Advertisement
Published: March 27th 2013
Edit Blog Post
Hauling in the net
This was real action as opposed to the statues in Buzios Kovalam
After breakfast we took a tuk-tuk to Kovalam negotiating a return price with Del Boy the driver. The drive to Kovalam takes about twenty minutes but we were taken to a shop en route however we did not succumb to buying anything. We were surprised how pretty Kovalam beach looked with two bays fringed with shops and restaurants. We managed to spend about £80 of rupees just browsing I can't imagine how much we would have spent if we had been serious. It's a great spot for breakers and surfing although no one was taking it seriously. It was the end of the season and everyone was allegedly selling at discount rates. Our marble beach purchase of 400 rupees was selling at 250 rupees in the beach shops, still we had to travel to town so maybe not much in it, great how you convince yourself you have a bargain. There are two lighthouses at the end of the bay and fishermen were hauling their nets in, which was fun to watch. We stopped for fresh OJ so lovely and inexpensive and then we were enticed in to a cafe with the words cappuccino. However no machine we haven't had
a real coffee since Agra and Costa Coffee. The guy assured us it was good coffee and after some wait it arrived and wasn't bad, not good, just wasn't bad. Not feeling hungry we returned to the hotel for a late lunch and we sat next to a young Ukrainian lad about half the size of the Eiffel Tower who turned out to be a professional boxer. We also chatted to some people who lived in Tunbridge but they didn't know Marion and Stuart. After lunch a quick visit to the library to restock our reading and a relax by the pool. There was a thunderstorm of sorts mid afternoon and it rained for two minutes then the clouds rolled away, I expect we will get worse at home. An evening meal at the hotel made a relaxing end to the day.
We went to the beach this morning and the waves were huge. It was cooler on the beach and we relaxed and read under the shade of an umbrella. Steve couldn't sit still for long so went for a swim, I soon lost sight of him as Joan and Dave from Epsom were talking to me. About
twenty minutes went by and finally he emerged having been swept down the bay, he hadn't swam much just got carried along by the current. Then when he tried to emerge he got hit by a wave which knocked him over and he felt like he had been in a washing machine, except he hadn't come out clean, he was still sunburnt. Still he wasn't hurt at all but amazed at how the strength of the waves had changed in a few days. We walked along the beach and a girl was caught in the surf and Steve helped her out, what a sweetie, nah she had a nice bum he said! It was feeling very hot so we walked back to the hotel and went for a swim in the pool near the beach. Steve had his Sports centre hat on and complained about the state of the water, well it made your eyes sting so we didn't stay there but returned and showered and went for lunch. I really fancied tomato salad which wasn't on the menu but I asked and they made it which was great. Spent a lazy afternoon reading and did a bit of washing
then got ready to go to town. We took a tuk-tuk to the beach area and then wandered along the front. It's difficult to just wander as everyone asks you to visit their restaurant or buy something. We took a detour along the back streets and found a shoemaker who asked if I could take off my shoe as he wanted to make a copy which he did. He then tried to sell us some leather flip flops but wasn't persistent. That's what we have found about the people in Kerala, if you say 'No' they go away. It got quite hot walking down the side streets and we felt we were getting a bit lost but eventually they returned to the sea.We stopped at Santana restaurant because we liked the music and had a delicious meal of grilled prawns, tomato salad, nan bread followed by banana pancakes with ice cream. We watched the waves and thought that should we come back here we would stay in Kovalam not outside as there are so many restaurants to choose from and we like the sea view. We chatted to a couple from Denmark, it's so good everyone knows how to speak
English. We returned and got our tuk-tuk, second scary thing of the day. It gets dark at about seven and there are pretty lights everywhere as they are getting ready for the festival. There is also music blaring out at various points en-route and traffic! however we get back to the hotel in one piece and pay our driver. Including a tip its 550 rupees for him to take us there, wait, and bring us back, about £7 for 4 hours work, not a lot methinks, still he seems happy and so we wind our way down the path to our room. It is still warm at 10 so we are grateful for our air conditioning set at 23 we are finding it too cold so we just have the fan on, oh dear how are we going to cope with 1 degree Celsius? Good news for the day, I can now raise my arm above my head, its almost back to normal, thanks for the exercises Lea.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.063s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0433s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Bus Booking
non-member comment
Nice photos. Is it really a good place for family vacation? Travelyaari providing bus services in India. You can book your bus tickets on Travelyaari. http://www.travelyaari.com/