… Of our stream!

Our penultimate stop in India was the backwaters in Kerala. a network of brackish lagoons, canals and lakes that lie parallel to the Arabian Sea. There are more than 900km of waterways, similar to the bayous of North America.

The main hub and best chance to get on a houseboat was in a town called Allepey (Alappuzha). This was an important trade station for the Portuguese and Dutch but today is described as the ‘Venice of the East’ due to its canals and access to the backwaters.

In order to avoid the weekend rush we waited until the Sunday to take a boat. This left us with 2 nights to fill. After reading up all the guides and websites we settled on this lovely Beach Hut place called Mandala’s.

Boy how wrong were we!

While we were promised some of the best food in all of India in one of the most relaxing and enjoyable haunts in Kerala what we got was a run down dump of a place. It reminded of us of the movie Hook. Peter Pan is now a hot-shot lawyer and he has left the base in the charge of the Lost Boys and they have just left the place stagnate.

Our host was the enigmatic Babu ( the only Indian I have ever seen with a full Afro hairstyle btw). He spent the day smoking and not caring much. His cohorts were a mixture of biker gang and schoolboys who lorded over the place.

Apart from the fee for the room the other benefit we brought was for Karen to clean the bathroom for him. Anti bacteria wipes and a bottle of hand sanitiser later it was liveable…just!

But onwards and certainly upwards…we spent two days exploring the beach and the city including the 150 year old pier and a boat ride through those canals.

Sunday rolled around and we made our way to Finishing Point to pick up our boat. With over 1,000 houseboats on the waters at any one time there was plenty of choice but in the end we found our boat.

It was nothing short of amazing. Welcome drinks were waiting for us and all. These boats are not like your typical fare. Called Kettuvallam – they are built for comfort and not speed. The whole point is to chug along the waterways and relax. Our particular ship was to be called the Dharma Jyothi.

In a previous life they were used as grain barges, transporting harvested rice.

Our skipper Mr Shanakar was very friendly and our chef Ravi turned out some of the best meals to date from his small kitchen. He even cooked for the Scottish palette…banana fritters.

For 2 full days we sailed around the backwaters and took in the sights. Highlights were picking Lake Prawns for dinner, taking a small rowboat down the smaller streams  but the funniest occurrence happened when John entrusted his hair to an old man and his scissors for a £1 haircut.

The finishing product  of John’s hair is now reminiscent of Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver – thank god for hats.

One man and his boat

A true highlight however was that of the Kerala Duck Farmers. We were cruising along and lying back on the sundeck when an almighty thunderous sound erupted – as we sailed nearer it grew to a cacophony of quacks – we had encountered thousands of ducks. They were being guided by 3 farmers in boats who were frantically herding them across a canal to a waiting marshland field.