ELISHA HOUSEBOATS ALLEPPEY KERALA INDIA

A boat ride into the countryside offers a close look at rustic kerala village life- skiff-fishermen launching their cockleshell boats, large flocks of domesticated ducks waddling down to the water from thatched houses on the banks. Women, neck-deep in water, with their waist-length hair heaped in a crown, catching fish with their feet, aimless cattle grazing in lush pastures, white lotuses floating here and there in small, shallow ponds.