So much for a good nights sleep. It turned out that the air conditioning in our luxury new room didn’t work at all. Whereas we thought we’d been trying to lower the temperature, we’d actually been heating the room up to 28 degrees. How lovely. We did have an efficient couple of fans but they were so noisy I had to put my earplugs in to try and block out the sound. With blocked up ears and a blocked nose, it made for another uncomfortable and disturbed night.
I lay there worrying that if the homestay was this bad what on earth would a houseboat be like. We’d heard nothing but horror stories since we’d been here about the mosquitos so, when we woke up, I asked Jane the question ‘Do you think we should cancel the houseboat and just see if we can book in early to the hotel on the beach?’. I was just really worried that the experience was going to be a nightmare. However, Jane immediately responded and said ‘No, we are going to do this.’
And so we did and thank goodness because it was absolutely the highlight of the holiday and one of the best things I have ever done.
After a relaxing morning on the verandah at the homestay, we were once again collected by Vaiju who then drove us the 45mins to the boat departure point. We really weren’t sure what to expect at all so it was nice to arrive at a quiet spot where there were just three of the beautiful houseboats lined up waiting for us. After a short explanation we were introduced to our crew of three. The chef- Sippy, the Captain- Tommy and my favourite Vishu, general assistant.
We were soon on board and setting off. These houseboats- or Kettavallam- are the boats that in past times ploughed the waterways transporting rice from the paddy fields and spices to the ports. They’re made from traditional materials and are absolutely beautiful. Luckily for us they’re also fitted with some lovely mod cons. Quiet, efficient air conditioning in the luxurious bedroom. Mosquito net over the comfy bed and a lovely separate bathroom with hot water. Oh this was going to be alright!
We sat at the front of the boat , just behind Captain Tommy, shaded from the sun and starting to relax with a lovely tasty pineapple and ginger smoothie.
From that moment on it was just brilliant. We were served some of the best food we’d had in Kerala including lake fish and my new favourite, prawns! To start with, we made our way across the wide Lake Vembanad and then along various wide waterways which were much more open and with very little habitation. It was very quiet and with very few other boats around and we were surrounded by electric green paddy fields and coconut palms.
It was lovely to just float along and look for the various birds along the way. Vishu in particular, was really good at steering the boat so that we could see the birds. We used the provided ‘Birds of Kerala’ book to identify and list what we were seeing.
In the later afternoon we were able to creep out into the sunshine and lounge about on the cushions at the very front of the boat. But we couldn’t sit still, there was so much to see. As it got later we floated down some narrower and busier waterways where there was more of a village scene to view.
We made it to our mooring point for the night just in time to watch the sunset. It actually made we cry a little bit as the sun set behind three coconut trees. It was time to crack open the beers from the Government shop! Thank goodness for them, as they don’t serve alcohol on the houseboats. We then sat in the open boat as darkness closed in with lanterns providing the light as we ate our dinner, yet more lovely tasty food. It was now that I thought we might have trouble with mosquitos but a traditional anti mosi coil seemed to do the job as we got no bites here at all. There were just two other boats within reach of us and it was lovely and peaceful as we retired to bed.
And yes we did sleep very well thankyou but were up early the next day (to the sound of the birds) excited to see what it looked like in the early morning. Jane was up first but she soon came back to tell me that I needed to get up and come and look. It was incredibly peaceful and the water now looked silvery in the early morning sunlight. On the horizon we could see several fisherman in their narrow, wooden canoes dredging the bottom with small nets on long poles.
We had a lovely breakfast, including a nice potato curry and then we were soon on our way. It took just an hour to get to where we’d left off yesterday. Again, we were busy looking at the birds and taking photos of all the different ways the fishermen made the most of these productive waters.
We both agreed that we’d have liked and extra night on the houseboat but really it had been just perfect. As we disembarked we said our farewells and thankyous to our lovely crew.
I once said of train travel in Northern India ‘Never, ever catch an overnight sleeper train to anywhere.’ But now I have to say ‘Always, always catch a houseboat when in Kerala.’
Where shall we go to next? 