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Published: March 16th 2008
After breakfast we headed downs to the water to see if we could organize a houseboat trip! From the bible we had learned that houseboats were the best way to see the backwaters of Kerala. We arrived at the jetty in a rickshaw and were immediately bombarded with the usual touts trying to get our business. AFter checking out one companys proposition we walked around for another ten seconds and were approached by a man so eager that we should take his and only his houseboat that he piled us all into a rickshaw and drove us to see his boat. His boat was very nice and he made us a decent offer which, after some creative haggling, we brought down to a much more reasonable price if we left that afternoon. This suited us very well and after leaving a deposit and promising we wouldn't tell anybody how ridiculously cheap his offer was we went for lunch. He had realised it was better to have people on the boat at this late stage in the day than to have it sitting in it's berth. Fortunately we too had realised this!! After a fantastic, if a little damn hot, Biryani for
Tea on deck!
Ollie chillaxing on the deck. Is that cup china?lunch in a local restaurant we headed back to the hotel to pack and check out. We left our bags behind at the hotel after promising we would stay the next night and took the rickshaw the man had sent for us back to the boat!
We set off from the jetty at about 4.30 and cruised our way into the Keralan backwaters. After a couple of hours of taking in the scenery the houseboat moored at an island (Munroe Island, apparently after a Colonel Munroe who was unable to pronounce the local name and so changed it to something a little more suitable!) After mooring we were met by a local guide who took us for a walk around part of the island to see a temple and then to his house where we were offered food. This was our first experience of Jackfruit, local fruit which grows up the trunks of the tree and are the size of a massive watermelon! Tastes a little like melon but with the consistency of Calamari, very tasty though! We returned to the boat after this and ate a huge traditional Keralan meal and then spent the next few hours relaxing
Local Dredgers
These crazy people were collecting right beside our night spot! with a few beers and learning cards games from our very funny guide, Vijeesh.
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