Canoe backwater adventure

Eedo, Yafit and I decided it would be fun to take one of the canoes out for a spin in the afternoon. This is not a canoe like the lightweight fibreglass models we're used to seeing. It's a 15-foot, heavy teak vessel, and it proves hard work to paddle and difficult to control. Thomas comes out to see us losing to the current and crashing headlong into the reinforced canal bank after a distance of about 30 feet. In light of our ineptitude he decides to give Eedo (sitting at the back) lessons in steering. After a few minutes we're underway, zigzagging merrily off down the water highway with Thomas staring forlornly after us, convinced, I'm sure, that we were going to shipwreck his boat.

It turned out to be rush hour, with the houseboats all returning to nearby Alleppey, beeping at us as we frantically tried to paddle our unwieldy craft out of their path (sure, you can beep - you've got an engine!).

After a while the breeze started to pick up, and seeing the clouds gathering ominously, I suggested we turn back before the rain came. After a tough battle paddling against the wind, we arrived home just as the first drops started falling.