Early morning on the houseboat, it’s still dark and there is really loud music coming from the Hindu temple nearby. It starts at 5:30 a.m. and lasts for one hour. The birds are competing with loud trills, whistles, chirps and squawks. As it lightens, boats start up heading out to their day’s tasks. There are water taxis, buses, small ferries, cargo canoes and many houseboats. There are over 2,000 of these houseboats plying their way through the labyrinth of canals. Sometimes a long low canoe slides by silently, hardly noticeable blending in with the brown water. Only the white shirt of the paddler stands out. Breakfast is ecstasy; freshly blended pineapple juice, orange slices, tiny banana, chunks of juicy watermelon and pineapple, toast, jam and perfectly boiled eggs with coffee to top it all off. Like
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