Houseboat ahoy!
Similar to yesterday, the day was begun with a morning walk of a couple of miles, enjoying watching the locals wake up and go about their morning business. An unplanned detour did make me 15 minutes or so late to breakfast, but food here runs on Indian timekeeping, so actually, I was spot-on!
Following breakfast (which was so large - I am definitely eating three main meals a day here, and will miss that when back home!) we packed up and were driven to just north of the town of Alleppey to board a houseboat. This would be our home for the night, and I was certainly excited to have the opportunity for some down-time on the river. Some faff with passports ensued (every accommodation here seems to demand your passport which is frustrating and pointless) but once this was sorted we were off!
Our boat had a large seating area, from which I enjoyed fabulous views of the river, it's banks and the numerous other boats, which varied in size from narrow canoes like the one we had been in yesterday, to much larger, two-storey houseboats. It was interesting to watch from afar what everyone was up to, and although the river was busy, it was in a pleasant way, rather than being thorough-fare like.
Before long we moored up for an extremely plentiful lunch, which must have encompassed ten or so different Keralan dishes, which were all so good! Soon after we found ourselves out in the middle of Kumakaron lake, which was much bigger than I thought it was - the biggest in South Kerala apparently. Although I'd felt after lunch I'd never been hungry again, I somehow managed three banana-fry in the afternoon without too much difficulty, but was relieved to be able to walk a few miles once we had moored for the evening. Our route took us through some mirror-like watery fields at sunset, enhancing further the beauty of the local scenery.
Dinner was thankfully more modest, as we had rejected the meat elements of the dish. A pleasant evening was then spent reading my (sixth) book, doing puzzles and swatting a few very interested mosquitoes. Surprisingly, I could easily forget that I was on a boat, as it was fairly wide and stable. Only when a large or fast craft came past, creating waves, did I remember, which made for some odd dreams.
Similar to yesterday, the day was begun with a morning walk of a couple of miles, enjoying watching the locals wake up and go about their morning business. An unplanned detour did make me 15 minutes or so late to breakfast, but food here runs on Indian timekeeping, so actually, I was spot-on!
Following breakfast (which was so large - I am definitely eating three main meals a day here, and will miss that when back home!) we packed up and were driven to just north of the town of Alleppey to board a houseboat. This would be our home for the night, and I was certainly excited to have the opportunity for some down-time on the river. Some faff with passports ensued (every accommodation here seems to demand your passport which is frustrating and pointless) but once this was sorted we were off!
Our boat had a large seating area, from which I enjoyed fabulous views of the river, it's banks and the numerous other boats, which varied in size from narrow canoes like the one we had been in yesterday, to much larger, two-storey houseboats. It was interesting to watch from afar what everyone was up to, and although the river was busy, it was in a pleasant way, rather than being thorough-fare like.
Before long we moored up for an extremely plentiful lunch, which must have encompassed ten or so different Keralan dishes, which were all so good! Soon after we found ourselves out in the middle of Kumakaron lake, which was much bigger than I thought it was - the biggest in South Kerala apparently. Although I'd felt after lunch I'd never been hungry again, I somehow managed three banana-fry in the afternoon without too much difficulty, but was relieved to be able to walk a few miles once we had moored for the evening. Our route took us through some mirror-like watery fields at sunset, enhancing further the beauty of the local scenery.
Dinner was thankfully more modest, as we had rejected the meat elements of the dish. A pleasant evening was then spent reading my (sixth) book, doing puzzles and swatting a few very interested mosquitoes. Surprisingly, I could easily forget that I was on a boat, as it was fairly wide and stable. Only when a large or fast craft came past, creating waves, did I remember, which made for some odd dreams.
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