Friday 2 April 2010

Houseboat on the Backwaters


The 'Gateway to the Backwaters', many people come here for an overnight trip on a houseboat and we were no different. We were inundated with offers of houseboats to rent, but for this one time we decided to treat ourselves and go luxury - we weren't disapponted! We arrived to board our boat, met the 3 members of the crew (for just us!), the huge boat which included large and comfortable living and dining area, a bedroom with ensuite, and a kitchen (or galley) for our cook to prepare our food.

We had booked a 2 night trip, and the next 48 hours were spent living it up in true luxury as we were waited on by Shibo, Beba and Radeesh. We were given garlands as we boarded, a fruit bowl to help ourselves from, comfortable seating in the sun and shade and the food......the food was amazing, the best we've had in India and we couldn't even manage to finish the 7/8 dishes that were brought to us each meal time. And then there were the Backwaters themselves, we had already had a taster, but this was beautiful, and having the 2 days allwed us to go a bit further than the normal tours. The scenery was consistently stunning as we crossed lakes and navigated narrower canals past palm groves, paddy fields and little houses and villages. There were kingfishers diving and Cormorants fishing and water snakes gliding across the water. People were fishing from their little canoes, swimming, washing or just crossing to the otherside. And we took it all in from the comfort of our boat while sipping ice cold beer (Kingfisher appropriately) listening to nothing but the bird song and the occasional stroke of paddle through water.

As we were returning to dock, Shibo asked if we were happy, we said 'no.....it's ended too soon'.

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