Pure indulgence- houseboat trip fit for queens!

Mmmmm, what a sight to wake up to- or even to fall asleep to!

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The train journey

Allepey was finally reached after a crazy train journey in regular sleeper class, i.e. no a/c, only a few random fans strewn about only a few of which actually worked. And of course just our luck we managed to get the two shortest bunks on the train, the ones at a right angle to all others...which also meant being very up close and personal to everyone else's feet!! But once again I bless my ability to sleep through everything. The heat, the two sets of Indian feet right by my nose and the constant shouts of chaaaaaaai chaaaaaaai, waterwaterwater, onion byriani, chaaaaaiiiiii ( which is a pretence of tea but actually just pure sugar being pumped into yoru veins!). And you always meet very nice Indians on these trains who make it their mission in life to make sure you are well fed and have tried every local speciality before you leave. Which was our salvation, because of course the train had been delayed and took about 3 hours longer than expected and we again had underplanned food supplies! Also our encounters ont he train here were to elad to our next adventuer.. turns out by the ned of the trip the only people left on the train were Jacq and I and 58 devotees of the guru 'Amma' on their way to her birthday celebrations. You can imagine where we headed next! :)

Just baking in the sun all day! :)

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The boat trip

from Allepey it's very easy to oraganise trips aroudn the backwaters of Kerala and just see life floating by in absolute luxury. So that's what we did for 24 hours. Pure bliss. We managed to get the one day with beautiful weather. So all we did was lay on our sun deck on the roof of our bamboo boat and chill. I even had the luxury of a German magazine to read, generously donated by some Swiss girls. Perfect! All very romantic aswell, if anyone needs any ideas for a honeymoon!

Local celebrity

While out there we also met a local celebrity, Jinu, who took us under his wing. He had just released an album and was constantly on tv-and would call us over excitedly to watch him! So sweet! Actually he's really good and done some touring int he UK with the like sof the Levellers. And he practically tailor-made our trip for us as he also happens to own a travel company! Score! In fact he pretty much took over organising our life for us, went to the post office and all. Bless him! The best thing was going out with him one evening to a kind of impromptu jamming session with his firends. There was a guitarist, a singer, a djembe drummer and a crazy dancer and it turned into a really fun night! Of course we had to buy his CD after all that! ;)