The choice between heat exhaustion or malaria

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So we arrived in Varkala (north cliff) with the hope of a well deserved beach break (after not working for 3 months, yeah right). On arrival the place looked like everything we wanted, the sea, restaurants that sort of looked clean and shops. We decided to take a gamble and book into the mother palace guesthouse, which had ok reviews on hostelworld, but none on our favourite resource, trip advisor. When we got there all we wanted was a cold shower as it was absolutely boiling that day, and with around 8 hours of travel under our belts we could no longer blame the smell on nearby people.

Our room was nice and had a good view from the balcony to the sea. We only paid around £5 between us too. We were happy, until night time. After our meal at the sunrise resort, accompanied by some amazing slushy mojitos. The first real drinks we have had in a longtime. We were ready for bed. Back to the hotel. Our room was now about maybe 1 degree lower in temperature than a steam room!! It was one of those heats where you instantly start to drip. It was ridiculous. So there was the dilemma, do we open the windows and get bitten, or leave them shut and boil. After a few minutes with the windows shut, we decided to load up on repellant and take the pain. Still unbearably hot and feeling the bites all over, spirits were low.



There was one thing that was saving us from total meltdown. The fan. Spinning so fast, if I put my hand in this one it would of come off. (read about that on our site www.loladayonholiday.com) I am always a bit wary of having them on their full setting as they wobble quite a bit, and with some of the places we have stayed, the workmanship is not always great. But this time it was not coming off maximum.

After sort of half falling asleep we awoke to a burning feeling. Yep it was our skin!! The %@*#ing fan has broken. Bloody India!!! I think I had a meltdown of my own at this moment, as our promise of paradise and a nice break after the filth of northern India, was slowly fading. I can't do justice to how hot it was, but the hottest day in England, locked in a conservatory with a heater on full blast, in a jumper is probably as close as you can imagine it. Now panicking a bit, as there was definitely a concern of heat stroke. We decided to both have a cold shower at 2 in the morning. The shower could of been colder, but then getting into bed without drying seemed to cool us down enough to get at least a few hours sleep.



After me generally being Grouchy and cursing the choice to pick a place with no reviews on tripadvisor, we both decided to check out first thing and get air con. The next morning I forced myself out of bed at 8 (tough life) and found the manger. By this time the fact of having no sleep and the room still being boiling, I had no time for the cultural politeness/sensitivity they love to go on about in the lonely planet. I found the manager and advised the gentleman in probably an angry tone that we are checking out today. Then the argument started. We had made the error again of pressing two nights on the booking page, and paying a deposit, so we had to stay. I was so mad at myself and him, and asked him in probably a more grouchy way, why his stupid fan had stopped working and that we wanted air con. He just did the Indian head wobble and said it was working now. Ahhhhhh!!! Nothing is easy in India. So I stormed back up to the room, told Laura the bad news and went back to sleep till 11.



When we got up still tired, we decided to go house hunting. Unlike our friends, who when doing the same, told everyone their names were Kirsty and Phill, we kept our standard names. Where we are staying is just one big cliff with restaurants and hotels perched along. Just a short walk down this road is met with offers of massages and rooms, so finding another one wasn't hard. But that's another story.



The beach here, like the rest of India, looks nice, but on closer inspection is covered with pockets of rubbish. The sea is really rough so unswimmable really, and no chance of surfing as the current is pretty dangerous. In the end this makes you sad, as so many places could be so nice, but the locals seem to not care and will just toss rubbish over the cliff and into the sea. This makes for some pretty dirty sea, and the constant attack of plastic bags round your feet as you paddle out. Pretty disgusting really. But the lesson for us is that it just makes you appreciate the other amazing beaches that we have visited in oz and Thailand more. With these blogs I think it's nice to gve an honest review of the place rubbish and all.



Other than that, the news from me is that I am now a paranoid, anxiety ridden eater. After loosing any weight I put on over chrimbo, with the multiple Xmas dinners. I am being extremely picky with the places I choose to eat, as the thought of another Delhi Belly session, is far outweighing the need to risk eating unless sure of the place.

That is all for now I think



Till next time.

Jonny

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