Messing About On The Backwater: 48 Hours On A Houseboat
Shaking off the curse of Montezuma has taken far too long. On our previous visits to India we’ve avoided the worst of the Delhi belly, but not this time. Everywhere we go in the world we always try to eat like the locals, try every local food, do the “authentic” thing, so much so that we felt we’d both got pretty good constitutions and could deal comfortably with the consequences of unusual food. But after a quick to-be-expected bout around Udaipur, things recovered like they normally do, only to then dive backwards with what we think were bad prawns on Christmas Eve. Nearly three weeks later we’re still not firing on all cylinders.
We’re not really feeling like our normal selves just now, every day seems to be a war against symptoms. It’s reached the stage where we’re longing to feel “normal”……when suddenly it occurs to us that two days on a boat in the backwaters with no time commitments and nothing to do but watch the world go by might just be the perfect antidote….
Rain is falling steadily as we leave Munnar, the very first rain we’ve seen in more than 6 weeks out here, but the vivid greens of the countryside which fill nearly all of the journey to Alapuzzha wouldn’t of course be so beautiful without plentiful rain. God’s own country, indeed.
Alapuzzha, our destination for just a one night stand, is also known as Alleppey, which is annoying – having two names is both confusing and greedy and messes badly with my record keeping. Alappuzha surprises us by being quite so….errr….Indian. We had come to believe, after the westernised resorts of Goa and the cosmopolitan towns of Kerala so far, that the move from traditional to more modern would be a permanent one as we travelled further south to more popular destinations. Wrong. Alappuzha thrusts us straight back into sarees, salwars and dhoti as the clothing of choice and western style dress is all but absent. The town feels more like the earlier part of this trip and less like the north of Kerala.
But we’re in town for less than 24 hours and only as a means to an end: Alleppey/Alappuzha is the place where Kerala backwater houseboat adventures begin, and we are about to embark on 48 hours and 2 nights drifting around the waterways. Our boat, the Mithram, ambles in to dock, and we’re quickly away into our next adventure, likely to be the least active adventure we’ve ever embarked upon.
On board
This is going to be great – we’ve hired a private tour, our own boat with two staff to look after us in every way. Before you think we must have won the lottery to be able to fork out for a private boat, the total cost for two days, two nights, two staff and including all food (six meals), is £283 all-in for two of us. Don’t even think about getting a larger, public tour, not when a private boat is this price.
Because we’re on a smaller boat we soon shake off the larger vessels which aren’t able to access the smaller waterways, and what is to become an absolutely peaceful and serene experience begins. It’s almost magical, drifting past idyllic scenery, giant rice fields and tiny waterside villages at a blissfully relaxing slow pace. Kingfishers, bee eaters, terns, eagles and kites dart around us, flashes of intense colour racing by. Men and women do laundry in the river, children bathe and Mums wash babies in copious amounts of soap suds. All life, human and natural, plays out here in the backwaters.
We ask our crew, Arjun and Jubin, to cook us just small meals – a request which of course falls on deaf ears, these guys have their instructions. They have talent, too; the meals we are served are absolutely delicious, not too spicy, packed with flavour and unusual vegetables (baby water melon sliced like okra, beetroot mixed with coconut, for instance), high quality food from a guy in a cramped galley. We are ever so slightly blown away – and for the first time in what seems ages, we really enjoy a meal, even though Arjun serves us enough food for six.
At the end of day one, we moor alongside the village of Kanjippadam just before sundown, enabling the two of us time to wander through the village and chat with the locals who are curious as to why we are there. It feels so free, just ambling through this unfamiliar territory where Indian music blares from giant speakers at one house, more men do more laundry in the river, a lady cuts fruit from overhanging branches. Two teenage girls giggle as they practice their English, eyes fixed on Michaela’s blonde hair. Calls of wading birds echo across the water in the twilight, the bloom of the water hyacinth loses its vigour as darkness descends.
The setting sun spreads fire across the sky, palm tree silhouettes pinned black to the vivid orange, Indian music drifting on the breeze. Pterodactyls take to the air, gliding above our heads in the increasing gloom. What? Pterodactyls? Well, no – but have you ever seen Indian flying foxes, some of the biggest bats on Earth? These things are gigantic – they look far too big to be bats until we see one land in a tree and hang upside down. Remarkable creatures. Bats with a five foot wingspan. Honestly, you do a serious double take when you see one of these monsters for the first time.
