can eat a lot but this is ridiculous.  Clearly they are not use to having only 1 person on the boat.  Did I mention it was YUMMY!!!!!!!!

After lunch we cruise into the canals of the backwaters.  It has stopped raining and within an hour the sun will emerge.  Hooray!

 The first thing I see is the rice fields.  The people here primarily make their living off of fishing and growing rice. 

Even in the backwaters there is traffic.

Slowly village life begins to appear.

Canal leading to the backwaters

A goat along the shore of the backwaters

Houses along the shore of the backwaters

A woman and a dog along the shores of the backwaters

A store in the backwaters

A backwaters ice cream shop

Backwaters milk delivery

Boy bathing

Man shaving in the backwaters

Woman doing dishes

Woman doing laundry

Woman feeding chickens

All too soon we return to Lake Vembanad.   My cruise is to be cut short because I have an early flight in the morning.  We will be docking for the evening back at our point of origin.  I am disappointed but the crew makes it up to me by letting me steer the boat.

What a sight that must have been.  I think I might be the worst houseboat driver ever.  It must have looked like a drunken sailor was at the helm.  But, it was fun for me.

We settle into port and take a walk around the boatyard.  There are some boats under construction and some wild life to be seen.  I see a kingfisher but he flies away before I can get his picture, the bats too prove to be too elusive for my camera so I must settle for some night time frog hunting.

After the frog hunt it is time for dinner which is again huge.  I eat until I am almost sick.  This is the best food I have had since I arrived in India.

There is no TV on the boat and I am alone so I amuse myself by watching the geckos on the boat stalk and eat bugs.  It is actually not as boring as it sounds.

Finally it is time for sleep and I crawl into to bed under the mosquito net.

I must be up at 4:30am to leave for my flight to Udaipur in Rajasthan.  This is a desert area and I am looking forward to the warm,( hopefully) dry air.