Day 16 - Alleppey

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Here we are sat on our personal houseboat, a glass of white wine in hand, watching the sun go down. Sorry you won’t be reading this as we have no wifi – hopefully we will have tomorrow.



The day started in Kochi and then an hour and a half drive to Punnamada Resort on Lake Alleppey. Our houseboat has two ensuite bedrooms, a salon/dining room where we will be dining tonight, a galley kitchen and joy of joy a chef innit. Safety is ensured by captain and his bos’n…… Cap’n Jack…..aaarrr



Once aboard we were greeted with a traditional welcome – a lighted lamp – and a guided tour of our home for the next day. We set sail henceforth and shortly after were served a feast of Indian fare. Again not hot hot, but highly spiced – wonderful flavours of fenugreek, cardamom, cumin, turmeric, coconut, ginger, garlic, curry leaf to name but a few – delicately balanced, each dish different from the other.



We quietly and gently motored through a labyrinth of waterways, spotting birds and watching rural life pass by. At first we thought it must have been a Monday, but eventually realized that every riverside house had a couple of steps down into the river with their own large slab stone and a bar of soap. Washing was slapped violently against the stone, rinsed and hung up to dry (probably 5 minutes and all finished and put away).



After lunch we moored and transferred to a handmade wooden canoe so we could access the very narrow backwaters. Life a plenty – life on the water. From what we could see, the houses backed directly onto the surrounding paddy fields which grow Red Kerala Rice. The families living in these houses live a simple life and earn their living in the paddy fields, fishing or working on the boats.



Back to the houseboat and as we said, glass of white wine in hand, watching the sun go down…..



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Nous sommes au bord de notre ‘houseboat’ sur Lake Alleppey, une verre de vin a la main. Nous sommes desolé – nous pouvons pas publir ce blog ce soir – pas de wifi – esperent demain sera OK.



La journée à commence a Kochi (Cochin) nous avons conduit une heure et demi entre Kochi et Lac Alleppey. Notre

Le ‘houseboat’ a deux ensuite chambres pour coucher, un salon/salle a manger, une petite cuisine et joie de joie notre ‘chef’.

Nous

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