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Published: March 19th 2006
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To cap off our India visit, we arrived at Varkala for our stay of nine nights. If we could redo our itinerary (which is always easy in hindsight), we would have made an additional stop at one or two other locations (Hampi probably). Since Varkala is a more touristy beach scene (like Goa), we didn't need so much time...but don't worry, we were still happy with our slow days spent on the beach, in the cafes or on our porch's hammock. No complaints from us.
Varkala is not quite like Goa as the hotels and restaurants sit on a cliff and not directly on the beach. But like Goa, the restaurants are very touristy and overpriced - it is hard to find good (cheap) Indian meals here (we took the bus on three separate days into Varkala town to have authentic Indian). Unlike Goa, good accommodation is plentiful; this is mainly because mainly of the hotels are new.
We found a room in a small hotel (only four rooms) for a great price. It was owned by a very friendly family who cooked us breakfast on three occasions and dinner on two (prices were reasonable and food was much,
Milkman
Twice daily the milkman rode on his bicycle to deliver fresh milk much better than the retaurant options). There is nothing better than waking up, stepping out of the door and having tea and breakfast right there on the porch. The name of the hotel was Mummy House (Mummy is the family matron) but her son and wife are the hotel owners who took good care of us all week. One of the last days, the husband took us to the a Hindu festival at the nearby temple (along with his daughter and son) where we saw a procession of dancers, elephants and this huge float (being carried by 100+ men) circle the temple three times. There wasn't much space around the temple, so everytime the float came around to where we were standing, the crowd would disperse from the path of the float so they wouldn't get trampled - it was chaotic.
In general, we read, sipped fruity drinks at sunset, and saw a few movies (nightly double feature at a restaurant). We finally got a Kerala message (it's ayurvedic) which is simply a rub-down while completely doused (by this I mean head and hair all the way down) by oil. I'm sure the oil was very good for my
Our Drunk Cooking Instructors
Really only the guy in the front was drunk, the assistant was sober but managed to burn himself twice. skin but I felt greasy for two full days. And you're fully nude - no towel. Of course, they steer clear of your "area" but wanted to share just in case anyone had the intention of getting this massage. Now you know.
We've been noticing alot of protests very recently in Varkala town and in Trivandrum (see below) all related to Bush and his visit to India. No one likes Bush - everyone thinks he's an ass. But, for as much as I've noticed the disdain for US politics, we never encountered any anti-Americanism. The Indians we have encountered have always seemed to know the difference between being American and the US government.
On our second to last day in India, we took the train to Trivandrum to spend the night and next day (our flight left at 10:30pm). On the train, we met a very friendly mother and son who invited us to dinner at their home before our flight - we accepted their invitation quickly (home cooked Indian is the best). On the train ride, Arjut (the son) also made several restaurants recommendations which ended up being great meals as well. We arrived at their house
our second night in Trivadrum for dinner prior to our flight - they treated us to one of the best meals we've had in India. There was so much food! We spent a couple of hours talking and eating; it was a perfect ending to our two months in India.
Our last night (in Trivandrum), we stayed at the YWCA Guesthouse and that night I found the biggest roach in history, hanging out in the bathroom. My experience with the roaches allowed me to expertly capture this roach in the provided bathroom bucket. The next day (our last day) we spent a few hours at the Trivandrum zoo. We saw tigers (finally) leopards, hippos, rhincerous, monkeys and a bunch of other animals. Pretty good zoo as far as zoos go. We walked alot and toured most of the city.
There are still many places we'd like to see in India, mainly cities in the very north near Nepal like McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala and Amritsar and some cities in the south in Karnataka - Hampi and Mysore. But for now, we are leaving India and looking forward to having fun in Taiwan.
Jill subsequently realized that
the pink shirt that she had been wearing throughout India (because it was long-sleeved and conversative) was see-through. That might have explained some of the staring. Refer to pictures of pink shirt - it's not bad, but for India, it is not ideal. Kind of funny though.
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