Michael and I drove into Alappuzha for lunch, and decided to take a backwater boat ride. Canals of polluted water cut through the small city and are lined with boats and their tour guides, eager to take tourists for a ride. This is the off season, so we had a plethora of offers from tour guides wanting to take us on a tour of the backwater canals.

We paid 800 INR – about $15.00 CAD – for a two hour boat ride. Below is out tour guide and his little boat!

We sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the ride!

Making our way out of the city…

Out onto Punnamada Lake….

To take a turn into the start of the backwater canals. The canals are “water” roads in a village, lined with homes, shops and religious buildings, just as you would see along a road on land.

I like this small house with the traditional color of the ceramic roof tiles against the blue color of the water drain, as well as the handsome solid wood door and wooden window frame. Beautifully crafted wooden doors and window frames are a common architectural feature here.

There is a strong communist following in this southwestern area of Kerala.  This home supports Che Guevara.

I believe this is a Peepal tree – an auspicious tree worshipped by Hindus. A red cloth or thread is tied around a Peepal tree for worship, so cutting it down would be considered inauspicious.

Hindu temple:

For the off-season, there was quite a bit of boat traffic.

Our heading was under that stone bridge, towards a smaller canal:

This was exceptionally beautiful, more private as the bigger tour boats wouldn’t fit.

Here, a catholic church is preparing for a festival of some kind, while playing music of worship. I like this music!  It’s not your typical North American songs of worship for sure!

Rice field:

A boat cut in half as part of the restaurant’s decor!

Making our way back into the city.

The roots of this tree are so cool!

We enjoyed our boat ride!  Our guide was nice, his boat comfortable!

S, 🙂