Another leisurely start,there's no hurry here in Kerala,to get to Alleppey to embark on our rice boat for an overnight trip in the backwaters. On the way we stopped off at an emporium where our guide was adamant that we would get a good deal and we did.a table cloth for the studio and runner for the dining room in wales. The backwaters are a vast network of fresh water lakes,rivers and canals fed by water from the mountains that border Kerala 80km away.Communities rely on water transport for every day services and transport. As we glide by we pass the locals going about their daily lives;fishing,washing in the river,clothes and themselves,ferrying goods and just moving about in their dugout canoes.We moor up for a delicious lunch and watch all the rice boats going by,mostly for tourists now. It's a bird watchers paradise,apart from herons and egrets we see a sea eagle,a fish eagle,a kingfisher and a beautiful bee eater.We stop off to buy some expensive prawns for dinner and after a bit of a cruise we disembark onto a canoe and enter the narrow water channels.We pass the houses on either side with the paddy fields beyond.life continues oblivious to our presence apart from the school kids returning demanding pens.A welcome beer and banana fritters greet us on our return and we proceed to our evening mooring.Tourist boats are not allowed after sunset to move to allow the local fishermen to put out their nets overnight. We had the juiciest prawns we've ever had for dinner that we had bought at the fish market together with another delicious set of curries.Of course by now it is pitch dark and all we can hear are the frogs.it is surprising how tiring it is being on a boat out in the fresh air so an early night was called for.