Kerela, a different world

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And so we arrived in Kerala. Nowhere to stay, no idea of where we would stay. But at worst we could sleep on the beach, and the beach is so stunningly beautiful it would not have been a bad option.

We loaded our packs on our backs, and walked down from the bus stand to the beach; and there we got our first real glimpse of the Arabian Sea in all its glory. And it was so hot, and the sea itself was hotter than I usually have my bath water!

And once again, we fell on our feet. Within about 5 minutes, we had found a guesthouse about 50 yards from the beach, and knocked down the owner (not literally!) from 700 rupees to 600 rupees for the first night. A big roon, a big ceiling fan, a nice bathroom, a balcony where we could (and did) sit at night listening to the sea. And cable TV if we got bored with the sea (we didn't).

At first, I was not too happy with Kovolam. We had got so used to Tamil Nadu, and I had fallen in love with this side of India. Suddenly we were in a tourist resort, where the Westerners outnumbered the locals by a huge margin. And frankly not necessarily the westerners I would particularly want to mix with. We had been mixing with other backpackers, and they are basically a great bunch of people. The Kovolam tourists don't even manage to look as if they are enjoying themselves. And I had got so used to the diet in Tamil Nadu, all dhal and masalas, roti, paratha, chapati. And here everything is multi-cuisine. If thet can do burgers, fish and chips, and pizza, why would they spend too much time making authentic Southern Indian vegetarian food? So in the end, we found a bar, and to our delight, not only was ice-cold Kingfisher about half the price we had paid in Mammalapuram (at 60 rupees, less that a pound for 600 ml), but the waiter kept us supplied with bowls of delicious channa (chickpeas). So we ended up not having anything else to eat! Just strolled back down the beach to the hotel, and sat on the balcony thinking life ain't bad!

Next time will be about the hotel upgrade. Watch this space.

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Comments

[Pat Kehoe]

Channa
Presumably plenty of sea breezes to dissipate the obvioius 'windy' effects of pulses! All sounds great fun! Bye Love Pat

[Laura]

so far so good
What a fantastic account of your travels.. I feel weak at the knees reading about the bus trip. So glad you seem to be enjoying it all and that you're finding nice places to stay. Laura