Kerala Backwaters

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We had heard about Kerala before we left the United States in 2007. Our friends Bindu and Sunjay had raved about it, so we were excited to see it in person. Specifically, I had seen pictures of the houseboats that travel the backwaters and it looked like a very romantic experience.

Since moving to India, we have met many others who have traveled all over India and have said that Kerala is their favorite part of India. Although Kerala was on top of our list when moving to India, it turned out to be our last trip before leaving India. We leave India in about 2 months.

We boarded the houseboat at Kumarakom Lake Resort. www.thepaul.in

The houseboat included five people; Kim and I along with a staff of three that included a chef, a captain, and a first mate. It was as decadent as the pictures indicate. The food was unbelievable; as good as any restaurant or home cooked food in India.

The scenery is stunning and beautiful. People live along some parts of the water and you get an intimate peak into their day to day lives as they fish and carry out their daily chores. There are palm trees, bananas, and rice patties growing everywhere. In the morning, the men and boys jump in the water and bath. The men wear what appears to be a skirt, which is called a mundu. It is either worn long at the ankles or the bottom of the mindu can be pulled up and tied about the waist leaving the folded mundu at about mid-thigh length. The woman wear saris.

Traditional South Indian food which includes rices, nuts, rotis, spices, coconuts, dosa, idli, onions, fruits, and curries, is often served on a large banana leaf. We first saw a meal served on a banana leaf when Sunjay took us to a famous open air restaurant on our Mysore trip. Most of the restaurants you find in the USA are North Indian cusine, but we have come to like South Indian cusine better since living in India. We eat South Indian as much as we can because we know it won’t be as easy to get once we are back home.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_backwaters:
“The Kerala backwaters are a chain of brackish lagoons and lakes lying parallel to the Arabian Sea coast (known as the Malabar Coast) of Kerala state in southern India. The network includes five large lakes linked by canals, both manmade and natural, fed by 38 rivers, and extending virtually half the length of Kerala state. The backwaters were formed by the action of waves and shore currents creating low barrier islands across the mouths of the many rivers flowing down from the Western Ghats range.”

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