Kerala Houseboats

Posted on Nov 28, 2011 | No Comments.

Houseboat is called `kettuvallom’ in Alleppey, kerala meaning `knotted boat’. The modern day houseboat is a re-embodiment of the traditional canoe used to transport items of daily home use from the mainland to homes cut away by the winding waterways known as `backwaters’. A ride in a House Boat is the most stunning experience you could ever float into, or get floated into… If you have not experienced it, here is a golden opportunity to do it at a fraction of its original cost. You could get in any House Boat of your liking, saunter down the cool placid waters of our world-famous backwaters, have a merry time and get back home either the same day or after spending a night as well out floating around.

House Boats are huge, slow moving, exotic barges designed for sheer leisure trips. Formerly, House Boats were used to ship rice and spices and other goods between Kuttanad and the Cochin port. A standard House Boat, which could be about 100 feet long, can hold up to 30 tons, and that is as much as three big lorries can.

A House Boat (which is made of hundreds of fine but heavy-duty planks of jack-wood) is held together absolutely by coir knots (not a single nail is used). KETTU means knot. This framework is then coated with a caustic black resin extracted from boiled cashew kernels. And it lasts for generations.

Alleppey is the sanctuary of House Boats: There are some 120 of them, well maintained and perfected as luxury liners here.

The cook on board, and most often, their meals included delicious fish caught straight from the water. A portion of the House Boat will have bamboo roofing, and it is the area for the crew may rest.

The tradition continues: You will be enjoying the finest Kuttanadan delicacies when you wander down the backwaters. You will be lounging in the best-furnished cabins with a view you cannot find anywhere else in the world, and the entire locale is ecological. Fresh food, cooked in unique Kuttanadan style is the rage of the international tourists.

And it is one thing, if it rains while you are inside the luxurious House Boat. It will be one of the miraculous and memorable moments of your life. It will be an out of the world experience that you could watch the downpour splashing and pounding on the rhythm of the falling rain like a beautiful melody which you will never hear elsewhere…

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