1 min read
A Houseboat Is Not a Hotel
What sole use actually means, and the questions worth asking before booking.
A kettuvallam is a converted rice barge. The good ones are teak, hand-tied, and crewed by three: a captain, an engineer and a cook. The bad ones are plywood with an engine.
Sole use means the boat is yours. It does not mean the boat moves at night - almost none do, for good navigational reasons - and a boat advertising night cruising is either lying or unsafe.
Ask about the mooring. A boat moored in a row of thirty at Alleppey is a different night from one moored alone beside a village, and the difference is the whole trip.
Ask what the cook can do. The answer, on a good boat, is a great deal, including fish bought that morning from a passing canoe.
