After Kochi, our next big adventure was to go down to the backwaters of Kerela in a place called Allappey to do some Indian house boating for a few days! This was one of the things the kids and I were most excited about and it did not disappoint!
We started out in the morning and were able to get all our luggage on board, and then our 3 hosts (one being the driver, another being the cook, and another being an all hands kind of guy) pushed us off from shore where we said goodbye to Naveen for a few days. We had tried to convince Naveen to come with us, but apparently it is against company regulations to leave the car unattended, so he had to stay back with the car. Although he was a little disappointed to not get to come with us, I think he was also very excited to have 2 days to do whatever the heck he wanted and to have a real vacation of sorts, so it all worked out! đ
The houseboat was a 2 bedroom one with 2 large rooms each with a king sized bed, and Adam and I ended up putting 4 kids on one of the king sized beds, and then the two of us took the other. Luckily our kids are still small so we can get away with that, and they just loved having an all kids sleepover! đ
This was the front of the boat where we all mostly hunt out. The table in the background is where we eat all our meals.
And here is one of the two bedrooms. They both looked pretty much exactly the same and both had their own bathroom.
This was the kitchen where all our meals were prepared and cooked. I honestly only saw this room once in two days and it was pretty much just to take this picture! LOVED that!
Saying goodbye to Naveen one last time before we sail for the backwaters.
And were off! Baby girl loved looking out the “windows” at the scenery.
Check out all those DUCKS! I have never seen so many congregated like that. I was so wishing I’d brought some old stale bread!
For lunch, our hosts stopped the boat on the side of the backwaters near a small land mass where they fed us a scrumptious lunch of freshly caught fish! The kids all gave us some weird looks when they brought this out, but it was surprisingly REALLY tasty! We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
After lunch our hosts helped the kids get set up to do some fishing. They brought out some dough balls for bait, and then got the kids a stick and some string to make a pole. They unfortunately never caught anything, but had fun trying!
This is how I spent my free time though. With my feet up and book in hand! I sure do love vacations!
This bed was my favorite spot on the boat though and usually where I sat while the boat was moving through the backwaters. Not only did it have the best view of the waters, but it was also by far the most comfortable!
Here I am taking a picture from my favorite spot. You can also see our driver Thomas here navigating the boat.
I loved when we’d get to see small fishing villages and locals going about their day.
There were also quite a few beautiful homes along the shores as well.
Then after going through the backwaters for a few hours, our boat captain took us out into the open sea so we could stop and get some freshly caught seafood. We ended up getting some lobster and crab which our cook boiled up for us and served with butter. Yum! (although he thought we were crazy for not frying it!)
This is pretty much paradise right here!
Then in the evening we docked for the night in a little alcove close to some small village homes. For the most part though we didn’t see or hear any other people, which we LOVED. We had fun getting in our swim suits that night and trying out the water. Surprisingly it was like BATH water, but it was also really dirty so I opted to be the picture taker while Adam and the kids enjoyed their pre bath bath.
I selected a nice spot under a coconut tree to do my picture taking.
The best part of the evening though was getting to see this amazing sunset. Below are some pictures as the night went on and the colors got deeper and deeper. Love it!
Sure was a great first day on the houseboat! Stay tuned for day two!