Keralan hospitality is so generous –
no danger of starvation here. So many different types of food were
served to us both at the Homestay we've just left and here on our
Houseboat/ Rice barge. We were the only 2 guests on this boat with
3 crew members to look after us (one driver and 2 cooks/general
helpers) but the meals were large enough to feed 6 people easily.
Our Houseboat …
Our lounge area and driver:
shading himeself from the hot sun .... it was around 35 degrees in the middle of the day
We arrived in time for lunch and were
served with King Fish cutlets, which were a little like salmon
cutlets coated in coconut and spices and fried so they had a crunchy
finish, dahl, various vegetable dishes, rice, breads and pickles,
followed by the local delicacy of hot rice noodles with cardamoms and
cinammon (sort of rice pudding)
Dinner was chicken pieces with 5 or 6
side dishes followed by fresh pineapple
Breakfast this morning was omelette,
pancakes, fresh fruits toast and jam …. no hope of losing weight on
this trip!
Anyway, we had a leisurely cruise along
the backwaters between lunch and Dinner with a short stop so we could
visit a church and a local woodcarving market. We've done a similar
trip before and seen these sights and it was very, very hot so we
just whizzed round quickly and found a shady place to sit so the crew
member who accompanied us part way wouldn't be offended by our lack
of interest! We rejoined him after a suitable interval and returned
to the boat which was marginally cooler.
Some views from the Houseboat in the
afternoon – life on the water. Every house has steps down to the
water and large areas of stone on which the women 'beat' the washing
… we saw ladies washing clothes and cooking utensils, bathing
children etc. There are boats constantly carrying people and goods
backwards and forwards and fishermen throwing nets of varying sizes –
never a dull moment
Well it is Monday .... traditionally 'wash day'
'posher' houses have their own landing stages and boats ... nice isn't it?
Fishing for Supper
chickens feeding off the water hyacinth plant pulled from the water
Love this improvised 'Ferry' comprising
of 3 small boats joined together with a floor strong enough to hold
motor vehicles!
Everything is just amazing and so interesting, no wonder you love it. I think I would feel a bit weird being the only two on board but it does look quite marvellous.
ReplyDeleteWhilst the boat is moving we only really saw the 'driver' as the other two guys were cooking/cleaning at the back and they only chatted to us as they served or cleared away the food.
ReplyDeleteDavid had a mid afternoon snooze in the bedroom (which had aircon) so I was on my own for a couple of hours but didn't feel overwhelmed/intimated in any way.