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Published: December 8th 2011
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So, morning dawned bright and crisp, or not. Kind of more like dull, hot and humid, but what the hell. So we dragged ourselves down to breakfast at the SP Grand Days and then packed up our stuff to check out. Rather than braving the insane humidity and heat to walk down to the Central Railway station in Trivandrum, we got a cab. Of course once we got to the station it became apparent just how warm the day was going to be. We got tickets on the next express train to Varkala and set off to attempt to find out where we were supposed to get on the train. Our first exposure to the Indian rail system was interesting to say the least, we went 'general compartment' which was nice and cheap (21 rupees each) but did result in us having to do battle with a mob of cheerfully shoving Indian people (as Tess observed it was about 98% men) to get into the carriage and resulted in us standing up 90% of the way to Varkala (Tess 100%). That said it was a definite experience. Sweaty, smelly experience, but experience nonetheless!
With the help of a couple of
First class?
Guess again!!!! obliging older Indian guys we jumped off the train at the right stop at Varkala. Its a very different place to Trivandrum, it's reasonably touristy but still manages to keep a bit of the traditional vibe going. We wandered out of the station to be verbally accosted by at least 3 different taxi touts before we'd gone 10 metres, after ploughing through the mass we got our bearings. There's no pre-paid taxi vouchers here so not really much insulation against being ripped off but we managed to fit ourselves and our packs into an auto (quite an accomplishment) and set off towards the north cliff of Varkala and our booking at Cliff Manor. The auto drivers apparently are pretty good at ignoring where you want to go and dumping you off near accomodation owned by their friends, but we managed to get to the north cliff and find that access to Cliff Manor involved walking about 15 insanely hot and sweaty minutes back along the clifftop path to find it just as we were about to give up and collapse into a heap. Of course, this is India so our adventure didn't end there. Tess had booked a top floor
Varkala Lunch View
Not too bad really... room with allegedly a decent view, but the guy took us to a jail cell room downstairs, saying that the people in the room we'd reserved had decided to stay an extra night and that we could have the room we'd booked tomorrow. Taking a brief look around the room (and Aisha has seen national parks huts with better amenities) a decision was made to eff that off and we bailed in search of better digs.
Staggering back up the cliftop path (which is pretty precariously close to the edge with no guardrail most of the time), moments from collapse/combustion/melting, we found a place called Thanal and after having a look at the room (huge, top floor with a front line view of the ocean and private balcony) we figured we probably weren't going to do much better. Dumping our gear, we headed back down along the path to find somewhere to eat lunch, since it was now about 3pm.
Varkala town is about 2km away and is the usual busy, sweaty chaos, but the beach area is actually pretty low key. A footpath winds along the cliff and next to it are two story restaurants with open
Sunset
Over the Arabian Sea fronts (to make the most of the view), the various accommodations and a range of little stalls and shops selling clothes, jewellery and anything else that may grab the tourist's magpie eye. There seem to be a fair few Tibetans here, which is interesting, and the place we ate at, Clafouti, was run (or at least staffed) by Tibetan guys. The other choice, of course, was the Sea Queen Multi Cushion Restaurant, their sign advertising all the many cushions they offer - Italian, Chinese, Tibetan, Thai.... As we ate our lunch (pizza) and appreciated the top floor view from the restaurant which is perched about 3 metres back from the cliff edge, we felt the first incoming gusts of the seabreeze and we're sure a collective sigh of relief could be heard halfway across the world. That seabreeze is Tess' new Lord and Saviour. Finishing lunch pretty late we went back and reclined in the comparative comfort of the room till it cooled down enough to emerge onto the balcony for the sunset. Perched up on our balcony with our feet up on the railing we watched the sun slowly sink like an angry red spot into the sea. Not
Cliff Path
The main tourist drag at Varkala... the most spectacular sunset but our first over the ocean!
After flaking out for a few hours we headed out again in search of some dinner. We strolled along the cliff path and saw all the restaurants had the catch of the day laid out - beautiful frsh fish, crab, squid and prawns. Aisha pushed for a bit of a walk first, but here at least it makes it a little difficult to enjoy a quiet walk when every 5 metres along the path is someone else gently harrassing you to buy their clothes, eat at their restaurant or something else. At this point the possibility of a T-shirt that says in huge letters 'No: I'm Not Buying' could be a lifesaver.
Dinner was fantastic and as Tess said at the time, it did provide a fair bit of vindication for how good the room service food at the hotel in Trivandrum was, cause they were basically on par. Tess ate Keralan Crab Thoran (sort of like flaked crab meat, vegies and spices mooshed over rice), and Aisha went for the Keralan Boatman's Fish Curry. The place had a live music act to match its name, the (Aussie
Nature's Mozzie Coil...
Complete with the pitter patter of tiny suckered feet... owned we think?) Rock & Roll Cafe. Though the music was more along the lines of the traditional Indian violin and tabla than anything resembling rock and/or roll. We also risked causing an International incident when a small swarm of obnoxiously American tourists rocked up to the place and caused, in Tess' words a 'fish-mergency! fish-mergency!' with their desire that each of the 16 be able to order whatever fish or seafood they want and that if the restaruant couldn't guarantee that people could get exactly what they wanted, they were going to leave ("Buddy. Unless you go and buy some more fish Right. Now. We're leaving. You get that, buddy? . I just don't want someone settling for prawns when they actually want fish, yeah buddy?") After spending a few minutes fervently hoping they'd do just that and take their smug sense of entitlement elsewhere, Tess could contain her laughter at their ridiculousness no more and we decided to depart for pastures less americanised.
We arrived back to our room to find that the place had an even better insect solution than the tiny plug-in spray bottle of repellant that connects to
the wall socket - a little gecko had installed itself near the light-fitting on the wall and was flitting around looking for prey. Since Vanuatu, Aisha has considered the installation of a 'room gecko' or multiples thereof to be about the best low maintainance and least annoying insect repellent solution available. So we turned in for the night to the sound of waves crashing against the cliff some 50 vertical metres away. Aisha, with a sense of relaxation that any mosquitos would be delicious gecko bait and Tess with an impending sense of horror and anticipation of the feel of tiny sucker pads on her face overnight.
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