On the Pamba river, Kerala (backblip)

My planner for today says: travelling from Kochi to Alleppey by coach.
Board a traditional houseboat (ketuvalam), lunch on boat, guided walk through a traditional village.

And that is what we did, but it was so much more than that!

We journeyed by coach and when we arrived at Alleppey, we saw our first green young rice paddies. After the usual paperwork at the boat office, we boarded our boats, which were pre assigned. There were about ten of us on boat no. 1. First we had to get to our respective houseboats by motor launch.

On boarding, we were assigned our cabins, which were more spacious than I had imagined, each with its own en-suite bathroom complete with bucket shower. We sunned ourselves on the rear deck until the crew announced that lunch was ready, served in the spacious dining room on the top deck. There was a selection of foods, including fried fish.

I went to lie down in the cabin, which was stifling, and actually fell asleep. On waking, I opened the blinds and watched the other boats go past us on the slow river. I haven’t mentioned that we were cruising! It was peaceful, but Elspeth came and insisted I turn on the fan and leave the door open, lest I suffocate. I got up and had tea and plantain fritters with the gang, and chatted.

When we stopped cruising, we asked a crew member to take us for a walk along the bank, and we sauntered about this way and that way, past the settlements on the bank where the crew and their families live. Each boat is owned by a different family, and they provide the cruise, the food, the accommodation., even a disco if required! The Kerala government has put some money into the region, because it was badly flooded in 2018, with 70 percent of properties being under water.

Houseboats and backwater tourism have been an attraction in Kerala since the 1990s, when former fishing boats with thatched roofs were converted into houseboats. The overnight cruise experience was voted by a famous travel writer as ‘one of the top fifty travel experiences in the world’. As I haven’t experienced the other forty-nine, I can’t say whether I agree or not, but I was certainly impressed, particularly by the slow pace and the sunrise and sunset.

Pic shows B, one of our party, posing with some people we met along the river bank. Many Indian people ask to pose alongside white people, as if we were celebrities. I usually feel shabby compared to them!

Back on board, supper was served and then we retired downstairs for some drinking (BYO, because we are in a dry state still) and more games of Bumfuzzle. Eventually I went to bed and was lulled to sleep by the air conditioning unit and the gentle rocking of the boat on the river Pamba.

I will post some shots of the interior in extras.