Kanyakumari - the bottom tip!

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There's some sort of mental significance to making it to the very bottom, and it's not a bad little place. The bus stand was right next to the train station in Nagercoil and let us right off at our hotel. We had to sway around in the aisle with our bags on until some people got off and cleared a seat, but it cost about 6 Rs for the 20 minute ride - not quite 2 cents. We stayed at the Seaview; not budget but one of the nicest hotels for the price that we've encountered in India.

The place is small but jammed with Indian tourists, I think it's a popular spot to visit and also of some religious significance. The many stalls sell the most total junk we've yet encountered; it reminds me of Wasaga beach back home. If you get down to the shore, you do get the impression of the water wrapping around on three sides. A stone's throw offshore are two small stone islands, each with a monument atop; one a modern yet very well done stone monument to a famous pilgrim who received his life's inspiration while sitting there. The other an excellent looking colossal statue of a renown Tamil poet made of giant stone blocks. It evokes the statue of liberty. Two rusty tubs shuttle people from the mainland to each in turn.

We got up early to see the sunrise. Well overdue, my head nodding, it finally burned meekly through the haze without any of the anticipated colour. Undaunted, we set out that evening for Sunset point, where many others had also gathered (there's not much to do in town). Sunset was equally unimpressive! Oh well.

I tried to locate the southernmost point, but it wasn't obvious. I think it was a small rocky shoal just beyond the two big islands. The shore seems to appear abruptly here. The red soil and scrub suddenly ending in a small line of rocks at the sea edge.

We had one of the camera memory cards stop when half full (nothing lost), so I'm burning a DVD for the first time to free up room - a few pictures to come. Also, on the tech note, I'd planned to try banking at some point using a bootable Unix live CD - it has almost worked on a couple of occasions, but I've so far been foiled by lack of a CD rom, a dialup internet connection, or insufficient monitor resolution. We've done all our banking by phone, but the phones here seem to record all of the buttons that you punch in - so we've been banking by phone but verbally confirming our identity which is working ok.

Now on to Kovalam in Kerala, beach and ayurveda.

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