Crusing in a houseboat
Trip Start
Aug 26, 2009
1
29
51
Trip End
Ongoing
Alappuzha, Kerala, India
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
We took our first auto rickshaw in Alleppey with 4 of us and our luggage crammed in the back. That in itself was an experience. Because I am the smallest, I had to sit on someone's lap each time and I often felt like I was going to fall out the side. I tell you, if they ever bring in seat beat laws here, there will be a big change in the rickshaw rides!
We checked into our hotel and began our hunt for "the perfect houseboat" at “the perfect price” for our next adventure. We went down to the docks and saw some of the regular, deluxe and luxury boats. We even looked at one boat that was missing a sink (I think the owner thought we wouldn’t notice). Eventually we decided to take the one that our hotelier recommended. It turned out that it was the best one. We looked at some of the photos and were a little sceptical of how old the pictures were because the boat looked gorgeous and the price was better than many of the others we had seen. I thought that it might be something like the movie “Captain Ron” but luckily it wasn’t. We got on board and immediately began to relax. We enjoyed cruising through the canals and observing the people. It was interesting to watch people with daily routines that are so much different than our own. We had some drinks and got caught up on some reading. It was so nice to have a day when we were forced to do nothing at all. I think we could all use a week like that!
That night we played some cards and enjoyed each others company. We were still at the card table when our ships captain came in and told us that it was bedtime. We thought he was letting us know that he was heading to bed and would not be available to get us anything else. We thought that was fine and said “goodnight”. Then he clarified for us. “10:30 is bedtime” he reiterated, “and this is my bedroom”. OK, point taken. We played our last few games of cards tucked away in our own “bedrooms”.
The next morning we had breakfast and cruised back to the houseboat dock. We unloaded, said goodbye to our crew and headed on to our next Indian experience, a bus ride.
