Kerala is home to many kilometres of backwaters around Allepey and Kollam, and is known as a sort of “Venice of India”. In and around Allepey, backwater tours of the canals are big business and many agencies provide ‘house boat’ tours. At around 3000+ rupees for a day trip, it’s (relatively) expensive, but definitely the best way to tour the area and get a glimpse of village life along the sides of the river.

The boat came equipped with a double room with attached bathroom, upper lounge deck, and included a captain and cook for the day. Meals and snacks are part of the package, but beer and anything else you want you have to stock yourself.

Overall I really enjoyed the experience, although I do think it was a bit pricey. However, you can’t get much more relaxing than sipping a cold Kingfisher while slowing drifting along tropical backwaters and watching the sunset, so it was all worth it.

It wasn’t all good though; as luck would have it my trusty old Canon Powershot SD200 (with its whopping 3 megapixels ) decided to die on me just after the boat left.