..Continued from Part 1. I put some pictures from the first half of the duration of boating in the backwaters of Alleppey. In the following post, I am sharing more pictures of the houseboats and boats which I was able to snap as we got in the narrower sections. (It took me a while to get my focus here as I was completely absorbed into the live streams of the black hole :P )
Our cap'n enlightened us more on how the huge boats and houseboats are constructed like the materials that go into the making are a mix of wood (eg: mahogany), a little bit of metal, jute for the roofs. It takes about a year to construct the houseboats and some lakhs of rupees are invested into it. Makes sense as it encompasses all the essential facilities of a home.
One is obviously required to take a proper course of boating but no licenses are required as such. Also, since Kerala is an extremely flood prone area, one must always be prepared for worst case scenarios. As it was an early morning, I caught some children going to school in a boat and I thought "Wow, that's such a different experience from the normal!" I saw mothers running behind their children to drop them off at the small jetties which was adorable to watch :)
Below you can see a man made rice field but doesn't something seem a little strange? So, the strange yet astonishing part about these large fields are that they are designed in such a way that they remain below sea level!! At first I really thought that it was some weird kind of illusion on the eyes but we actually had to stop there and take a few moments to grasp it. Incredible, don't you think?
The water was so still at some points in the ride that it felt as if we were sliding on a mirror with perfect reflections. My mind started diving in those beautiful anime cartoon glimpses of boat rides under perfect sakura trees :D
The houses were very small and interesting, I loved that they were so many varieties of colors from pastel to the ones which just popped out from the trees. I guess that it's just the nature of the building type if it is required to be spotted from a far-off distance? I would love to stay in one of these house boats if I visit Alleppey again, preferably in winters! This boats ride cost me around Rs 800 and I think was a worthwhile experience :) It is certainly a paradise for nature lovers and photographers. Cheers!
Keep Creating
Lots Of Love <3