The Backwaters

Kerala is known for its ‘backwaters’ of canals, lakes, rivers so we took a couple of boat rides to get to our next stop. One day was a 2 hour trip picking up locals along the way as we weaved through the canals past paddy fields and watched life pass us by. An enforced alcohol free day as we couldn’t even find a beer bar and a very yummy mushroom masala in an Islamic restaurant before being woken up by the call to prayer in the morning (again!). From the novice eye, Kerala seems a harmonious place, with Muslims, Christians and Hindus living side by side with plllllenty of signs of worship wherever you go. Not seen any signs of Buddhists so far?

The second day we took another boat - 8 hours to do 44km, sitting on a hard wooden seat which looked like it would be uncomfortable, but we loved it.

Men and women washed themselves and their clothes ….one of my constant amazements in India is how shiny and clean many people’s clothes are when it seems a lot of the washing is done in dirty-looking water. We watched clothes soaped and scrubbed before being beaten and thwacked against the stone on the water’s edge. Seems to work, whatever I think!

People fished and kids played; we passed busy roads and quiet backwaters.

And I totally loved the bird life….terns flew at the back of the boat; big eagles with white fronts flew overhead and best of all….the most amazing blue and green kingfishers, one of my fave birds.

We even went through one single canal lock!

We finished our day with a tuk tuk ride from boat to train; a 20 minute train ride to Varkala and another tuk tuk down cobbled, windy back streets to the cliff edge town that is Varkala by the sea where we are relaxing and drinking juices and eating more curry!!