Kerala Backwaters

Kerala houseboat  - photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The backwaters are a vital waterway for the transportation of goods, people and produce, and are often the only link between isolated villages and crowded towns. In Kerala the total expanse of backwater stretches over 900 miles from north to south, with a network of 44 rivers, lagoons and 5 lakes. 

We organized 22 friends to share our Regent bus and boat. The drive from the pier to the village of Alleppey took about 90 minutes and gave us an overview of this part of India - quite lovely and tropical.

As we arrived in  Alleppey,  aka the "Venice of the East", (aren't they all...)  we saw many lovely tourist houseboats lined up along the canal, complete with divans to lounge on while watching the scenery go by. Unfortunately ours was a large open sided boat with plastic lawn chairs lined up on the deck. 

This is great example of where a private tour would have been the way to go, and probably a bargain - A quick check on viator.com showed that for about $100 pp you could book a private tour including lunch.  

Despite our less than ideal conditions we all enjoyed the day.

our boats...

We're not exactly looking like maharajas...

From Andi: 

"Our whole group of friends got in the same bus and we were again pleased that the bus was in rather nice condition with good air conditioning, Our restroom stop was relatively okay and we arrived on the canal for our journey. We had visions of ourselves languishing like royalty on houseboats, but while we saw many "Cadillacs" we got "mass transport" with plastic lawn chairs. As we cruised by these other fine specimens, complete with air conditioning, we took pictures. The trip was rather interesting. Folks were bathing in the water, washing their dishes by the shore, washing their clothes on the rocks, working in the rice paddies and we even visited a home."

Two highlights of our cruise were a visit to a church along the water with the opportunity to interact with the children and a visit to a very nice private home. We also stopped at a resort for good Indian buffet lunch at tables set up in the shade along the waterfront.

The whole day was one big photo opportunity, so below are some collages from the day: