It was just another short train ride and we arrived in Kollam, a small and unremarkable Indian city. After a long search we found some good accommodation and freshened up, and had some time to walk about town. Our best discovery was jack-fruit, aka dorian, fried in coconut oil is absolutely delicious. Before our tour of the backwaters we stopped by the local church and it was pretty amazing to see the people praying as if they were in a Hindu temple, while a priest was hearing confessions and another leading a service in the background. In the backwaters we took a canoe on a village boat tour. A series of lakes and canals connecting villages, just back from the coast. The canoe took us around and we saw the various plantations- coconut, tapioca and prawn cultivation pools as well as houses. Our best stop was for some fresh coconut milk and meat right off the tree. That evening we had our private Seder in the hotel restaurant. We ordered some “papad” maza, eggs, veg, etc. to approximate the blessings and did a reading of the Hagada followed by a great Indian meal!