Back to the Mithram, delectable dinner is served. Arjun and Jubin bed down early while we play a few games of Rummikub. Outside the silence is palpable, music no longer drifting, the village, like the boys, has ended its day. We sleep so soundly, gently bobbing on the ripples of the backwaters. Hydro therapy.
A beautiful sunrise heralds the second day which brings more bliss, more ultimate peace, gliding slowly past changing countryside, sometimes on narrow channels, sometimes wider, occasionally crossing a sizeable lake. Apart from a lunchtime stop for a second wander around a village, this time the church-and-school dominated Champakulam, our boat ambles slowly around the backwaters for eight hours, yet never once does it become tedious. This is an experience so wonderfully therapeutic and peaceful that it is changing our entire mindset and maybe, just maybe, finally banishing Montezuma. The recovery may at last be under way.
Somewhere around 4pm, storm clouds gather and the first spots of rain send our crew scurrying to pull down covers and batten down hatches – they know what’s coming. Soon enough the torrential downpour pockmarks the surface of the water, hammers rhythms on the roof of the boat, lightning flashes across the sky and booming thunder rattles anything which is loose. We love a thunder storm and, incredibly, we didn’t see a single one together last year despite all our travels through hot and volatile climates. First one of 2026 bagged already on January 13th.
Wednesday, breakfast consumed on board, we’re back in the docks at Alleppey (or Alappuzha) just before 9:30 with plenty of time to make our way to our next destination. We bid farewell with a big thank you to Jubin the Skipper and Arjun the chef-and-crew and their employers Blue Lake Mithram – this sojourn into the Kerala backwaters has been everything we had hoped it would be, and so much more.
We seem to have regained our appetite thanks to Arjun’s superb cooking skills. Our fingers are firmly crossed that those troublesome things are behind us. Might even risk a beer tonight.
36 Comments
Anonymous
Beautiful descriptions of your houseboat time, Phil. I hope you find yourselves fully healed at this point after sleeping so well and taking some slow time. I’m curious; what did you give in answer when asked why you were there? (As an aside, I hope this comment gets through to you properly. I’ve checked the settings at my end and can’t find anything amiss, so in WP’s quirky way, it might wind up in moderation again … Sorry.) Cheers.
Phil & Michaela
It did. Needed approval. Annoying huh. And what’s more, you’re “Anonymous” too this time, though I know it’s you, Lynette! Our answer was simply, “we’re on a houseboat”….which was met with a smile and the ubiquitous Indian head wobble 😂
Anonymous
I have no idea what’s going on with the “anonymous” bit! I think I have to go to the happiness engineers to get this sorted. Ugh.
Phil & Michaela
Hello again Anonymous (yep, it happened again). Our sites have become incompatible!
Marie
Idyllic!!!
Phil & Michaela
Sure was!
Suzanne@PictureRetirement
It seems the downtime came exactly when you needed it. Those sunsets and sunrises would cure almost any condition.
Phil & Michaela
Such a relaxing, serene couple of days, Suzanne. Was just lovely!
The Flask Half Full
Your experience with Dehli belly is high on my list of reasons I don’t want to go to India. Everyone I’ve ever talked to who has been to India has gotten sick. My American/western stomach biome couldn’t handle it.
That said, glorious photos of your riverboat experience. Glad you got a private boat/tour – not having to throw elbows with a larger tour is one of the keys to happiness while traveling. 😉
Did you know the names of all of those birds when you spotted them, or did you have to look them up? I love birds, but I’m terrible with identification. My dad would have known them all instantly.
I sure hope you and Michaela are back to feeling normal soon.
Phil & Michaela
We’d managed to avoid it on previous visits apart from the brief commonplace ones, but this really lingered. Not as extreme as Laos but definitely lasted longer. Three weeks without a beer tells you how much of a grip it got! Birds….well, not the specific name but we know which are herons, which are kingfishers, storks, egrets, kites etc…but the actual species comes from an identifier app.
