The Kerala Trip Continues

Saturday was another early morning (I've actually yet to sleep in in India) as we left Munnar and headed back down towards the coast. After a long and typically disturbing car ride, we reached our destination - a town called Appelley. Appelley is known for their house boat tours, and that's what we came to do. Rather than the stationary house boats they have in Seattle, the Kerala house boats are actually called kettuvalams, and they look like this:



The boat trip was extremely relaxing. It was just Jocelyn, myself, the driver and the cook on board, and we spent the afternoon cruising slowly through the backwaters. Along the banks there were lots of houses, and it was interesting to watch people go about their lives in such a unique environment. When evening came, they tied to boat to a palm tree and we parked there for the night. The bedroom on the boat was simple but adequate, and it was even air conditioned.

In the morning we cruised back to our starting point and met up with our driver once again, who took us to see a few sights before we had to be back at the airport. Our first stop was a beach along the Arabian Sea. The beach itself wasn't much to look at, but I stuck my feet in the water just to say I did.



After the beach, we went to a bizarre little museum that basically featured the extensive collections of a very wealthy man and his wife. It was an odd experience. We had to leave our shoes outside, and then were ushered through the museum by a guide who essentially just read us all of the signs that labeled the various pieces. The collection included mostly collectibles from around the world - ivory carvings, Swarovski crystal, fancy china, etc. Mom, Dad and Kyle - I was vaguely reminded of House on the Rock, but thank goodness it wasn't nearly as extensive! Photography wasn't allowed inside the museum, so after we left our guide offered to take our picture outside. We agreed, and the guide got a bit over excited. He kept suggesting new backgrounds for the pictures, and just when it was about to feel like a senior picture photo shoot, Jocelyn's memory card ran out of space. Just in the nick of time!

Once we left that museum we visited another museum of sorts about the Dutch/British/Portuguese colonial periods, did a bit of shopping and then grabbed a late lunch. Our American tastes got the beter of us, and we requested pretty much anything Western. We ended up eating at KFC, which although wasn't exactly like KFC at home (no mashed potatoes, biscuits, etc), was still familiar and comforting.

After lunch we headed back to the airport, where once again our flights went smoothly. I even landed in Hyderabad ahead of schedule! Another successful weekend trip complete :)

And a few more pictures for good measure:


The view when we woke up in the morning on the houseboat


Heading back to Appelley in the morning