Kerala by Boat

May 21, 2010

I begin this in the rain.  Monsoon season is creeping up on us.  Actually, falling down on us.  I am sitting on a house boat, moored alongside a light pink, cement house for the night.  We spent about 4 hours tootling up and down canal ways that cut between massive rice fields, walled off from one another to allow for water travel in the backwaters.  This house boat is my hotel for the day and night.  Aside from my mother, there are three others on the boat—all of whom operate it for us.  We have a few meals on board as we lazily traverse the waters, passing many other such boats (of various sizes and designs) and enjoying the crowds of ducks that swim by and the villagers boating by on their way to the local village or visiting neighbors.

These house boats are a delight.  They are based on the designs of once upon a time rice boats and covered in bamboo and thatch that allow for a sitting room, dining area and bedrooms (number dependent on size of the boat).  We are in a two bedroom boat, which is why the boat is all ours for this outing.  I will not finish this entry now, but it was too tempting not to write while on board and also to check my e-mail (which worked).  Such a multi-cultural treat, experiencing so many periods of time and be out of time at the same time.

Continuing on with my writing…The rain kept life on the river subdued.  However, in the morning, as we completed our house boat journey, we passed by many people out in the river bathing, washing clothes, catching water taxis, heading to school and/or church and herding oxen and ducks.  Since there are literally hundreds of these house boats around, the local folk seem unfazed by their daily routines being observed.  These straight line villages exist along the edge of the city-sized rice fields.  I did not find out whether they housed some of the field workers, but we did see several fishermen along the rivers.  The wildest aspect of these village areas is the pathways that connect them.  Because they are lined up along the edges of the fields, there are pathways that are about large enough to hold a motorcycle.  Thus the water taxis and buses that ply the rivers.

Our meals, cooked by the onboard cook and guide, consisted of local Kerala fair, at the center of which was a thick rice that proved very light and delicious.  We had a range of dishes that we could mix with the rice or chipatis that included a range of vegetables cooked and served in various ways.  Best meals I have had to date here.

Oh, and I rode an elephant.