Whew! Are you as exhausted from all those ceremonies as I am? It was definitely some late nights and a lot of dancing, but it was so much fun to be a part of. Next we have a couple days to relax before heading back to Delhi for the final ceremony. Meike headed to Goa with a couple other wedding guests while Maggie, Sierra, Goli, Goli’s parents, Manuel and I all went to Kerala to spend 24 hours floating on the canals in Aleppey. Interesting fact: Kerala has the highest literacy rate in India at 93.91% and the highest life expectancy of 77 years. That’s pretty impressive.

Before we got back in the shuttle for the 7 hour drive to Bangalore, we witnessed a pretty spectacular sunrise.

I wasn’t looking forward to the long ride, but I distracted myself with lots of pictures of the rural life we passed by. It really is such a different way of life and I found it so interesting. And stop me if I’ve said this before, but it’s just so colorful!

Check out the view from our hotel in Alleppey. Yep, it was paradise!

Early the next morning, we went down to the waterfront to hire our boat to take us around the backwaters for 24 hours. We found a boat we liked and between myself, Manuel and Goli’s dad were able to negotiate the price down to 12,000 rupees or about $185 for the 7 of us, which works out to $26 each. So worth it. We loaded up the boat and spent the rest of the day floating around, admiring the views. It’s possible to book a houseboat ahead of time on the internet, but we found that you get a much better deal, and a nicer boat (since you can check it out before you pay and negotiate the price), if you wait until you are there. We had absolutely no trouble finding something that suited us last minute, there were plenty of boats available.

Houseboats were originally used to transport spices and rice to and from the port in Kochi. With modern advancements, the boats are no longer needed for this purpose and are only used as a tourist attraction these days. But it’s easy to feel transported back to those days when you’re floating around out here. It doesn’t seem like much has changed.

Allow me take you on a tour of our houseboat. The front deck is where we spent most of the day, half in the sun, half in the shade, relaxing, reading, resting and taking pictures.

Just inside is the living room area. After the sun went down, we sat here playing games and chatting.

Next to that is the dining area where we ate all our meals.

Down this hallway is all our rooms, and at the very back is the kitchen and engine. Each room has a small bathroom attached. And by small, I mean smaller than most closets. But hey, it’s a boat. What do you expect?

I really think I could get used to this.

After awhile, we stopped at a little store to pick up our dinner.

These are Kerala prawns. We each picked out the one we wanted to eat. It’s hard to tell in the picture below, but they’re actually kind of a blue color.

Then it was back onto the boat for more floating! The photo ops are endless.

Right before sunset, we anchored the boat and walked around for a bit to stretch our legs.

It was a pretty relaxing night of sleep. Doing nothing all day really wears you out! In the morning we ate breakfast and slowly made our way back to our starting point. This place has been such a treat for us and I really enjoyed having nowhere to be and nothing to do for a whole day. I’d love to come back and hire a boat for a week and just relax for awhile. Wouldn’t that be so lovely?