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We jumped on a tuktuk which took us to the local ferry station in town which would take us deep into the famous Kerela backwaters. We waited around 40 minutes for the ferry to arrive whilst ring attacked my a late array of insects. The ferry was a local commuter ferry and was full of locals and school children. Eventually we arrived at our destination and met our captain for the day along with a couple of Americans that would be joining us for the day. First stop was breakfast which was a walk along the narrow walkways which were only a couple of feet above the water. We passed through local homes, dodging trees, roots and made our way over planks of wood that were used as makeshift bridges. We arrived at our captains house where his wife prepared us a local cooked breakfast with the obligatory Indian chai tea. We then set off to our boat for the day. It was a small, narrow wooden boat that required contortion and some serious yoga skills to get into. The small boat was just big enough for us, the two Americans and our captain, who paddled from the back. He too us first across a wide estuary towards the maze of canals that made up the backwaters. The rain was in and off all day with enormous dark clouds that rolled over every so often to bring the odd torrential downpour. Eventually we made it to the start of the narrow backwaters. We passed through small local homes that were often not more than a meter above the waterline. How these homes don't flood during the monsoon was a mystery to us. We later however learned that many do flood and that rice crops quite often are deep under water. With rising sea levels, it looks like there may not be great hope for this region on the future as it very much is like a water world here. The locals use the river for everything here. Today looked like washing day for most, with numerous women out the front of their homes, doing the laundry in the canals. There was the odd man fishing with a line and a few local casting nets into the canal. I shouldn't imagine that their catches would be the best quality of fish in the murky brown canals! The ever friendly Indians greeted and smiled at us as we passed. With no traffic, and very few motorised boats, this place had a very peaceful atmosphere about it. Everyone looked happy as they went about their daily lives which all seems to centre around the water. The canals led to a larger, wider waterway where we went passed a few schools and a bit more industry. After a few hours of meandering through the waters, a few downpours and some amazing photographs, we made our way back towards our captains home again, stopping briefly on the way for another cup of tea. Every day in India revolves around tea - they love the stuff here! Our captains wife had put together the most amazing lunch for us. Served on a banana leaf, we had rice and a large range of typical Kerala dishes, of which there seemed to be an endless supply of. She was incredibly hospitable and insisted on constant refills of our banana leaf! After lunch, and another tea, she brought out a cardboard box of photograph albums which we distributed amongst us all. The photos were mainly of her two children with many tourists that had come to visit. We got a few photos taken with our captain and his wife before boarding our boat again to head back to Alleppey. He took us to an area where we jumped on a local bus. The bus quickly filled up with mainly school kids who were on their way back from school. After a bus to town, and a tuktuk to our homestay, we were back. We grabbed our bags, said goodbye to our good looking host, and jumped in another tuktuk that took us to the train station where we would head to our next destination, the aiyuvedic centre of Kerala. After a wait for the train and na few packets of 5p biscuits, we were on our way. The journey took a couple of hours after which we jumped on a tuktuk and headed to 'Inda hotel'- a small hotel which was run by some very friendly Ukrainians.
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