Backwaters photos and video

Two peaceful days motoring slowly through the series of Kerala's backwater canals and lakes turned us into lazy, slow moving slugs of the worst kind - but happy slugs, for certain. It was the two of us, our captain, the cook and our cabin boy. We chugged slowly along, sometimes hugging the shore to watch women pound their laundry against flat stones and men fishing while their children swam or bathed in the slow moving tobacco green water. We heard chants from temples blaring from loud speakers interspersed with lilting ballads sung by women with curlicued voices. After a while we moved to the center of a larger body of water to catch a breeze that gave some relief in the 95 degree weather. We passed miles of palm tree fronted rice paddies of the brightest green - stretching back into the misty distance for as far as he eye could see. At dusk we watched the sun, a blazing ball of orange-red, sink into the horizon and leaving a wake of soft pinks and blues behind.We'd wisely paid extra to have an air conditioning in our cabin from 8pm to 8am (the captain held on to the remote to keep us honest), and we were happy to escape the heat and the swarming insects after the sun went down. We lucked out in the food department as our chef was top notch. We had fresh made chapati and papadam with every meal, banana fritters, local fish and prawns that we chose and purchased from shoreline stalls. The chef made dosa and a medley of curries - way too much food for just two people. Somehow we managed to eat it all.Click here for a short video:Backwaters video montage