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Long
before the coming of the rail and the road, waterways were the best
mode of transport. House Boats (Kettuvallom) were traditionally
used to cargo tones of goods across Kottayam, Kollam and Kochi,
with a portion covered with bamboo and coir serving as a restroom
and kitchen for the boatman. These vessels are built entirely without
the use of nails. Planks of jack-wood are joined together with coir
rope and coated with a caustic black resin made from boiled cashew
kernels. With careful maintenance they last for generations. |
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Kumarakom,one of the very few places in the world, where mode of transportation is through the water ways. Small canoes to very large 'Kettu Valloms' are used for transportation. One can find boats filled to capacity with families travelling to different destinations and also bigger boats carrying goods such as rice, coconut etc. The fact that even the mail and morning newspaper are delivered by these boats complete the picture. Today, widely and appropriately called houseboats, they carry furnished bedrooms, modern toilets, cozy living rooms, a kitchen and even a balcony for angling. Sections of the carved roof of wood or plaited palm open out to provide shade and allow uninterrupted views. Most of these boats are poled by local oarsmen while some are powered by a 40 HP engine. Boat trains- formed by joining two or more houseboats together make a convenient mode of sightseeing when the company is large. |
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Come,
Ride -through the backwater country that offers the rustic Kumarakom life. |
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Gliding
along the calm and serene backwaters flanked by the verdant pasture
and palm, seeing the rural Kerala preserved through the ages and
completely hidden from the road is a unique experience to any visitor,
on these slow-moving, spacious vessels. |
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Skiff-fishermen launching their cockleshell boats, large flotillas
of ducks waddling down to the water from thatched houses on the
banks, women neck-deep in water, with their waist-length hair heaped
in a crown; searching for fish with their feet and aimless cattle
grazing in lush pasture land, where white lotuses lie here and there
in small, low lying pools offers a close look into a delightful
rustic life. So as you cruise along the network of waterways, on
these luxurious houseboats you can even anchor in a lagoon for the
night. The backwater experience will be quite different from any
other holiday. |
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