The Backwaters of Kerala

I am officially in love with the backwaters. It is so peaceful and the people are so kind and friendly! The sunrise this morning was gorgeous! I took a kayak out onto the water and then down one of the waterways, so quiet in the early morning, perfect for a morning paddle. I saw 3 men brushing their teeth so I think some of the smaller places must not have running water and they do all their morning ablutions in the waterway. I saw more men bathing for the day wearing towels around their waist and women not bathing but doing their laundry. I think they sort of bathe a bit while clothed. I also got a few stares from the kids before they were brave enough to wave. Nothing says “tourist” like a bright yellow-green plastic kayak! At least my white bandages came off today in the shower so I look less like the walking wounded.

man fishing with net

sunrise in the kayak

sunrise over the misty fields

kingfisher sitting

I also saw many different birds including this brightly colored blue bird who was either fishing or bathing by flying down to the water then back up to the tree. My host identified it as a kingfisher which I have never seen before. I was lucky to catch it on video one time (see below). I also saw a man cast a net and haul in a handful of tiny fish. There are tons and tons of little fish and some bigger ones too in the water. There are also lots and lots of dragonflies and small butterflies about, along with beautiful purple flowers (part of the water hyacinth which is floating in clumps all over) and larger dark pink water lily flowers that open in the mornings and late afternoon, but close up during the heat of the day.

water lilies and water hyacinth flowers

bright blue bird

woman doing laundry in quiet morning

waterway in the early morning

laundry time

bird taking off

breakfast

After kayaking I had another great meal, dosa with chatti (a coconut dish, yum!). I spooned the chaati inside the dosa. Fabulous and not at all spicy. After breakfast I went for a walk down the shoreline. Again, I encountered friendly people. A man sorting clams happily posed for a picture. A bit further down I saw a woman fishing with some small fish flopping on the ground behind her. She expertly flicked her line out into the water and within seconds she jerked the line back in having caught a medium sized fish! It’s a karimeen pearl spot fish. She also was willing to pose nicely for a picture. I love all the bright cheerful colors they wear here. It matches their sunny disposition!

guy sorting clams

fisherwoman with fish

brushing teeth

bathing baby goat

I also saw a man carrying a baby goat to the water and giving it a bath while the momma goat bleated her objection to the baby’s removal. They were soon reunited. His wife greeted me and showed me a small fish. Her husband said “come” and I followed him into their yard where his wife showed me the bowl of fish she was cleaning. She was cutting off the heads of the small fish and tossing them to a waiting cat who instantly gobbled them up. The cat would not let me pet it, intent on the fish, and would not take a fish head from my hand, but as soon as I tossed it the cat snagged and devoured it. On the way back, the cat was sated and allowed me to give it a good scratch. It was so natural for these people to just welcome a stranger into their yard! I will try to compile a video with short clips of all I saw here, but it will have to wait until I am home with my larger computer.

baby goat and mama

showing me fish she is cleaning

closeup of cleaning fish

lunch second day

The rest of the day I just relaxed and got caught up on my blogs. For lunch I had an omelet, cabbage thoran, rice, pacheda, curd, and tomato, and those papadams that I like so much. It was perfect! Not too spicy but still very flavorful. Dinner was a bit bland. I think she kept making my food more and more mild each time thinking I would eat more. She made me chicken (fried), rice, chapati, elchary, and fish fry which looks like a local fish and it was very fresh! Later that night I did a little googling and found strong indications that Vietnam will not be open until at least late March and Japan probably not until the fall. So had to try to figure out what to do with flights home, cancel hotels, book new ones, and new flghts. Worse yet, it occurred to me that I am flying in on Thai airways on a separate ticket from Bangkok Airlines so either I can’t check bag or have to see if they will let me claim it. There is no real good info on that except getting a transit visa, which I’m not sure I can get during covid. I did a flurry of searches on what happens if you don’t claim luggage, luggage storage (I won’t need my suitcase for Cambodia or Sri Lanka). Needless to say I got very little sleep as I attempted to adjust my trip, which was all the harder with no wifi and patchy cell service.

dinner second day

view of the main waterway

view of top of small courtyard

waving 7

The next day I did a shorter kayak followed by walking the same path as yesterday. I saw some of the same people and met some new ones. Some boys were going to play football in the field next to Ayana’s homestay so I went to watch them for a bit. Before they started, I passed the ball back and forth with one of their players but I am too rusty on the field to do much else. He is quite good and did a few tricks with the ball. I also met a super friendly family with 2 cute boys ages 14 and 7. I have a selfie with them and their mother. Later I remembered that I still had an IKEA chocolate bar with me. I went back out and shared pieces of it with some of the children and got some more selfies with them before I had to head to the train station.

boys playing soccer

selfie with family

two of the soccer players with mom

my friend who was cleaning fish

gecko who I first thought was a cockroach...what a nice surprise to find him instead sitting under my suitcase

boy on bicycle

white cat gently biting as she is done