Varkala

After starting many of the other entries with things along the lines of "after a trouble free journey", "after a straightforward flight" heres one that is a bit different.


Yes, the flight down to Cochin was ok. An hour late but that pretty much counts as on time here. In the interests of time we then went the wallet splurge route of a taxi straight to Varkala Beach, a distance of about 200km, sharing with a girl Sarah who we'd met at the airport.


All well and good for the first half then the driving standards slipped, the speed dropped, cyclists were narrowly avoided, we were uneasy. When it came to a bridge with options to travel over it or take the sharp left turn and follow the riverbank our driver took option three - the concrete barrier inbetween. Fortunately for all of us Tom was quick to react, launching forward from the back seat, steering the car onto the bridge and shouted the driver back awake.


We were all quite grateful to be unhurt, the driver was pleased too and bought us cokes as a thankyou for averting whatever would have happened and I swapped position with the rucksack on the front seat to keep a close watch on him for the rest of the journey. It's difficult to know someone is sleeping if, like this chap, they do it without closing their eyes.


We eventually arrived the wrong side of midnight and after a bit of searching due to a rubbish map found the place we were after, waking the owner who fortunately had a room.


After taking a look at things in the daytime we decided we'd stay for three more nights, most of the remaining time in Kerala. The thing that swung it was the beach or more specifically the sea. I've never been anywhere better for a bit of bodysurfing and we spent hours in the sea each day mastering the art on consistently good waves. The weather was nothing special, overcast mostly, and the first rain we'd seen since the UK.


The routine breakfast - swim - lunch - swim - dinner - beer worked on the first day so we kept with it. Most of the restaurants that line the cliffs are unlicensed but beer is generally available, served in a teapot with cups to keep things discreet. The food was on the whole excellent, a Tibetan run place "Trattorias" being particular worthy of a mention not just for its food but the friendly staff. Tom had his "best curry ever" moment in Kolkata, I had mine at Trattorias with their Fish Shahi Korma.


For the journey back north to Cochin we chose the train.

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