From The Beach To The Backwaters

On the cab ride to our next hotel in Alleppey, I have never wished for a seat belt more. I have been trained since a child that the first thing you do when you get in a car is put on your seatbelt. Driving in Doha is not an safe nor easy feat and seat belt safety is not a huge thing. I constantly have to tell my students how important it is to wear your seatbelt but mostly get back a chorus of "they are yucky, I don't like."
Driving in India was even worse- in a different way. Lane dividers seemed to be a slight suggestion. I have seen drivers in Doha decide to just use the lane for oncoming traffic to further their place in the traffic, but only a few times. In India, it seemed like it was just a free for all. The car horn is also used as a "hey, heads up! I'm coming through!" signal, so when you are constantly in the other lane, it becomes a steady string of honks that eventually give you a headache.
While playing the ever fun game of "Spot the celebrity that is clearly not getting paid for this advertisement work" (which included a picture of Michael Jackson on a beauty salon sign- no joke), we wound our way through Kerala to Alleppey where the famed backwaters are located. We eventually made it alive and checked into our new hotel. Read More...

We were lead into the building and given tea while waiting to check in. 

We waited patiently in the beautiful lobby until we could go out to the pool! 

Refreshments necessary, of course.

I took a walk around the grounds to check everything out.

Even the garbage cans were fancy.

We were located right off a lake with our own little lagoon next to the pool. We took the day off just lounging and reading before getting room service in the room. 

Early the next morning, we headed out to the backwaters. Kerala's backwaters are its main tourist draw. With multiple lakes with canals and rivers leading between all of them, it is supposed to be absolutely breathtaking.

We had booked a boat to take us out although we heard you could go and "shop around" and bargain with the boat owners right at the port. We were feeling lazy, so we just booked a premade tour. They sent a driver to come get us from the hotel and we headed out. Once we arrived at the dock, they led us through a couple different boats to get to the one we would be staying on. We really had no idea what to expect so when we found out it would just be the two of us on our own huge boat with three staff members, we were impressed. I was also impressed by the fresh coconut. Yum!

As we headed out to our first stop, a huge lake area, we passed by a couple women rowing. Our captain told us that they were practicing for a big race coming up.

The boats full of men were pretty excited to see us, too.

Houseboats are a huge part of the draw of the backwaters. There are bedrooms and kitchens and many times you sleep on them overnight. We chose not to because to get a visa for India, you have to show record that you have round trip tickets booked and accommodation for every night that you are staying. Getting an Indian visa was hassle enough (long lines, having to leave work, women's lines vs. men's lines, women who won't stand in line next to men, etc.) so I didn't want to risk not getting it. We decided to just do a day trip although our boat was fully ready for someone to sleep over. After riding around for a bit, we stopped at a small store right on the river.

We disembarked and were able to shop the fresh seafood selection. I, of course, just watched as Danielle shopped for shrimp and fish.

Although she did not want to buy this whole fish, this guy was pretty keen on us looking at it. 

Once we headed back onto our boat (see below) the crew took Danielle's purchase and started cooking our lunch.

It was fun to float along and see all of the different schools along the way and the people milling about their business.

We parked the boat next to this huge field for lunch.

The food was amazing! Danielle said her seafood was good (doubtful) but it was also a TON of food for the two of us. I felt really bad leaving so much untouched.

Most of the day was spent lounging around reading and chatting, although we got some selfie action happening. Whoever bought a selfie stick (me) is a genius...

We ended back at the port around 5 o'clock and it was such a nice, peaceful day. We essentially floated around in paradise for hours.

We spent the whole next day laying by the pool, which is its own kind of paradise.

In the afternoon, they have chayakada, which is a tea service. We sat at a table overlooking a huge lake and drank some tea. We also found a swing! My ten year old self was pretty excited about it.

I also found a sad little friend.

There was a small temple on the grounds that was really beautiful to look around.

We ended the night by watching some sort of performance being put on for a business conference from the balcony off our room. There was fire and swords but I wasn't quite sure what was happening. 

Overall, it was a great trip. I will definitely have to head back to India at another point in my life. Kerala was amazing and beautiful and was probably a good introduction to India as it has been seen as the safest state in India (least corrupt by Transparency International and the lowest homicide rate). Kerala's literacy rate is 93.91%, the highest in the whole country. The people were so kind and friendly and it was overall, an amazing trip. I can't wait to go back!