Day 92 (Sat 7 Oct) - Quillon

The morning brought us a steady downpour.

Took a rickshaw down to the boat jetty and rearranged our trips so that we would do the morning punt t'row morning because of the rain.

We went off to Hotel Sudarsan's for a nice breakfast and then hit an internet cafe. Whilst we were there, the rain which had not really let up, really let fly. Absolutely chucked it down.

Walked back to the jetty for 2.30ish. We bundled into a rickshaw, with our tour guide, to where the boat was some 10 minutes away.

Our boat looked pretty good; complete with a double bedroom with en suite etc. We were the only punters on this trip.

We were introduced to the crew; a captain, a cook and two helpers, were dutifully garlanded, bought a bottle of homemade wine (that was awful) and then set off.

We traveled through the wide waterways bordered by beautiful trees and many fishing nets. We saw loads of birds. The weather was slowly trying to brighten although we went through a number
of small showers.

As we passed under a bridge we saw a number of snake boats coming towards us. These boats are used in an annual 'regatta' the Nehru Trophy Snake Boat Race that was to be held in about 2 week’s time.

We turned into narrower channels ( [1], [2], [3] ); passing through small villages, complete with churches and waving children ( [1], [2], [3] ).

The boat was moored in the middle of a placid wide expanse of water fringed by coconut palms and a few houses. While we waited for dinner we were forced to listen to the incredibly loud music coming from the houses; it was a right racket.

Had a fab dinner; looking out through the open sides of the boat at the dark waters and the inky blue/black sky. Beautiful.

We both had a good nights sleep, even though the wind picked up and we could hear tarpaulin flapping loudly.