That certainly wasn't our plan. Our train wasn't due until 8.15 in the evening and Salem isn't a city where you can easily spend time. Growing up, we knew it only as a steel city. But it is also home to traditional silver jewellery and textile, automotive and poultry industries. The city has a lot of cinema halls too, including some big multiplexes like Big Cinemas and ARRS.
The friends suggested we go to Salem and watch a film there, but it didn't seem too appealing with a heavy piece of luggage and an energetic three-year-old. So, we requested them to head off to Bangalore while we spent the day at the hotel. "It has a clean toilet, ready access to food and an area for the little one to play" we reasoned.
By the time we got to Salem, both our tickets on the Trivandrum Express were confirmed. We quickly had our dinner and waited for the train to arrive. It was only 15 minutes late, and once we got on - we went straight to sleep.
The train was already at Trivandrum Junction when we woke up. A representative of the travel agency - we had engaged for the Kerala leg - was at the platform. He had booked us at a guest-house in Kovalam, which was a quick 10-minute walk to the Samudra Beach. Kovalam, Hawa and Lighthouse beaches weren't too far either.
The only problem was that the guest-house didn't offer breakfast. "There is a country club, just round the corner," the representative said. "They serve good breakfast and allow outsiders to eat there".
The day seemed too hot, so we hired a parasol and deck-chairs as soon as we got to the Samudra Beach. It must have been probably the first day we actually lounged about. All our previous excursions to the sea had been to just walk on the beach or splash about. This day, it was only the little one who was splashing about.
The sea-front at Kovalam comes alive after sunset. Restaurants put on display different kinds of fishes, prawns and lobsters for patrons, who can then choose and get their preferred sea creature cooked.
We chose half a kilo of Tiger Prawns to be cooked in south India curry. With a couple of bottles of beer and some rice, the bill came to about 1,200 INR (£15).
The country club turned out to be pleasant surprise. The manager insisted on offering us food on the house. He even refused to charge us for dinner in the evening. I have spoken to the people at our Spa. You can go and have a free treatment if you want. And if the little one wants to splash about in our pool, she can do that too.
The next destination was Alleppey, a picturesque town known for its backwaters. We were picked up from the guest-house by a driver, who was to be with us for the rest of our trip. The journey from Kovalam to Alleppey was about four hours and the house-boat was ready when we got there.
It was a two-roomed boat, an upper deck and a cook exclusively at our service. Even though we had heard so much about Kerala backwaters, we were struck by its beauty. Totally awesome.
The journey started at 12. After floating in water for an hour or so, we docked to have lunch - which had just been cooked. Fish, rice, sambar, mix vegetables and fried beans. Nudged by the house-boat driver, the little one wanted ice-cream too. The ice-cream vendor suggested we buy prawns too, but we politely declined.
After a little while, we were back floating in the water. Despite being home to almost 600 houseboats, the backwaters have huge stretches with no other houseboat around. The driver would hand over the controls to our little one on these stretches. Needless to add, her excitement knew no bounds.
We docked again at 5.30 pm to see the sunset. It seemed a bit early and the other houseboats were still in water. "Fishermen ply these waters after six and the houseboats are not allowed to move in the waters" the driver told us.
It was definitely a great spot to watch the sun set, but after that we realised that we were the only ones there. All the other boats were nearly a kilometre from us.
After dinner, which included chicken, daal, okra and beetroot-and-potato, we retired to our room for the night.
When we woke up, the houseboats were back floating in the water, but our's was still stationary. The cook was busy preparing breakfast but the driver and his flunky were taking it easy - swimming in the water. Eager to get a bit more for our money, I insisted that they take the boat back in the water. It worked. With a sudden sense of urgency, the staff got ready and took the boat away from the bank.
We were back at the jetty by 10.00 am and in our taxi straightaway, to head towards Kochi (Cochin). The company had booked us in Hotel Killians in the Fort Kochi area - which counts amongst its attractions Chinese fishing nets, the oldest Jewish Synagogue in the Commonwealth nations and an Indo-Portuguese Museum. These attract tourists from all over the world, which means that the restaurants are jumping over each other to attract their custom. Some to such a worrying extent that they totally ignore visitors from within India.
On our only night there, one of the restaurants could not spare even one of its six-or-so waiting staff to take our order for almost 20 minutes. The other hurriedly brought out Reserved signs to put on a few vacant tables as we were waiting to be seated!!
Given the relaxing pace of our excursions in the south, it only seemed fitting that we reached airport just 35 minutes before the flight was due to take off. The driver was totally lost and only asked for directions when there was just an hour left for the flight.
Thankfully, Kochi Airport isn't a very busy airport and we were able to get the baggage x-rayed, check-in, go through the security and board the aircraft within 20 minutes.
Houseboats in India are so interesting to read about. They're really beautiful, but such a different style than those we have here in Seattle.
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