Goodbye Kovalam, hello Kumari!

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We left Kovalam Tuesday morning. It would have been too easy to stay there, but things to do, places to see.

We had befriended a fellow guest at Sun Flower, a Swiss guy called Phillipe. He is 34 years old, and when he discovered we are exactly yhe same age as his parents, he was a bit gobsmacked. Then he more or less adopted us. He was a bit like an abandoned puppy, but it was quite sweet.

He also planned to go to Varkala, our next port of call. So I booked a taxi for Tuesday morning to take us to Trivandrum station, where we could get a train. Of course the taxi driver tried to persuade us taht the train takes 2 1/2 hours, but he could take us all the way to Varkala for 'just 1500 rupees'. Well, the train takes about 35 minutes, and the price? 30 rupees each! And that's on the New Delhi express. Though how fast other trains might go is a matter of some conjecture. We sat with an Indian army officer, who was very chatty. We were on 2nd class tickets, but he told us not to worry. He was going all the way to New Delhi - a journy of 48 hours!! That really is a train ride.

Trivandrum station is a hoot. Yes, there is a footbridge, but I thing that is for the sensiblities of the Westerners. The locals just jump off the platform and stroll acroos the tracks - much faster! And while we waited on our train, if a train came into the next platform, passengers would jump down to the tracks from one train, and clamber onto the other; in both directions! And the trains were usually going different ways anyway! Beyond comprehension.

Anyway, we arrived in Varkala, and as arranged with the owner of the guesthoiuse we had booked, we called him, and he sent a tuktuk to meet us - posh, eh? 10 minutes later, we arrived at Sea Splendour, on Odayam beach, away from the madding crowd, and shown to our room, looking over the garden with its coconut, pineapple, papaya a,d jackfruit trees, and down to the sea. Landing on our feet yet again! The guidebook was out of date. The retired teacher who used to own it, and who cooked all the wonderful food, had dies about 3 years ago, but his son was now running things. Just the cooking was missing, but a breakfast of fresh fruit from the garden, yoghurt and freshly ground coffe went some way to make up for this. Most of the other guests are Italian, and delightful.

The beach is just so peaceful, and a little cafe right on the sand for a quick refreshing drink when the temperature hits the mid 30s (sorry!). The hotel offers a tuktuk service to and from the town, as we are a bit out of the way, but we found that a half hour walk along the North Cliff took us straight to the heart of the town. So that's what we did. A restaurant called Oottopurwm is right their at the cliff top. Sit in the garden, underneath the fairy light strewn cashew tree, and eat veggie food to die for! Heaven.

When Stef and Sara were here 18 months ago, they befriended a lady called Kumari, who is a legendary cook. Stef gave us some idea of how to find her, and gave us a photo to help. And find her we did! Yesterday morning, we met her, and booked to have dinner there last night. The start time was 7.30, but as the place is virtually impossible to find in the dark, she told us to arrive around 6:30, and sit in the garden.

There were 4 other guests last night. A French couple who live in China, and 2 eccentric (very) English; Angel (christened Angela, but Angel is her 'spiritual name'). She is from Chard. Spencer, on the other hand is from 'the world'. I don't think he has much truck with artificial boundaries. He started the converstional ball rolling by asking why Kumari should think that raita is vegetarian; he got quite heated about it. Amusing, really. Then he told us he was going to move to France, as there were fewer mobile masks (his word!) there.

There was a snuffling sound just behind us for the whole evening, but it was so dark we only knew it was a cow from the smell - but actually cows are sweet smelling, so that was fine.

And the food. OK, I have run out of superlatives. The quality, and the quantity, was just amazing. Huge bowls of steamed rice, and about 12 different vegetable dishes, some hot with spice, some more subtle, but all fantastic. All served on banana leaves, and eaten with fingers. Divine.

Afterwards, we walked back along the cliff path, in the pitch black night. We made it, but only just a couple of times!

Today we braved the Indian rail system and booked our tickets from Goa to Mumbai next month. Our last journey before our flight home. And we get a 30% discount because we are old and respectable. Well, one out of two ain't bad!

Off to Allepy tomorrow.

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