Closer to paradise

After an exhausting night in The Samurat, Julia and decided to spend the morning exploring Trivandrum before dashing off to our next destination and it turned out to be the most lovely morning.

We took a a walk around town and managed to buy a beautiful Indian style top each - at the cost of about 1GBP each. What luck! We then wandered towards the temple which was so beautiful. It had been intricately built with carved out statues of about 600 diffrent gods. Unfortunately we weren't allowed in as it was Hindu's only. But again we observed the Hindi visitors in their colourful saris and jhoti's purchasing all sorts of goodies for the gods.

After a look at the temple, we stumbled accross a museum which has turned out to be one of the highlights. It was the palace of one of the Maharaja's and was made of 600 rooms. It took 6000 workers 5 years to build it. And you can totally understand why when you walk around the place. The detail is incredible. Most of the temple is made of intricate wood carvings, all done by hand. It is very ornate and tastefully done.

The Maharaja lived in it for only one year in the 1800's before dying. The temple then remained empty for the next 150 years. We were both stunned and really impressed...the detail in every room, the ornaments, the carvings in the doors and ceilings and most of all the gifts from other countries royalty...all original artefacts were still present. We saw a massive pure crystal throne from the king of Czheckosolovakia, and an ivory and silk bed from the king of France as well as these 4m high, gold plated mirrors from the King of Italy. It was just so fascinating.

After the morning's excitement, we managed to get our first "real car" to Kovalam...FINALLY sand and sea and hopefully some downtime.
Our taxi driver drove us to a hotel we hadn't booked, and we thought we'd try our luck. We checked into the Sea Blue hotel -- the most fabulous family run hotel with a massive, clean swimming pool. Our room was lovely (anything would have been lovely given the Trivandrum flea pit!) and away from the rather tatty sea shore...but only a two minute walk down the hill to get to the sea.

In hindsight Kovalam is tourist heaven... there were millions of shops and restaurants along the shore line and loads of desperate touters trying to sell you anything and everything from fruit to materials to writing paper. It gets REALLY annoying and exhausting saying "No thank you, no thank you, not thank you, NO THANK YOU!!! "
There are also locals that bus in for the day to traipse, fully clothed, along the beach to catch a glimpse of white flesh in a bikini. As it state in our guide book they are officially known as "gawkers". and boy do they stare. One Indian man we passed asked to "take photo". So immediately we leaned towards his camera so that we could take a pic of him and his mates. Turned out WE were the ones they wanted to photograph. Gobsmakked, we agreed. I will laugh (or maybe cry) if our photograph is tacked onto some tourist brochure! ha ha

We have had some fascinating converstions with some lovely locals, about the caste system, religion, and arranged marriages. We met a woman called Lila and her husband who spent a couple of hours sitting on the beach with us recounting the arranged marriage they went through. There's was a tale with a happy ending - they are so obviously in love - but I believe the arranged marriage can sometimes turn ugly.

Our evenings in Kovallam were spent at the sea-front restaurants gorging on delicious fresh fish. The food here truly is spectacular.

We spent New Years eve in Kovallam, which was an absolute non event...quite a shock to both our systems. There was no party because the police presence was so huge..there has been trouble in the past with westerners getting groped and pick-pocketed, etc so if any groups gathered in the beach the cops came and broke it up. Julia and I saw in the new year with a cup of milky chai.

After that we decided to move on.
next destination... Varkala... woke up early and took a train to get there which again, as is everything in India, is an experience in itself. They are ancient, rickety metal lumps that cart thousand of people everyday. The trains are divided into classes - we took 3rd as the distance was short. BUT for any long train trips I will definately work my way up to either 2nd AC or 1st. 3rd is really dirty. There is no space and you have people almost sitting on your lap. After an hour on the train, passing through exquisit back water scenery we arrived in Varkala.
Again, no accomodation booked so we put our trust in the Lonely Planet and went with Bamboo village. Luck for us it was right on the beach front complete with pretty potplants and hammocks overlooking the sea. It turns out Varkala is pure paradise and we were kicking ourselves for not coming here sooner. The whole place is set on a dramtic cliff with views of the ocean as far as you can see...really quite spectacular. Its beautiful, with gorgeous little shops and load of "like-minded travellers" - read: backpackers haven, and English yuppies.

It was in Varkala where we also met some travellers and shared some experiences with them....Leo and Uli, the most memorable gave good advice for our trip moving forward.

The rest of our time in Varkala was spent doing yoga, swimming, eating, walking, more swimming, and just chilling out. We also did a day trip to Ponmudi hill station which was a good change of scenery. The Hill Station is 3 hours one way. We were extravagant and hired a driver to take us there. When we got there we drove all the way to teh top of the hill passing rubber trees, cloves drying in the sun, cotton trees and tea plantations. It really is quite exquisite.

We then did a mini trek to a waterfall and back. Again, good change of scenery.
We then had lunch - Briyani - and drove all the way back to Varkala passing through the villages.

Varkala was incredible. Have totally unwound and am ready for what lies ahead