A day (and night) on a houseboat

May 5th, 2009  |  Published in Adventure, DesiPundit, India, Travel  |  16 Comments

The weather was hot and balmy. It was our last day in Ker­ala and we were look­ing for­ward to spend­ing the night on a houseboat.

On my pre­vi­ous trips to Ker­ala, I’ve only got­ten within drool­ing dis­tance of a house­boat. It’s a rather expen­sive propo­si­tion. There was one time when Steph was down from Switzer­land and we did some sight­see­ing on a small boat, and then went around in a lit­tle canoe (that was fun!). But I hadn’t been on a big boat…

There are two things to look for­ward to once you’re on board. A lot of free time and deli­cious food if luck is on your side and you get a good cook. 

We made our­selves com­fort­able just behind the cap­tain as he veered us from the back­wa­ters into the Vem­banad lake. The pace is slow and leisurely and you do get drawn into a rather zombie-like state. I snoozed away. Woke up and sleep­ily took in the sights around : basi­cally com­pris­ing of more boats of dif­fer­ent sizes all cruis­ing around in the end­less lake. Life basi­cally revolves around the water. Peo­ple are wash­ing clothes, per­form­ing daily rit­u­als, bathing, scrub­bing uten­sils, swim­ming : it’s a whole world of activ­i­ties out there. 

The cook whipped up some deli­cious veg­gies and fish cooked in Ker­ala style we were in foodie heaven. The one dis­ad­van­tage to liv­ing on a house­boat is that there isn’t much scope for exer­cise so while you’re wolf­ing down all this food, there are pass­ing moments when guilt strikes, but more food arrives and it passes. 

House­boats are usu­ally built around a few bed­rooms : they range from one to sev­eral. Ours had two. In the front area, there is the din­ing table and there is usu­ally a tele­vi­sion (for rea­sons beyond my ken). And then towards the front end is the captain’s seat and an area where you can relax. Some house­boats have an upper deck. Ours didn’t and my sis­ter suf­fered from “house­boat envy” when­ever a boat with a deck passed by. 

We crossed quite a few house­boats : despite the heat the tourists seem to be keep­ing Alleppey and Ker­ala on their maps. We weren’t the only ones brave enough to take on the Ker­ala sun. 

After lunch and more rest, we were back in the waters and sail­ing around the lake. Fol­lowed by tea time and more snacks. I apol­o­gise for talk­ing so much about the food, but besides that there was lit­tle else we indulged in.

At around 6 pm we headed back to a vil­lage near Alleppey where the house­boat was moored again. This was where we would spend a night. Sis and I went for a short walk around the vil­lage. And then din­ner and another round of glut­tony. At around 930 pm or so, the folks switched on the air con­di­tion­ing to keep us from get­ting totally fraz­zled in the heat. 

In the morn­ing, after a break­fast of omelettes, iddi­ap­pams and veg­etable stew, it was time to head back to the shores and terra firma. And then onto a flight back to Ban­ga­lore. But now, at least when­ever we talk about Ker­ala I can say, “There was this one time we sailed around Vem­banad lake on a house­boat and feasted on some deli­cious local fare and…” 

Well… you know the rest :-)

Plan­ning to visit Ker­ala? Try these links:
- House­boats Ker­ala
- Bens Hol­i­days (we went on one of their boats)

Responses

1. Grasshopper says:
   

   May 5th, 2009 at 1:56 pm (#)

   When my hubby asked me to go to ker­ala with him for a cou­ple of days, I agreed on the con­di­tion that he buy me a saree. But I think now it will change to a trip in a houseboat. :)

   If you are in Ban­ga­lore on 16th May, do come for the book launch of A Grasshopper’s Pil­grim­age, my first novel. Most prob­a­bly the venue will be the Cross­word shop, at Garuda Mall, at 6:30 pm.

2. Aathira says:
   

   May 5th, 2009 at 1:59 pm (#)

   I am so J! 

   I go to Ker­ala every year, and I never ever have been to the house­boats :( They are damn expen­sive, right?

