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KERALA
We left early and headed to the backwaters of Kerala and to our luxury houseboat, home for the next 2 days.
Our houseboat was handmade in the style of the traditional rice barges converted into 3 bedrooms, a small kitchen and a living/dining area.
As soon as we climbed aboard our bodies and minds succumb to the lolling water and a feeling of complete relaxation and calm washed over us. A feeling that we are finding hard to put into words.
This was the simple joys of life, admist the delicate embrace of afternoon mists enhanced by the pleasant harmony of singing birds. Green stretches of paddy fields surrounded the rustic charm of tiny islands fringed with long rows of swaying coconut trees and time seemed to stand still while we drifted along.
We chilled, chatted, read, fished and chilled some more before a lunch of fresh fish, curry, rice and roti's were served.
After lunch it was more of the same, we watched daily life on the river banks as we floated by without a care in the world.
We watched the cormorants diving for fish then drying their wings in the sun, Kites (the birds) were circling high in the sky and best of all a little kingfisher proudly displaying its spectrum of vivd colour.
We moored for the evening as nightfall quickly descended upon us. One of the crew wanted to take us to his village. It was lovely. Small humble dwellings were dotted along a dirt track and at each gate children ran to greet us, their faces lit up as we stopped to chat with them and said hello to their parents.We felt like celebrities.
We were taken to the local church to meet the pastor and he explained all about the history and how it brought communities from all over together.
They were preparing for a festival and all the boys in the village came before and after school to help with the preparations keeping them out of trouble.
The boys in the village all rode bikes and as Dan is a proffessional mountainbiker he asked them if he could have a go trying to get them into having a race. The boys were all too in awe of Dan to race and watched excited clapping and cheering as he rode and did bunny hops for them. He was their hero.
We headed back and had another lovely meal of curry, one chicken one veg accompanied by a gorgeous coconut puree it was fantastic. after watching the fire flies dance over the lake we headed for bed as it was lights out at ten.
Just as we were settling down we heard Mansi let out a scream and run down the corridor. We rushed into their room to see Steve with a cup in hand trying to catch a huge cockroach. Steph tried to help by catching it in a plastic bag, but this just made things worse. As it jumped and ran so did Steph letting out a scream much to the amusement of the rest of the group gathered in the doorway. Well we couldn't do anything for laughing after that and after a couple more attempts chasing it around the room it went into hiding and a member of the crew came to the rescue. He found it and in one fell swoop caught it between 2 fingers and got rid.
We decided after that it was best to zip ourselves up in our sleeping bags and cosy down for a good nights sleep.
We awoke at 5am to watch the sun come up through the morning mists. It was unbelievably peaceful and beautiful. We took some photos and then Dan joined us for a spot of fishing. We quickly realised there were tiny fish just eating our bait as the hooks were too big to get them, and they say fish aren't clever!
As the others finally woke and joined us, Dan persevered until he caught a fish and Rod sailed the boat while we ate a breakfast of curry and what I can only describe as dumplings as we meandered our way back through the mangroves.
It was an amazing experience and we didn't want to get off. We all felt completely relaxed and refreshed as we made our way through Keralan towns and villages to catch the train from Erikulavam to Goa.
We have not seen the last of Kerala we will be back ....
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