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 :)

Thousands of ducks swimming together in the background

The rice-barge house boats

Laundry in the river

Des driving our boat

View out of our bedroom on the water

Canoe

Starving and ready for dinner!

The little pathetic fish on  the side of the plate was our seafood gourmet meal to share---haha!

Round fishing boat

Morning coffee--muchly needed after the boiling hot sleep (or lack there of one) due to the extra charge of AC

Morning bath in the river



Des checking out the lovely spices on the street



Waiting for tapioca chips!

Chiles chiles chiles

Des in his bunti!

It can be worn 2 ways folks!












Me in my saree

 

Fresh jasmine flower necklaces




Delicious Dosas!



YOGA & REIKI ~ mind~body~soul~

    Namaste!

Palolem beach in the South of Goa was absolutely amazing! It certainly fulfilled its role in my/our spiritual quest here in India. The beach itself was even more beautiful than the North with the surrounding palm trees, river, crescent beach and hidden gem islands. It was wonderfully quiet and serene, the perfect setting for some soul feeding after the fun and noise of Northern Goa!





Des and I practicing headstands on beach

We stayed for nearly three weeks in order to get in some quality Ashtanga yoga and in order for me to do my 1 week second degree Reiki course on nearby Patnem beach. Our yoga sessions were brilliant and our teacher was amazing--much better than the yoga classes we did in Mcleod Ganj where the teacher was way over the top and tried to act like a guru telling us in a high pitched, drawn out voice that the poses we were doing were "eaaasssssyy" and we need "miiind cooonntrool." Des is really good at it and seems to have a natural ability--he nailed the headstands and handstands the first day---I am happy to say after day 2 with lots of concentration and many wiggles to find my center I could do a headstand on my own too. The teacher was very encouraging and hands-on (he told us we were yogis in another life--haha ya right, my flexiblity, or lack-there of it, would be reason to disagree!) and the setting was beautiful, outside looking up at the palm trees in the heavy heat of the late afternoon under the blazing sun 2 minutes away from the beach. 



Des studying Ashtanga poses



Des and I have never sweat so much in our lives and the only time I had ever been so sore was after the beginning of Huskie soccer season training camp where there was something wrong if we weren't suffering!--- but my oh my what a euphoric feeling we would have after each class! We would start and end each class with meditation so I loved the physical excursion side of the Ashtanga as well as the spiritual side he incorporated. We will definitely be continuing it back in Canada!



Des outside our hut on way to yoga



My Reiki class was unbelievable and I am so so happy we stayed the extra week in order to do it! I did my level one in Ireland but this class was miles above it---it brought Reiki to a whole new level for me where I can now get into the "Reiki zone" and experience all the energies without trying so hard for it--it seems to come much more fluidly, genuinely and naturally and I feel like I'm doing so much more than going through the motions. I walked from Palolem beach a half hour away to Patnem beach each morning where I would meet my group of 4 lovely and VERY interesting people doing the course with me. The location of the Harmonic Healing Center where I did it was absolutely beautiful up on a hillside overlooking the beach and ocean with the sounds of waves directly in our ears. We practiced outside for 4 hours each day, learning different symbols for immediate and distance healing.We recieved 2 initiations or "attunements" from Charu, my teacher and I have never experienced anything like it in my life. The energy literally felt like it was encircling me and my body felt like it was swaying back and forth and then around in the same circular direction as the energy---when I explained this feeling to the group, the teacher and reiki 3 student that was sitting in on the class, said my body reacted very strongly and I was in fact moving like this.




 

They also said I have a very high vibration and my teacher said in all her years of Reiki she has never experienced an energy like mine, stating it felt almost angelic and fine and positive---she said she thinks my healing will benefit people who need to be elevated or brought out of whatever problems they're having into "the light." The 3rd level student said she thought my energy was very "fragrant" and that it felt like thousands of little light stars were surrounding and showering down around me---interesting perceptions and I felt pretty chuffed with their reactions as well as the girl who has had a lot of trauma and problems in her life when I did a practice healing on her and she said she felt immediate protection and trusting of me (which she normally has troubles with) and a strong sense of love filling her up. I actually felt such overwhelming love (from whatever energy I was tapping into that wanted to heal her trauma) that tears started running down my face. It wasn't out of saddness but was out of love and joy---it's difficult to explain. Anyway, the group was really beneficial and my teacher was wonderful. She lives at Amma's Ashram (the hugging mother guru) in Kerala where she devotes every day to energy work and meditation so she definitely had a lot to offer! Des and I also stayed in the Ashram for a couple nights but I will write more about that later!

Me and my Reiki group

When we weren't doing Yoga of Reiki we ran along the beach, went sea kyaking or rented bicycles and cycled to nearby villages. We had some delicious food and I had the most delicious and spicy prawn vindaloo!

Prawn Vindaloo--wooo! Nearly blew the head off me!

We had one particularily beautiful day where wee packed a picnic and took out one of the many boats lined up along the beach. We saw loads of wild dolphins 10 meters away from us (Des and I jumped in thinking they might come up and swim with us to no avail). We then heading over to the secluded Butterfly Beach which at times we were the only people on. We had a bottle of Indian vino and a picnic (including of course cashews---they are plentiful here with the cashew crops and I have never tasted such delicious ones in my life!) and went for lots of swims in the bay. Des gathered wood and built a fire (using his special waterproof fire starter that he has been dying to make use of since we arrived in India) despite the fact that it was 35 degrees outside. In the early evening the boat picked us up and we went fishing while the sun set---thank goodness I didn't catch anything, I wouldn't know what to do with it (or want to do anything with it for that matter). We used little pieces of square plywood that fit into the palm of our hand and tied fishing thread around it and a hook and bait at the end---we then let it dangle over the boat---no one caught anything that night---the area is dangerously over-fished with atleast 5 HUGE fishing boats a day coming in and sweeping up all the fish in one-go---they don't stand a chance. :( It was a beautiful experiece though as the dolphins swam around us and the sun set!



Butterfly Beach












We had one big night out in Palolem with our Swedish friends Linnea, Ester and Christian where we went to a silent disco party where everyone listens to a different station on their headphones and dances to their own beat (it's silent outside the headphones so quite amusing to take them off from time to time and take it all in!) It was quite fitting for the place and great craic! (The pina coladas over sunset with this gang another night was lovely also).

Our coco-hut here was on VERY long stilts but was set amid a beautifully tropical plant setting and a 30 second walk to the beach. We deliberately got a high one to ensure no mice but instead were visited by a frog in our bathroom every night---mom you would have lost your mind! (she hates frogs). This wasn't any ordinary frog, we would take it far away outside every single night and like a homing pigeon, it would make its' way back--very bright frog! By the end, I resided to the fact that the bathroom was its' home more than mine and therefore let it stay.

Frog on mirror ledge



Frog on toilet





Frog on towel rod



We spent our last couple days in Palolem getting a beautiful Aryvedic massage and then left for our overnight train to Kerala, arriving 14 hours later in Alleppey.



Water buffalo and cow traffic jam



For Theresa! x