   Now I got to do this one of these weekends :)

3. Shrinidhi Hande says:
   

   May 5th, 2009 at 2:17 pm (#)

   I take cars on self drive rentals and go for long drive– just wish they give house boats also on self drive…

4. madras eye says:
   

   May 5th, 2009 at 5:32 pm (#)

   ooooh house­boats! i’ve always wanted to ride in one. i never tire of the sights and sounds of ker­ala. good going! u’ve got some­thing added to ur ‘bucket list’. :)

5. lostonthestreet says:
   

   May 5th, 2009 at 7:29 pm (#)

   But those day trips are not that expen­sive. I took one a cou­ple of years back and had break­fast ‚lunch and snacks…IT was, as you men­tioned, a nice lovely and relaxed way to spend a day!!!

6. Nikhil Narayanan says:
   

   May 6th, 2009 at 12:24 am (#)

   Even though I have been on one,the Karimeen(fish) pic­ture makes me drool.

   Nice trav­el­ogue.

   –Nikhil

7. Jade says:
   

   May 6th, 2009 at 7:49 am (#)

   It’s not that expen­sive if you choose to spend less time on the house­boat. And hon­estly, I got rather bored, even though I spent only about five hours. The scenery repet­i­tive after a while. 

   But the food, yes. Mouth-watering! Even for peo­ple who don’t eat fish, like me. And that spe­cial type of food is called Kut­tanad food, I believe.

8. Kapil says:
   

   May 6th, 2009 at 2:25 pm (#)

   Thanks for pro­vid­ing the links :)

9. Tara says:
   

   May 7th, 2009 at 2:26 am (#)

   I read this yday, left with envy :) house boats, ker­ala and with sis­ter.. lucky u. and then today a ques­tion sud­denly popped up in mind.. u hv a kit­ten rite.. where does she stay when u are trav­el­ling.. from what i read here, i are away v often. how do u manage?

10. Yuva says:
    

    May 7th, 2009 at 3:58 pm (#)

    won­der­ful.. i hope do that trip to ker­ala soon.

11. Archana says:
    

    May 7th, 2009 at 4:27 pm (#)

    Wow.…Great Anitha!! Looks like you rev­elled in the house boat…I must envy you a lot now :(

12. Anita says:
    

    May 7th, 2009 at 5:28 pm (#)

    @ Grasshop­per: you should def­i­nitely change it to a trip on a house­boat but in bet­ter weather! I will try to be there if I’m in town! Thanks for the invite and con­grats on the book :-)

    @ Aathira: well, you might get a good deal off season ;-)

    @Shrinidhi: LOL! you can try :-) 

    @ madras eye: it’s quite an experience! 

    @lostonthestreet: day trips are much more reasonable! 

    @ Nikhil: hey! the fish was great!

    @ Jade: You got bored?!! I could do that for a few days on end I think :-) 

    @ Kapil: welcome!

    @ Tara: hey thanks! i do have a cat (not a kit­ten any­more). and i usu­ally have a nice friend com­ing to look in on her! 

    @ Yuva: you must!

    @ Archana: it was good. must do once!

13. eveline says:
    

    May 7th, 2009 at 8:22 pm (#)

    I’ve never been to Ker­ala! But if i ever do, i’m hit­ting those spots. Looks quite entic­ing… how did you ever remove your­self from the place. :)

14. Stephanie Booth says:
    

    May 8th, 2009 at 11:25 am (#)

    Ooh, I’m glad you got your house­boat night after all! I really hope to come over end 2009 early 2010, we’ll have to plan a girls’ getaway ;-)

15. Paavani says:
    

    May 10th, 2009 at 11:32 pm (#)

    thats an expe­ri­ence to remem­ber!
    When will I get chance to visit God’s own country :)

16. Anita says:
    

    May 11th, 2009 at 5:43 pm (#)

    @ eve­line: it was easy :-) had to get back to civil­i­sa­tion and work!

    @ steph: wait­ing for your trip! come soon and we’ll plan something!!

    @ paa­vani: soon, i am sure :-)

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