Feb 18, 2005 - Day 227 in Alleppey, India

We wanted to spend more time in the backwaters, so we arranged to spend the night on a houseboat leaving from Alleppey. We knew it would be fun and a real luxury costwise (about $100 for the two of us, including 3 meals), but when we drove up to the boat, we thought there had been a mistake. It was docked at a posh resort (3 security guards) and was the largest, most beautiful boat we had seen. We felt like royalty as we were escorted onboard and introduced to the Captain C.B., first mate Soshi, and chef Previn. THREE crew to take care of just the 2 of us for the next 24 hours. We knew we were going to have a boat to ourselves, but we never imagined one so grand. There was a master bedroom the width of the boat with a private bath. There was a mosquito net and fan in the room, and everything was wood or rattan or straw, beautifully outfitted. The kitchen was larger than a lot of New York City apartments, and the covered living space at the front of the boat was big enough for a gathering of 30 or more. We wished we had all our friends there to share our good fortune. At the front of the boat was a cushion with bolsters where we lounged with our drinks. We came prepared with books, paints and the computer, but life along the waterways took all of our attention. We didn’t want to miss anything during daylight. After a feast at lunch, we tied up (near C.B.’s home) so the crew could nap, but we didn’t sleep. Then we traveled farther around large lakes, and more narrow waterways, seeing Catholic churches, Hindu temples, boat builders, chickens, ducks, goats, cows, rice paddies being harvested and lots of coconut palms and working boats. After we tied up to watch the sunset, we had dinner and C.B hung up oil lanterns. There was a good breeze and few mosquitoes as we played scrabble until after 10 with a little portable Scrabble game we brought. We requested the crew wake us at sunrise, but we were already awake for the view across the rice paddies. A rooster had announced dawn earlier. After breakfast we motored on until we returned to Punnamada Backwater Resort (Alappuzha, Kerala) to return to reality and search for a temple festival in the area of Cochin.