We wake to locals shouting to one another. One near our bedroom window, the other rowing down the waters. It's probably my favourite alarm so far. 15minutes we later boarding our pole boat for a morning trip up and back to the house. Turns out the pole boats work in the same way the boats in Venice, but let me assure you, the pole boats in Kerala don't come with the same cushioned seats, try plastic picnic chairs, however they are much more peaceful in their surroundings and a hell of a lot cheaper. The boat journey lasts just over an hour. What I had previously thought was litter, was actually tied plastic bottles marking where traps for catching fish were and I'm some cases territories. Breakfast was served on the rooftop as soon as we got back and we had a couple of hours until the traditional back water boat collected us from the home stay. We said our goodbyes to the lovely family. I had my photo taken with the man of the house and it look like I had eaten him, he was so teeny. Beth, James and I made jokes all week with Chandra that we expected welcome cocktails, surround sound speakers for our music, hot showers and air conditioning…as we boarded we were handed lime and ginger juice, showed to our air conditioned bedrooms with ensuites and shown the AV cable to plug the iPods into. This boat was wonderful, we set off on our boat ride. My playlist playing over the speakers, sat in big cushioned armchairs, resting my feet on my back pack like a foot rest, sipping on my cocktail (Beth and James had bought some lime Bacardi at the off license which we quickly added to the juice), we sailed off. I'm pretty certain I didn't move for about four hours- other than to top up my cocktail. Lunch was served; WHOLE FRIED FISH. Beth and I cracked up. But, like the big girl I now am, I ate the lot. After lunch I had a little nap (from my exhausting afternoon), laid out on one of the cushions that lined the seating on the front of the boat. I woke to Beth and James laughing about how they were sat on either side of the Bacardi bottle on the sofa as if it were their baby. A little Bacardi lemon baby. Beth suggested we played cards, which swiftly changed to ‘lets play drinking games with cards’ and ring of fire began. JohnMiller’s first ever drinking game was ride the bus, so we had to teach him the game as we went along…that kid struggles with basic instructions. And turns. He would ask who's turn it was on every other person, but we put it down to his alcohol consumption. By the end of the game we had found a safe place to dock the boat and dinner is served, similar dishes to what we had had in the homestay. Afterwards we played a few rounds of Shithead…again JohnMiller struggles with the turns, we watch a Hindu film called Scoundrel which made no sense at all and went to bed.