Alleppey houseboat

I was always fascinated by the idea of travelling in boats locally.. as in having boats as a day to day medium of transportation. Alleppey in Kerala, is just the place in India to satisfy what I wanted. We set out on a houseboat at around 11:45 AM in the backwaters. To begin with, we were equally excited and a bit worried to know that it is a single bedroom houseboat, meaning there will be only us along with a captain, driver and a chef for the next 24 hours inside the boat. As the boat started, we were too busy looking around enjoying in the cool breeze. It was a very pleasant day with the weather favoring us in its true sense.

In the evening we were transferred into a small motor boat which took us into the small canals peeking into the lifestyle of the local people. I was excited at pretty much everything during the 1 hour drive in the boat. There were school boats like we have school buses and boat stops like we have bus stops. Fishing seemed to be the favorite hobby of most of the people. All they had to do was to take one step out of their houses and just start fishing. There were small boats parked outside their houses in the water with sheds on top of few of them, like we have bikes/cars parked before our houses. Backwaters have become an integral part of their lifestyle. There were coconut trees everywhere.. But for the fear that some coconut might drop on us, it was awesome! 

Time for the sunset.. lying down in the boat on your back, staring at the beautiful sky, gentle swinging of the boat now and then like a cradle, with nothing else visible in the line of sight to distract us from the beauty of the nature, just the right breeze, with water below us and a few trees far away, we were in the middle of no where.. my baby sleeping... and my better half next to me... At that minute, I couldn't have asked for more from life. I cannot describe how peaceful it was. After sunset, we were served a candle light dinner which was the best I had so far.. Totally an amazing experience. Loved every bit of it!