Day 39 - Thursday - Alleppey Backwaters

10.30am. Awoken by kids and voices. As I walk out of our room the guys that I met last night are sitting around with their feet up. Aidan gets up after an hour or so. He checks out the details on the houseboat and wakes the lads to be ready to leave in an hour. Understandably, they are not too chuffed to be moving so quickly just after waking up. We order beers and food for the boat journey and head for breakfast. As recommended by the guys we find Hotel Jaws around the corner. It is not quite what we expected although well overdue. We have being fairly looking eating in a lot of places that cater for westerners. Now we had just walked into a local place filled with locals. There were some bigs tables laid out and handful of people eating and drinking. Watching the number of flies and the general grubiness of the place put most of us off eating. Aidan was super positive and started eating some of fried bread they put on the table in front of us. The rest of us declined and did with the cup of black coffee they served. Four coffees, a piece of fried break and 6 bananas cost 21rps. We picked some snacks for the boat as we walked back.

The guys drove us to the backwaters in one of the flashest looking jeeps I have seen since I arrived in India. The guys had the sound banging with the most ridiculous base cannon thumping away in the boot. Eoghan had organised for a Karam board to be delivered on the boat, so we stopped to pick up the kit of pieces and chalk for it. We arrived at the dock which was lined with rows upon rows of whicker style houseboats. We followed the guys on board and were shocked by the large flat screen TV and the sweet lounge that greet us. They guys continued walking through the boat and asked us to follow. It was the boat behind this one. It was not far off in layout. A little more basic although really something else. Kind of like a 45 foot deluxe mobile home with two double ensuite bedrooms. A dining room, kitchen at the rear and a lounge on an upper deck with chairs and a large mattress bed overlooking the front. It had satellite tv, dvd player and stereo with electrical points throughout. We were at home straight away. The boat began reversing immediately. The whole lakeside was lined with one houseboat docked after the other. Some double parked. The boat gently moved along with the greatest of ease. It was peaceful, calm and serene as we floated along. The engine made very little noise. The waterways had numerous other houseboats travelling gliding along in different dirrections. I just there, still, absorbing another world as we moved along. It is quite a spiritual experience. This much visited tourist pathway cuts through water based villages with peoples homes being observed like goldfish in a bowl. You watch them washing their clothes, heading to work, walking back from the shops with bags of good. School kids skippig along the narrow pathways on their way home from school. There appears to be no road network, only one canal after another. Behind each house lies more paddy fields. You can watch women and men toiling away in the distance, collecting the paddy. Palm trees line the horizon in every direction. It is quite a beautiful sight, while at the same time it feels slightly obtrusive. It crosses my mind, do they look at the rich people floating along in the palaces with any form of contempt. The cost of one night on board one of this luxiourous boats, might be as much as a half years wages. Does it make them to want to be one day the person on the other side of the glass.

We dock for a lunch of chicken and a collection of local vegetable dishes cooked by our staff. We munch away hearthly and adventure to taste just some of the unusual taste placed infront of us. I find that the more western food we've started eating the less Indian food you are tempted to try. The staff relax for an hour after lunch before motoring off again. The normal village life continues to move along as we pass through it. I notice at one point a group of nuns on board a school boat. Actually come to think of it, we have passed numerous schools alonmg the banks. Another thing that peppers the canals are boat stops. Just like a bus stop, accept for baots. These seem to be serviced regularly by numerous ferries, similar to the one we caught in Kochin. The rest of the afternoon goes by as smoothly as the silky dark water. The boys entertain themselves with books, PSPs, while I spend the moajority of it just observing and taking it all in. We have beiong told that the boats are not allowed to sail after 6pm or so and true to its word we dock at 6.15. The Karam board is brought on board within minutes, much to the delight of Eoghan, whom has being eagerly waiting for it. The next few hours are spent playing Karam. I revert to the PSP and my book. Dinner is served just before eight and is another wonderful feast beautifully prepared and presented by our captain/chef. We finsih up pretty much everything that is on offer and head back up to play some Karam. The rains have being falling for the last 2 hours and the mosquito are gathering in their droves. These are followed by moths and then by geckos. A small food chain all in itself. Of course man's arrogance suggest he is at the top, always forgets the mighty mossie. Not tonight. After a few hours of Karam and loads more beer the bugs get the best of us so we retire to one of the bedrooms to watch a movie on the laptop. The four of us sit, t-shirts off, nothing sexual, purely sweatbox heat watching the Eastern Promise on Ian's XPS. The heat is ridiculous as we can't tunr on the fan due to its beyond loud noise. Ian leaves first and I stick it out till the bitter soaking end. The movie is trash. 2.5 out of ten. I lie down and sleep comes quickly, as always.