The Flask Half Full
Three weeks without a beer? Not even a “medicinal” beer? You must have been very near death. 😂
Phil & Michaela
Within a whisker. At least twice….
Heyjude
Looks so serene. beautiful photos as usual. I do hope you are both recovered from the delly belly. It’s definitely no fun.
Phil & Michaela
I think we are at last just about there. We both felt able to have a couple of beers last night so we might at last be through it. Serene is the word, it was so lovely Jude.
Helen Devries
Those meals look so enticing! Very glad you had such a wonderful relaxing trip…and no more delhi belly!
Phil & Michaela
That was a bonus on a two day sojourn which really was lovely. So relaxing.
Eha Carr
First and foremost – hope the Delhi belly has not returned . . . that would detract from whatever wherever was planned. I have wanted to go on one of these houseboats for about thirty years .. . now travelled with you, being very grateful to Michaela’s photography. Absolutely loved the nature ones both of the canal sides and the birds. The ‘laundry’ ones made one grateful for one’s own situation 🙂 ! Must admit I did not know there would be quite so many boats on the river . . . and they look a wee bit more ‘basic’ (?) than those I had seen way back. Methinks you were lucky with your cook . . . the food does look varied and appetizing . . . . shall be hoping all well in the days to come >>>
Phil & Michaela
Alleppey alone has 2,500 tourist boats, incredibly! It’s therefore so much better to take a small one which can get away from any water borne traffic jam. We would go for hours without seeing another boat, which was lovely. But then, there’s plenty of water 😂
Lookoom
After stomach troubles, a peaceful boat trip through Kerala seems like the perfect cure. Floating among kingfishers and observing local life from the Mithram is simply magical. This little cruise seems to leave you feeling refreshed.
Phil & Michaela
Was so good!
Monkey's Tale
We had a very similar house boat trip from Allephy and thoroughly enjoyed it. Do you think you need antibiotics? Maggie
Phil & Michaela
I think we might just be through it now, Maggie. Did all the right things diet wise but found ourselves eating very little and therefore struggling with fatigue. It becomes a bit of a vicious circle, doesn’t it.
Monkey's Tale
Been there, glad you’re over it. 🤞
Toonsarah
This takes me back, especially Michaela’s photos of the waterside laundry! And I’m so glad to hear that you’re both at last starting to feel better – especially as you had such delicious looking food to enjoy on board 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Was so lovely, Sarah…really enjoyed those few days…
We Leave Today Max and Jay
Hello from Vancouver Canada! We enjoyed this post (and all the others) very much and we hope to do this one day too. We are happy to hear your are feeling better and we hope this bad luck ensures your digestive system will be extra fortified for a long time now. We had a bad year after many good years, but it has never been as bad as when we first started travelling. PS We spent some time in El Nido and laughed very loudly when we heard “Zombie”, but it was only once! And yes, those been bags are terrible! 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Hi guys, thank you so much for your comments. Well we can definitely recommend the backwater trip, it was serene. Oh those bean bags…I never did get the hang of them…
WanderingCanadians
A private tour sounds like the way to go, especially considering the price! Sounds lovely. And the food looks delicious! Glad to hear that you regained your appetite. Hopefully your tummy troubles are a thing of the past. Lovely captures. It all looks so peaceful.
Phil & Michaela
Definitely peaceful, as long as you escape the bigger boats which are there in numbers. Once away from those it’s a serene experience.
restlessjo
My idea of heaven xx
Phil & Michaela
So serene, so relaxing!
grandmisadventures
I think a few days on house boat with such beautiful and interesting views would be a perfect remedy for a lot of aliments. Best doctor’s note there is 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Definitely true, Meg – relaxing, serene and therapeutic!
Annie Berger
A great write up of your Kerala backwaters cruise, Phil – I enjoyed it immensely, although I was sorry to read of your Delhi belly troubles. We’d planned to do the same cruise years ago, but on on a tour. I had no idea the rental was so “cheap.” Good to know if we get back that way someday.
Phil & Michaela
It’s so so much better to do a private hire, Annie. Altogether a rather serene experience!
Marcus Chen
ever had Delhi belly on a houseboat? sounds like a rough start to a relaxing trip 🚣