Varkala and Kovalam

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It seems that when I updated this blog last time it didn't send out an email to tell people. Not sure why some technical problem with the site. It all seems to be working now so before you read this you might want to read the last blog "Fort Cochin" first so it makes some sense....if it ever does.

So anyway after Fort Cochin and Alleppey I moved south down the coast to Varkala. Theres not much there just sea, beach, cliff face and a whole load of reataurants and shops running along the cliff path. Part of the beach is holy to the Hindus where they come to give offerings to their dead relatives. Not sure what they think to a load of bikini clad tourists sunning themselves all over the place.

Not surprisingly being 50 yards from the sea fish is the order of the day at all of the restaurants. So in my four days there I had Red Snapper, Butter fish, Sword fish and Grouper all either tandoori or wrapped in banana leaves and barbecued and all very very nice. Would probablly spent a little longer there but had already booked a place even further down the coast at Kovalam.

It was only a short run down the coast so I took a taxi which for that sort of distance is pretty cheap and alot easier and less hastle than the bus/train. I had one of the famous old Hindustan Ambassadors (based on an old morris oxford) that was first made in 1958 and has changed very little in all that time. Also got with it a driver who could actually drive which is always a bonus in India as most drivers seem to have got their licence from a lucky bag and don't bother about minor inconveniences like traffic lights, pedestrians, other road users or the highway code.

Almost all vechiles here have various religious icons on the dashboard depending on the religion of the driver sometimes so many that you can hardly see out of the windscreen. My driver had a picture of Jesus, a statue of the hindu god Ganesh and a model of a mosque in a plastic dome!! Now theres a man hedging his bets.

I was staying at what turned out to be a fantastic place quite a bit up the hill from the beach. They sent me very exact instruction on how to get there as it was a bit out of the way. Somehow I managed to get compleatly lost and spent an hour traipsing about the small paths of the hillside in boiling temps carring all my gear. The place doesn't advertise or have a sign so nobody seemed to have the foggiest idea where it was. I was starting to get all a bit wobbly due to the heat and dehydration when an Italian lady overheard me asking a local for directions (who didn't know) and luckily she did know the way. Good job as i was getting close to keeling over. But in the end it was well worth it as I had a great time in Kovalam.

One odd thing about the place is that alot of the restaurants dont have an alcohol licence so you get your beer in a giant tea mug and the bottle wrapped in newspaper and hidden under your table. It was the same with most of the places in Varkala. I cant believe that the police walking by dont know whats going on when they see a load of drunk tourists drinking brown foamy stuff out of a tea cup with a not very well hidden bottle.

So have now left Kovalam and moved down to the tip of India. More about that next time I write.

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