A trip down to God’s Own Country…

 
Planning a trip with the husband is most often than not filled with adventures of a different kind. What begins as a confirmed trip sways between various Kabhi haan and Kabhi Naa; as always professional commitments have a nasty way of raising its serpentine head at just that precise moment. So after many a tantrums thrown by our 8 year old we finally decided to cut short the trip but go for it nevertheless. And was it a good decision…yup ultimately it was. Cause over a measly 5 day trip including 2 of travelling we enjoyed the most and carved out our moments. Yes like the Kerala tourism ad says my moment sure was waiting…and grabbed it..i did.
A day of sightseeing in Kochi and we were ready to embark on a cruise to the backwaters. 2-3 hours away from Kochi to Alleppy which is where we boarded our cruise. The cabbie poor chap had heard of the Rainbow Cruises 1^st time and made many calls to find out exactly where it was. His anxiety reflected on my poor baby as he thought here too is something might go awry. Thankfully it didn’t. En route there were many small shops selling jute and coir products and the hammocks took my breath away. It was awesomely priced at just Rs.350 pre bargaining. But the baby was like “why do you always have to do shopping mum, let’s go” and I had to give in. My bargaining prowess did not see the light of the day here..but a mental note was made already.
Reaching the dockyard, we all let out a big sigh of relief and amazement it was an extraordinarily beautiful sight. On checking in the guy at the reception told us we had been upgraded to the luxury houseboat from the premium category that we had selected. Our hearts did a somersault..whoops it was too good.
The houseboat was true to its promise. What a luxury. We had a sit out area with a lovely rug thrown in and sofas with fluffy and comfy seat cushions. A relief for the aching bums after a journey of 2 and half hours. The dining room was separated with glass sliding doors and behind it was the bedroom. The room had a bay window, a four poster bed and an A/C that was on full blast.

Our little photographer had started clicking the swaying palms and the ducks and other birds that he spotted. The journey began with a cool and fresh nariyal paani that the hubby loved, i ignored and baby refused. The cruise along the backwaters was breathtakingly beautiful presenting some of the gorgeous sights and waterways, and some funny ones too like the buffalos bathing alongside. There is a whole economy thriving along the banks and a life style that is so alien considering that we are in landlocked Delhi.
The cruise revealed many sights that were visually delightful and indelible etched in the memory. After meandering through several kilometers the backwaters opened up into a large water expanse. this is where the boat anchored for the night. The site overlooked a beautiful field of water lilies that stretched over a couple of kilometeres on the right and the left side was all open water. 


The sunset was magical andinspired all of us including the little tyke to meditate. It was really heart warming to see the little imp quiten down and close his eyes facing the sunset and do his bit for 2 minutes. those 2 minutes trust me were peaceful…what with him keeping his ever blabbering gob shut. phew!

While we were on the deck a rice boat vendor came trying to sell us live prawns! A fisherman came along and spread his net wide to catch some. However it was very difficult to stay out on the deck post sunset since insects of the flying sorts took over and shooed us into the cabin. 



A chilled glass of beer down, we were ready to gorge on the fantastic gastronomic treat, dishes cooked in Kerala style. Fortunately the child also loved what was served. We wrapped up for the night promising to each other on catching the sun rise. But the next morning the sun played truant and hid behind the clouds during the sunrise and eventually shone bright in all its glory at around 8.30. The fisherman from the night before came to collect his fish and along came a toddy collector too. Kerala has many Toddy bars.  
Breakfast was served around this time and was a delectable spread of uthapams, sambar, and idlis with a choice of sandwiches which all ignored. At 9.30 we docked back….the journey on the houseboat ended. Lovely experience made up for treasured memories for all of us and the baby ranks this as one of his favorite holiday trips. After this we left for Munnar…which is another story for another day.
Kerala Rocks!!!!!