Kerala Backwaters

The Malabar Coast of Kerala is famous for the Backwaters, where channels and canals link the lakes and inlets along half of the length of this South India State. This is where I will be taking in the sun and relaxing on a kettuvallam in a couple of weeks time…. bliss

The kettuvallams are wooden hulled houseboats that take you at a gentle pace through the waterways. On my last visit here we became stuck a couple of times in channels blocked by dense banks of floating water hyacinth. I don’t know if I will be able to update the blog while I’m in India but I hope to post enough to cover the time away.

19 thoughts on “Kerala Backwaters”

Ajay Kaul on February 10, 2013 at 7:02 pm said:

Kerala indeed is an eden of greenery!

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- John Smith on February 10, 2013 at 8:34 pm said:
  
  Thanks Ajay, a beautiful world, yes.
  
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thoolikam on February 10, 2013 at 7:22 pm said:

beautiful!

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- John Smith on February 10, 2013 at 8:35 pm said:
  
  Indeed, yes, and plenty of wildlife. Thank you.
  
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LB on February 10, 2013 at 7:30 pm said:

wow, this is beautiful! The colors, the reflections … really nice!

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- John Smith on February 10, 2013 at 8:29 pm said:
  
  Thanks LB
  
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SLR - See Love Remember on February 10, 2013 at 8:03 pm said:

Love the serenity of the photo 🙂

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- John Smith on February 10, 2013 at 8:30 pm said:
  
  Oh yes, peaceful…just the lapping of the water…
  
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Noeline Smith on February 11, 2013 at 10:19 am said:

A lovely tranquil photo; shame about that pylon though – were you tempted to remove it?
I have that with some of my travel shots where it’s tempting (briefly!) to remove ‘nasty’ bits. I decided against it in the end as that was what the place was like when I was there. It’s one thing cleaning up litter but changing the landscape doesn’t seem right. Just interested in your thoughts on this.

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John Smith on February 11, 2013 at 12:27 pm said:

Hi Noeline, I certainly do edit pictures and can sometimes spend a long time doing it, but only if it’s a competition or exhibition print. With my blog pictures, like this one I will crop and then edit the tonal balance and change the colour of the light…here it needed warming up. My art background deems that good pictures are sometimes ‘made’ rather than just taken, a view that Ansel Adams also had, though he was the master and the rest of us are mere apprentices.

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seekraz on February 13, 2013 at 1:56 am said:

It feels very rich and warm there, John…and beautifully green….

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- John Smith on February 14, 2013 at 12:04 am said:
  
  I do hope so, I shall be there on Saturday…..though rain is forecast for Sunday through Tuesday….must be following me from Scotland.
  
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  - seekraz on February 20, 2013 at 4:13 am said:
    
    I do hope you’ve managed some sun over there, John….
    
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    - John Smith on February 20, 2013 at 6:32 pm said:
      
      Certainly did… We boated yesterday…and a perfect sunset….though we did have two incidents…one of which was a head on collision with a 20 ton barge….!
      
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      - seekraz on March 5, 2013 at 3:45 am said:
        
        I seem to have fallen behind in follow-up comments here…my goodness, John…hopefully you were both going slow enough that everyone managed to be ok….?!
        
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- John Smith on March 13, 2013 at 5:23 pm said:
  
  Thanks…liked your photos too…
  
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Lesley on November 6, 2014 at 1:24 pm said:

Gorgeous!

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- smithiesshutter on November 6, 2014 at 1:37 pm said:
  
  Thanks Lesley…..you have been digging deep into the archives!
  
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