Kerala Back waters

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Arriving in Allepey on the crowded afternoon bus, we were greeted by the usual hustle and bustle of the the local touts trying to get our business. It can get get quite frantic, with the locals trying to grab your bags to carry them off to their accommodation.

We choose to stay in the lemon tree guest house as the young guy who owned it also had a boat that could take us out on the back waters the following day for a discounted rate.

We were up early to start our Back waters boat adventure

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The room was basic, but the owner 'Sunny' made up for that with his love of music, inviting us to join him and his friends for a guitar jamming session in his chill out lounge area.

We were up early to start our back water boat adventure at 7am.

The Back waters are the undisputed main attraction of a trip to Kerala, 900km network of waterways that fringe the coast. Before roads these waterways were the highways of Kerala and many locals still use them a s a mode of transport.

Our small boat resembled a canoe rice boat, which was big enough for the three of us and two guys steering-one at the front and one at the back.

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The sun had just rose as we set off so we kicked back and relaxed on our cushion seats as we embarked on our 6 hour cruise.

Our friendly guide Shamji pointed out temples we passed by and showed us the expensive house boats that a lot of tourists travel on.

We saw local families washing and cleaning their teeth in the shallow edges of the backwaters. The kids were excited to see us and jumped into the water trying to swim out to our boat. Such an exhilarating sight that made me smile and feel like I was truly in India.

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The waters are calm and myself, Cat and Cliff had a few magical moments as we floated along with the sun shining on our faces in such a beautiful serene place.

We stopped in a local village to get morning chai and could see the local school children in their uniforms boarding other small boats on their way to school. All of them smiling and waving at us. The people are very friendly in Kerala and seem to be at large more of a civilized region compared to other parts in India.

The backwaters are definitely worth a visit. And if we had more cash I would have liked to experience the house boat trip with food and accommodation included.