Alappuzha

The local fisherman were out in force, and it appears (judging from the empty whiskey bottles in the boat), that they like a bit of tipple whilst they are out and about.

Churches regularly appear along the canals.

As the day progressed, we found ourselves in some narrow and serenely peaceful canals.

This old boat has a sail made from rice sacks.

The local barge is actually 3 boats all lashed together to form a car ferry. We hope you made it guys!

We think this man is looking for snails with his feet. In the same area we saw more jellyfish in one place than we had both seen our lives.

This is Amma's Ashram. She is the world famous for being the 'Hugging Mother'. Thousands of people come here to queue for their hug - sometimes for over two hours. Common conversations include, "Have you had your hug today?"

The ashram is currently feeding and housing some of the 3,000 Keralan villagers that were made homeless by the Tsunami.

Kids would run along the banks beside the boat yelling "YOU GIVE US PEN".

It got a bit tedious after a while. If Jason had a stack of pens he could of brought 'sport' to the day by competing with the other lads on the boat as to who could actually hit the kids from a moving boat. Between the eyes would get double points.

We met some excellent people on the boat, L-R Clara, Jack, Sarah and Jasper.

Jason is looking a little Incredible Hulk / fake tan, as he sits under the green netting.

Us posing on the boat as the sun starts to descend and adds that maigical colour to the day.

On arrival in Alleppey, we were greeted by this beautiful sunset from the boat.... and about 20 rickshaw drivers and touts!

From Allepey it's possible to take a house boat through the backwaters for 3 days, (to slowly do what we did in an eight hour ride on the way here).

Had there been more activity on the water, we would have taken another trip.

Some of the boats we saw around town were double storied with 4 plus bedrooms, air-con, and even thrones on the front for the punters to look regal.

Instead we took a walk to the beach where we found this collapsed pier.

The beach was nearly 100 metres wide and would be absolutely stunning if the locals could be convinced to put their rubbish in the bin and their shit in the toilet.

On the way to the beach we got invited into Mary's house for coffee. She was 80 plus and very interesting. We realised that she was as mad as a badger, when she had told us her job story for the fourth time and asked us if we wanted coffee for the fifth time.

Jasons brother Lee has been busy promoting his Indian Karaoke tour.

Did we mention Kerela was the first communist state government ever elected... and they are still in power!

Must be their catchy posters... rather than their dynamic profiles.