Kerala - The Beautiful Backwaters

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Greetings from Kerala, southern India.  We spent four days in Kerala.  We travelled by train.  I wasn't too impressed with some of the clientelle ...  a baby mouse scurried across the train floor about half way through the trip... I guess mice like to vacation too!  We did though meet a number of other interesting travellers from all over the world.

We spent two days in Kochi, another large city but certainly smaller than the cities we visited in norhtern India. Kochi was much more cosmopolitan and cleaner! We noticed a difference from north to south...

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After a couple of days of sight seeing in Kochi we boarded a boat (kinda looked like a Chinese rice boat)  which took us through the famous backwaters.  There was Michael and I and a cook, a captain, and a another fellow who sort of just helped out. These guys were super accommodating and the food was great. The scenery - amazing as we journeyed through the narrow passageways  - canals.

We spent one night on the boat.  As we were there in January...it was festival time...a village across from where we docked for the night was celebrating.  The beating of drums and singing could be heard ALL night.  We didn't sleep a wink that night...I guess that is the price you pay for Indian culture.   :) 

After the tranquil backwaters tour, we were dropped off and our guide advised us that we were unable to access a few of the day's destinations (fort, museum) as there was a taxi strike.  We were alternatively driven to a quaint Guesthouse on a deserted beach.  I mean totally deserted!  There were literally only fishing boats and huge sand crabs on the beach.  We spent five hours here lounging in hammocks and drinking lemonade.  Thank goodness for the taxi strike. 

Later that day, we jumped on an overnight train - back to Goa, India. Returning to Goa was like returning home.  We spent the next four days  - hanging out at the beach and at the pool.

Namaste,

Shelly & Michael