September 6: Houseboat!

Eleven of us piled onto our houseboat in Allapouzha at 3 PM yesterday, complete with eleven very large backpacks. There were three men working the boat, one to cook, two to steer and navigate. We shoved off, the crew put out sliced pineapple, we turned on the stereo system and the good ship "Welcome Cruise" (that was really the boat's name) set sail.

Xianguo "Dora" Zhong steering our houseboat.

Imagine the scene: Eleven people from five countries dancing to Abba on the deck of a coir-covered houseboat while eating vodka-infused pineapple and drifting by palm-trees and fishing canoes along perfectly still estuaries in the middle of India. The moon was high, the bats two-feet across, and the crew a little worried at how much the boat was shaking. Personally, I kept waiting for the fishermen police to show up -- but it turns out the music didn't carry particularly far and we were an island unto ourselves.

This scene of fraternal and international bliss brought to you by the Melton Foundation. Pretty hard to imagine it happening any other way.