Iron Lady

Biker

Church

Communist bridge

Man in doti

Strolling dotis

Washing day

Kiosk

Repairs

Billboard

Stall

Shallot seller

Odd shop

For a 10 minute period on the road between Periyar and the backwaters I noted down some of the sights along the way. This pretty much sums up what Kerala is all about. The pictures I’ve added were taken at various locations throughout our trip

Man with an umbrella wearing a doti
Tuk Tuks galore
Bananas
Pineapples
Policeman trying to direct the traffic
Colourful ladies in saris
Big pots
A modern parish church
Ladies with pots on their heads
Trucks laden with giant logs
Brickworks
Skinny man under a bus repairing it
Christmas star decorations
Lovely house with plant filled verandah
Car crashed into a tree
Billboards
Decorated trucks
Garden centre called Ozone Agro
Rubber trees
Bread World Bakery and Ice Cream parlour
Communist party signs CIPM
Coconut palms
Old bearded man with a sack of potatoes on his head
A jogger
Buses with open windows (no glass) full of students
Yams
Pilgrims dressed in just an orange doti
A tree fallen down
Colourful plastic water pots

In addition to this I noticed that the Keralans are very keen on a roadside slogan. Here are some of my favourites:

‘Never miss a chance to dance’. Side of a bus in New Cochin

‘Accidents bring tears, safety brings cheers’ Bridge in Kottayam

‘Hit first, hit hard, keep hitting’ . The Naval base in Cochin

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.’

Anyway, enough of the fellow travellers, let’s get back to the Backwaters! After our really, really rough nights sleep it was good to get up and sit out on the shady verandah to have our breakfast. The fan above our heads was already whirring as the temperature in the sun must have been up in the high 80s. That day Jane and I had two plans to explore the local village , on the recommendation of the other guests. In the morning we’d take a short walk around the block to see the local village life and in the afternoon we’d go out in the traditional wooden canoe which enables you to explore the narrow waterways that the bigger houseboats just won’t get to.
Well, what a fantastic day we had! The walk around the village took us along narrow paths wide enough only for bicycles and mopeds and we slowly wandered about greeting all the locals we met. As always they were all incredibly friendly and whilst they’re not all desperate to get in your photos down here in Kerala, like they were in the north, they are more than happy to have their photos taken.
Early on in the walk I wasn’t sure I’d be able to carry on because my banana belly was really painful. But after a short break sitting on a wall I was able to carry on. Banana belly is not as bad as Delhi belly but it is painful and seemed to require me to mostly be sitting or lying down.
The colours and reflections here in the water are beautiful and it was just what I’d wanted to see here so it was great. We saw lots of lovely birds whilst we were out and especially Kingfishers which are quite large and vivid blue out here. They sit on the wires which run across the waterways helpfully making them easy to spot. The other favourite sight is of people using the river to wash everything from pots, to clothes and even themselves. I think by the time we’d finished we taken photos of pretty much everyone’s washing on the line.
After a light lunch and a short rest lying on a swinging day bed on the verandah, it was time for our 4pm canoe boat ride with Vashu. He is a tiny little 75 year old man who had worked for Xavier all his life and their fathers had done the same before this. He said hardly a word and looked very stern most of the time and he would be punting our canoe along today. Poor chap. He’d carried my suitcase in, which was probably about as big as he is, on his head the previous day so he wasn’t going to be daunted by this. Ekaterina had done the same trip in the morning and said we shouldn’t expect him to be pointing out birds or anything else of interest to us but it would be very peaceful.
And indeed it was. We set off in the long heavy, wooden canoe directly from the steps into the waterway in the homestay garden and slowly, slowly Vashu glided us along. The waterways here are mostly very narrow and quiet and they are tributaries of the Meenachal River. They’re surrounded by lush vegetation and coconut and banana trees. The waters aren’t that clean but you do pass people swimming in it joyfully after a long, hard day at work or school to cool down.
You may have heard of this river and if you have it’s probably because you’ve read Arundhati Roy’s Booker prize winning novel ‘The God of Small things’ . I’ve been reading this during our trip and seeing the place it is set in has really brought it to life, which is good because back home I was finding it a tough read! It’s become easy to picture the characters in this book (Ammu, Mammachi, Esthappen and Rahel and the Paradise Pickle and Preserve Company) going about their ill fated lives.
One of the highlights of our canoe trip came as we approached the village and suddenly we realised that the ‘normal’ blaring of music from the back of a tuk tuk wasn’t the communist party chanting like it ‘normally’ is but religious music. Along the riverbank at 5pm on a Wednesday there was a Catholic Church procession going on which most of the village seemed to have joined. We boated alongside them and although they were taking it quite seriously, I managed to get a shy wave and smile out of a few of them.
When we were ready to go back, after about an hour we just had to tell Vashu to ‘go back’ and then he did just that. It had been an absolutely awesome day. That evening we spent with Linda, the children’s author and then we also swapped rooms to the newer block hoping to get a bit of sleep. Hurrah!