World Wanderers: Life is an adventure. It’s not the destination that’s rewarding, it’s the journey.: Backwater Houseboat in Kerala (The hijack)

Taking an overnight train down to Kerala in Southern India, we decided impulsively to get off a few hours before our stop in the city of Alleppey. We were immediately approached by a rickshaw driver who was going to take us to our guest-house and a shop where we would look and he would make commission for bringing us there---part of the experience of taking trasportation in India! They always kidnap us to make a quick buck---sometimes it's frustrating but other times it's pretty fun being driven all over by the crazy drivers with an ulterior motive! :)

On the way, he offered us a very affordable price on a houseboat experience on the backwaters of Kerala. When discussing it a few weeks ago, we had resided to the fact that we couldn't afford it as it was way out of our backpacker budget but his offer was too good to refuse--it became blatantly apparent why, soon enough.

Des eyeballed the houseboat, which was once an old rice barge. They are beautiful things with kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, dining rooms etc. Ours wasn't the pick of the lot but decided that for the price, it would do perfectly for such an incredible experience!

Des and I climbed aboard the boat which we had to ourselves and cruised around the lush backwaters surrounded by paddy fields (lush green rice fields), palm trees, many other rice barges, people bathing and washing their clothes in the water, rowers, fishers, (the chinese fishing boats were amazing as was the man who would hold his breath underwater for minutes on end and then collect mussels by the bucket and throw them into his little boat) . It is a tropical paradise that we were able to admire from the comfort of the roof of our boat. We had a "captain" that drove the boat and and another fellow that cooked and served our food. Neither could speak a word of English which became a problem when we were trying to discuss the fact that we were promised several things in the quoted price that were definitely not followed through with, which in turn ended up to be a bigger rip-off than we expected.

Des and I have been pretty patient with the way India works and sometimes the lack of manners, the rip-offs and scams etc but we were pushed to the limit the next day upon complaining to the manager. We splashed out on this experience and were given the bare minimum--for example, our dinner, although lovely consisted of 3 scoops of dahl each, a fish the size of bait like a 6 inch sardine (that was supposed to feed 2 of us) and some rice with chappatti, when we were promised a gourmet seafood meal. We were also told we were going to have airconditioning (not a big deal until the guy tried to charge us A LOT of money extra for it ontop of the already paid amount). Our mistake was paying ahead of time as the manager of the boat blamed the rickshaw driver--keep in mind, that NONE of what he was saying was adding up---he played the victim and despite being the BOSS, said he was helpless in getting our money back. We tried everything but the only thing he wanted was for BOTH Des and I to come with him to the rickshaw drivers house to get our money back--it was such a joke the way he handled it--it really summed up the way India works sometimes. He ran around dramatically waving his hands and yelling at the top of his lungs, blaming others and never taking onus for his role in everything. Anyway, I put my foot down and said I wasn't leaving the boat until we were compensated (all we wanted was a partial re-imbursement) and that Des could go with the guy to meet the rickshaw driver. Once again, making no sense what-so-ever, he said that both of us had to go or no one would go. It wasn't happening for me. I knew the moment we left the boat, we lost all hope of compensation as it was easy to imagine the result--the rickshaw driver either wouldn't be home or wouldn't answer his door. (He had already been hanging up every two minutes on the guy). He wasn't the one responsible anyway, the attention had simply somehow become completely diverted to him.

The manager told us he had no money to give back to us as he paid 75% commission to the rickshaw driver and we had to get it from him (balogna!). He said we could stay on the boat for an extra day and night if we wanted to (we definitely didn't). After hours of sitting there, trying to negotiate and a fake attempt by the manager to help the situation, Des said the only thing we could do was get out of there and make an official complaint to the tourist board.

So, we packed our rugsacks and departed the boat to a nearby narrow bridge made of plywood that crossed a small part of the river. UH-OH. Des made it over just fine and as I went to cross it, the weight of my rugsack threw me off balance and I went toppling over into the river with everything strapped around me! Shocked, I just stood there like a drowned cat--Des threw off his stuff as quickly as possible and came running to lift me and my things out of the dirty water. All I can say is IMMEDIATE KARMA came knocking from me getting drenched and us getting ripped off so badly!

I headed back to the boat to shower off the black muck and dry out my rugsack and clothes. The guys that worked on the boat felt very sorry for me and helped me lay all my clothes out. I think it all happened for a reason because right after this, a German couple were brought to the boat and despite Des's warnings not to take it, they decided they really wanted the good price.

So basically Des and I hijacked the boat!

We were told we could have a free day and night on it but the manager wanted the money from the German couple. We had told him earlier the amount of rupees we wanted back and he said he didn't have it on him so this was the perfect opportunity to catch him out! We said he could pay us the money back from the German's money they paid--well he was having none of it! He offered us half the amount, acting like he didn't care if we stayed on it--despite the frantic look in his eyes and his voice. We dug in our heals, opened up a kingfisher beer to share and said we weren't leaving until we got the money that he had promised earlier.

S L O W L Y he came around. Paying us bit by bit and telling us that was his last amount he would pay and us shaking our heads and saying then we will stay the day that he promised if he wasn't going to compensate us properly. Finally, he quit the sherade a gave us the amount back. PHEW. I packed up all my semi-dried clothes quicker than you can imagine and we got outta there!

Happy out, we found a cheap guesthouse in the heart of Alleppey. We dined for next to nothing on beautiful South Indian food such as Thalis and Dosas. We went to see a Bollywood movie but left at intermission as it was all about rooster/cock fights and it was probably the worst movie I have ever seen--I wasn't sitting through 3 hours of watching animals pecking eachother's eyes out! The streets of Alleppey were filled with people selling gorgeous flowers bouquets and strings of fragrant flowers such as Jasmine and beautiful, fragrant spice stalls. We ate tapioca chips from a street vendor--delicious--and I went and had a sari fitted and made. Des bought one of the local man-skirts that every man wore around Alleppey--basically a white linen sheet sarong. He loves the comfort of it and the locals loved seeing him in their gear, ( I think they felt quite flattered) telling him he looked BEAUTIFUL! I agree :)