Sometimes, you just gotta treat yourself!

What can you buy for 4000 rupees in India?? Hmmm, a whole lot of things for sure!

But one of those things is getting your own little houseboat for 24 hrs with a captain, a cook, and another guy (who has some random job on the boat), to cruise around the beautiful backwaters in Alleppey.

The Keralan Backwaters are an expansive network of both man-made and natural interconnected canals, rivers, lakes and inlets; this system is formed by more than 900 km of waterways and covers almost half the length of the state. It's like the Venice of India, only larger!

It's amazing to get a glimpse into how people live there. Water is all around and therefore seems to be an all encompassing element of the community's life. Imagine a line of houses with a small walk path, and on either side, water! To cross the river to see a friend or relative, you can just take a little canoe to cross over to the other side. And on either side of the banks, you can see people fishing, washing clothes, taking their bath, playing and splashing. In some other parts, there are endless rice fields and palm trees next to the canal. Just water, greenery and the sounds of the natural environment.

Sitting on a sun roof of a houseboat while wandering through the meandering canals, just watching the life go by, is truly a relaxing experience and definitely a nice change to the normal dust, cockroaches and constant honking of India.

After our backwaters trip, we decided to do some more relaxing and headed up to the Sivananda ashram near the Neyyar dam. Spending our days days meditating, chanting, doing yoga, eating simple (yet delicious) meals, reading and just taking some time to chill, the ashram provided a perfect moment for rejuvenation and rest before continuing our journey.

After 6 days of this routine, we actually became so relaxed that we have even started to meditate on trains!

This of course means that the normal double takes we get from people who pass us by are on the increase. Did I mention before how curious Indians are?

Any where you go, Indians will stare at you. Walking on the street, sitting on the bus or train, eating in a restaurant. There seems to be a genuine curiosity to know who you are, what you're doing, eating, reading, etc. It takes a little while to get used to but after a while, it becomes quite funny. Some people stare so intensely and with such a mean face, you could misinterpret it for cut-eye! But for me, I mostly find it hilarious. I can't never get enough of watching people expressions!

Well, I'm off for a nice sunset walk! I'll be posting more in a few days... Take care everyone!