After the group left Hampi, we had another brief stay at the beach before heading down the Western coast of India to a town named Alleppey which is in the chilled out state ofKerala . We took a trusty night train to get there and then upgraded our mode of transport to a houseboat. Alleppey is famous for its houseboats that sail over Kerala's pretty, palm lined backwaters. As you glide over the water you see fishermen in their boats, goats grazing on the fields and kids playing alongside the river. When I said that travellers have it hard these days I was telling a huge great lie! We hired a house boat between the six of us for 22 hours and for that period of time we lived the life of true luxury. Hiring a houseboat is in Lonely Planets top 10 things to do before you die, now I can see why. 
Gone are the days when travellers trod new, undiscovered territories and suffered in dark dingy rooms, covered in unknown species of scary looking insects. These days you can travel like a king for a sum of money that would buy one person a single nights stay in a budget/midrange hotel in London. The boat had 3 bedrooms with huge comfy beds, private bathroom with toilet and shower, fresh towels and sheets and best of all, the windows at the side of the boat were a high as the ceiling so you can literally watch the world go by as you lay in your luxury bed.
But in our stupid ignorance we failed to realise that Holi is only really celebrated in Northern India where there are more Hindus than in the South (Kerala is predominantly Christian). So when we arrived in Alleppey we were informed by a local that there would be no celebrations taking place. We were obviously disappointed and felt a bit stupid for having had these outfits made. We did all go out wearing them one day so that our 200R hadn't been spent for nothing but we must have looked like some weird cult or yoga group. Anyway when we woke up on the house boat we heard lots of strange commotion going on at the side of the river. We went and looked and saw a group of 20 well built Indian guys jumping on top of one another and covering eachother in brightly coloured powder! We jumped off and joined in getting so messy. They found us highly amusing and vice versa. It turns out that they were a rowing team from Northern India who were practising for a race. So of all the people to meet in Kerala we found some of the only ones celebrating Holi away from home. Unfortunately we weren't wearing our special clothes so we managed to get colour everywhere but it was definetely worth it! So if you want to lap up some luxury as a backpacker get a houseboat. :-)
Gone are the days when travellers trod new, undiscovered territories and suffered in dark dingy rooms, covered in unknown species of scary looking insects. These days you can travel like a king for a sum of money that would buy one person a single nights stay in a budget/midrange hotel in London. The boat had 3 bedrooms with huge comfy beds, private bathroom with toilet and shower, fresh towels and sheets and best of all, the windows at the side of the boat were a high as the ceiling so you can literally watch the world go by as you lay in your luxury bed. The boat had a large living space where you could lounge about in comfy armchairs whilst sipping your choice of beverage, whether that be tea, coffee, a beer. There was also a beautiful dining table where we sat and ate the meals that the onboard cook(!) had made for us which were truely delicious. Oh and there was an on board speaker system and TV (not that we watched it). We were like we had really 'made it' as we watched a smaller, inferior boat glide by with a group of people twice our ages. Their boat was still great but we had a bit of 'my boat is bigger than your boat' syndrome! It was truely bliss, so chilled and such pretty views, we were seriously in complete awe.
The next day we woke up early to watch the rising sun and make the most of the last few hours on the boat which passed in a flash. We got the best morning suprise. In Hampi we had discovered that a Hindu festival called Holi would be taking place soon. Holi is well known amongst Westerners as the festival where people celebrate by throwing brightly coloured paint and talcom powder at each other on the streets. Everything and everyone gets covered in the stuff. We wanted to get in on some of the action so in Hampi we each got a white outfit made - trousers and top, which we could subsequently get covered with paint. We were having a bit of a competition to see who would end up with the most creative pattern on their clothes.
But in our stupid ignorance we failed to realise that Holi is only really celebrated in Northern India where there are more Hindus than in the South (Kerala is predominantly Christian). So when we arrived in Alleppey we were informed by a local that there would be no celebrations taking place. We were obviously disappointed and felt a bit stupid for having had these outfits made. We did all go out wearing them one day so that our 200R hadn't been spent for nothing but we must have looked like some weird cult or yoga group. Anyway when we woke up on the house boat we heard lots of strange commotion going on at the side of the river. We went and looked and saw a group of 20 well built Indian guys jumping on top of one another and covering eachother in brightly coloured powder! We jumped off and joined in getting so messy. They found us highly amusing and vice versa. It turns out that they were a rowing team from Northern India who were practising for a race. So of all the people to meet in Kerala we found some of the only ones celebrating Holi away from home. Unfortunately we weren't wearing our special clothes so we managed to get colour everywhere but it was definetely worth it! So if you want to lap up some luxury as a backpacker get a houseboat. :-)
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