We took a local ferry from Aleppy to Kottayam, on Lake Vembanad. It was absolutely breathtaking.

The ferry would stop at these villages, every few minutes or so – just like bus stops – and people would get on and off. To tourists like me who’d never been to Kerala it was really new.

We passed hundreds of houseboats, and here is Anirudh telling us to read an article about Kerala later on –

And there were tons of birds – and I kept drawing and drawing trying to capture their motion

And amid all this beauty, someone was snoozing away

sketchbook

Calm in the air, part 3, Silent Valley and Alapuzzha

Part 1, Calm in the air

Part 2, Kochi and Silent Valley

So, on to part 3 of the now-long forgotten Kerala holiday.

We didn’t do much more in Silent valley, except go on a safari. Here’s a place which reminded me of Spirited Away.

We also saw a couple of animals (I drew these from memory, so they may not be true to life).

Then we went on to Alaphuzzha, or Aleppy as it was called in English, a few hours away by car. It was all about the backwaters, tapioca chips and coconuts.