The Indian Subcontinent - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 336

busy, tourist-packed waters around Allepey, Tour
India offers longer charters - effectively, as long
as you want - which allows you to take its boats
to more remote areas: little-visited waterways
and genuine, workaday villages.
Alternatively, you could take it still slower
with Coco Houseboats. On a boat propelled
slowly through the water by two men with
long wooden poles, you don't cover as much
ground, but your journey is more peaceful, and
you'll have even more time to enjoy the passing
scenery: women waist-deep working in the rice
paddies, fishermen by the water's edge, bustling
villages on market day and children splashing
about.
A highlight of both companies is the food:
served on banana leaves is an ever-changing
array of Keralan delicacies such as bitter gourd

fry, green mango pickle and chilli-fried fish, with
the occasional unusual curry such as banana
or beetroot. Days rotate slowly around these
meals, the rest of your time spent idly watching
the world go by from your chair on the deck. But
with so much happening on the river and its
bank, there's few places where sitting back and
doing nothing can be quite so engrossing.

Need to know Prices for Tour India's boats
start at R6000 (US$125) for one night. Boats
embark from Kollam and Allepey in the south
or Thanneermukkam in the north, all of which
are easily accessible by train (connecting with
Mumbai in the north). Boats run all year, but the
best time to visit is November to March. For more
information see W www.tourindiakerala.com and
W www.cocohouseboatskerala.com.

Take a kettuvallam through the
backwaters