Picture (to proof, that I didnt make it up) can be found here:

Text (so wrong, that it is obvious, I didnt make it up):

Two Danes on a rigged-up raft

The backwaters have enchanted the two Danes so completely that they charted something more than the usual houseboat jaunt. They made a crude raft and decided to row all the way from Kollam to Kochi.

Pascian, 24, and Anishka, 22, fabricated the raft from bamboo, strings, and a plywood sheet. The oars are two strong sticks with square pieces of plywood nailed into. On Tuesday afternoon, they set sail with aplomb from the Adventure Park jetty of the Ashtamudi lake here.

Ms. Anishka told The Hindu that if the weather was calm, they expected to reach Kochi in four days. “I am keeping my fingers crossed to achieve that, but we will sail as far as the raft can take us,” she said.

The raft will take them through a formidable waterway network — the Ashtamudi lake, the T.S. (Thiruvananthapuram-Shoranur) Canal, the Kannetti lake, the Kayamkulam lake, and the Vembanad lake. They will anchor at intervals to relish “the great Kerala cuisine which I simply love,” Ms. Anishka said.

She arrived with her mother in India in January and met Mr. Pascian at dinner in a hotel in Rajasthan.

The three then travelled to many places in the north, and a week ago, her mother left for Denmark from Goa to attend to some urgent work at home. Ms. Anishka decided to stay back and tour the south with Mr. Pascian.

They reached Kollam on Monday and were spotted by the District Tourism Promotion Council authorities at the Adventure Park collecting bamboo stumps. When they spoke of their rafting plans, the council authorities encouraged them and helped them get the plywood sheet.

Ms. Anishka is studying chemistry at a university in Denmark and Mr. Pascian is studying maths at a university in Germany. Ms. Anishka said he would leave for Germany in mid-March, while she would continue exploring India till April.

Pascian and Anishka from Denmark set sail from Kollam to Kochi on Tuesday on a crude bamboo raft they fabricated.

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What Anežka wrote today:

Dear Mr. Kumar

Thanks for the pictures!

We write this mail to tell you how the raft trip went.
After we set off, the wind and maybe also the current increased and we had to find a place to halt for some hours. So we stayed at a small island until sunset, where we got fish curry from a sweet woman, who was living nearby. We also chatted and sang with some school kids. At sunset the wind settled and we went off again. On this first day, we realised that the weather conditions and the raft design made it impossible to sleep upon or to go more than about 1 km/hour. So in the evening we rigged it up and went back to Kollam to stay the for the night. Early next morning (yesterday) we returned and went on, enjoying the silence and the refreshing weather. Around noon we rigged the raft near a ferry stop and went for lunch. When we returned some hours later, the raft was gone! We went around the place and asked people about it, but the only information we got, was that it might have been removed because it was illegally parked. We also found the flag floating in the water nearby. On the raft we left a hunting knife and a pair of neat shoes. Those things might be stolen without untieing the raft, so our theory was that the raft either was stolen because of the valuable bamboo or removed by authorities. We then contacted the police, who ensured us that they didn’t remove it and encouraged us to file a report, which we did. After that we just returned with low spirits to the hotel. There we decided to start a new project: To hike down to Verkalla! So that’s what we’re gonna do tomorrow :-)

That’s our story, you are welcome to update your readers, if you like.

By the way, could you please send us the first news story as PDF?

Best,
Bastian and Anezka

Tags: Kerala, Süden