Varkala

The most hair raising taxi ride yet took us from Kovalam to Varkala. The only good thing about it was that the car had darkened windows so people couldn't see the look of terror of our faces! Anyway we are here and very comfortable in a stylish four bedroom B&B. This is our only foray into life without a/c and luckily we have acclimatised enough not to miss it terribly, we have a good fan and a nice shady veranda with a sea breeze, our breakfast is served here, its lovely and peaceful.



We've visited the beach, gorgeous to look at and paddle in but not so good for swimming because of the rip tides so we dipped in at a local hotel pool yesterday. Faint echoes of the bombing at Mumbai resonated as our rickshaw was stopped at their security gate and our swimming bag inspected. It was worth it, we had a lovely day just wallowing, it seems ages since our pool frolics in Marari. On our way back we were taken to see bats, loads of them hanging in trees near a shrine stocked with fruit reached by walking around a pair of superfluous gates. I presume they are fruit bats, they were big and when disturbed by a call of chuck-cooo they flew silently above our heads in the tops of the coconut trees.



This morning we have visited a temple just around the corner. Janardhana Swami Temple. As non Hindus we are not allowed in most temples but this one lets us into the outer courtyard. Lots of people of all ages are there. Most people seemed to do a circuit or two of the shrines surrounding the temple before entering. The men and boys take their right arm out of their shirts and bare their shoulder on going in, I've got no idea why, maybe it is historical, something to do with showing they are not carrying arms. I put some money in a donation box near the ancient Banyan tree and felt entitled to give myself a dab of yellow powder on my forehead. There is a huge water tank at the bottom of the hill for the pilgrims to bathe in, I didn't fancy it just right then! Somewhere nearby there is meant to be a very ancient temple but we've not been able to locate it yet.







This afternoon we've both had an Ayurvedic massage. Unlike the one I had in Munnar there was no fire under the massage table and this table was slightly more comfy with a full length thin plastic covered cushion to lie on. There were two ladies massaging me in perfect unison, one each side of my body. Keith had two chaps. We both started off with a vigorous head massage. Keith said later that his was so thumpingly stimulating that he thought he could be brain damaged so he ran some pin numbers through his mind to check he hadn't lost any faculties! He is funny. No steam box to get the oil off this time, it was soap and a bucket and chuck it method!

We're off for a fish supper this evening looking over the Lakshadweep Sea. Lovely.

Moving On

Trivandrum Palace and Temple

Our last trip to Trivandrum was yesterday to collect Keith's jacket and to visit the palace and look at the temple.

Unfortunately we are going to miss an enormous festival which has got in the Guinness Book of Records I think for over 1,000,000 women cooking rice puddings. We could see the cooking pots all round the town and in the next day or two women will take their positions by the roadside to make sure they get a good spot for their cooking.





We couldn't go in Padmanabhaswamy temple, which is for Hindus only and covers more than 7 acres. We could look at the outside though which is being renovated and will be spectacular when they have finished washing the stone work.






We did look round the palace which is a couple of hundred years old and is where the Royal Family moved to from the large ancient palace we looked around on our way to Cape Coromin. You could see why they moved, it has larger rooms, less tortuous steps and is generally more accessible. This palace is still owned by the Royal Family, the present King who is a figurehead only now with no power is in his 80s., he still visits the adjacent temple everyday early in the morning.

Kovalam's beaches

We are moving on tomorrow and I'm trying to get as uptodate with my photos and blog entries as possible. In between jaunting around we spent time in Kovalam itself. It has the long town beach called Lighthouse beach, for obvious reasons. People gather here to watch the sun go down, do a bit of shopping in the maze of little sandy lanes behind the beach shops and eat in the plentiful beach side restaurants. The little lanes get very hot and sticky as the sea breeze does not really penetrate, you have to do quick in and out trips. I visited my tailors in their little wooden shacks, I've had a pair of below the knee trousers made, a full length pair of trousers and a couple of tops, so I'm already for the summer. Keith had a couple of shirts made.









The next beach along is Hawah beach. We watched the fishing nets being pulled in here and got dropped at this beach by rickshaw on our way to Lighthouse Beach, which is pedestrianised, in the evenings.






Around the headland from Hawha beach is the beach nearest to us with the Mosque on the sands. Our house is on the ridge amidst the coconut trees just to the left of the mosque flag.



A little further on from the mosque, around a little rocky outcrop, is a beach we call the Lobster Pot beach because of the restaurant there with that name, which is good for lunch - spot the cow among the rocks!

Keralean folk dancing

It was a Muslim day of celebration yesterday. The school with orphanage attached near us processed to the mosque on the beach and did Keralean folk dancing on the way. We hardly ever hear them but last week we did catch faint sounds of what we now know to be them practicing their Kolkali routine. The folk dancing wasn't a million miles different from our Morris Dancing back home, sticks were hit, ribbons fluttered, it was very rhythmic, highly patterned and required a lot of concentration from the boys, who were brilliant, not a missed hit amongst them. The younger lads did a dance beating out time on tambourines while doing an elaborate sort of square dance, I thought it was called something like Dhaharamutti but I could be wrong. Maybe its all a form of Kolkali, the dance the older boys were doing.

Henna Hand

We passed Majitha's house yesterday while walking to the beach and met her daughter Surumi and grandson Asif. Majitha waters the plants twice a day at our house. Amongst the palms on the roof terrace she also grows peppers in a pot - they are delicious just the right temperature, not too fiery but with a little poke!



Surumi does henna and came to paint my hand that evening. When I asked her how she learnt to do this she said off the internet!







The henna comes ready mixed in a little packet which cost about 10Rs - about 14p. She snipped the end off which made it into a little piping bag and away she went. She started with the flower opposite my thumb and worked her way down and across finishing with my little finger.


I had to leave the henna paste on for two hours then pick it off and rub in a couple of drops of coconut oil - I used olive oil.



She said it would be darker in the morning, which it was, and that it would last a week and a half.


I love it!

Happy Birthday!

On Morgan's birthday we went to Trivandrum for Keith's jacket fitting at Duron tailors which coincidentally was his late birthday present from me. Its going to be really lovely and should last him years, if not forever. We'll pick it up on Tuesday.

We thought we would have a bit more of a look around the town and decided to head out to the Botanical Gardens which are on the other side of town from the tailors. There was gridlock on the MG Road (Mahatma Gandhi Road) around The Secretariat, the rather swish 1930s government offices, as there were several demonstrations, most seemed to be for better pay and conditions.

St. Josephs Cathedral looked very sparkling white and very big. We didn't stop to investigate if it was painted white or was made out of a white stone, either way it seems sensible to try and reflect as much heat off the buildings as poss. to keep it cooler inside. On past the University brick buildings in a green leafy setting, they reminded us of Harvard a bit.

Finally we reached the Botanical Gardens which were beautiful. Set in the centre was The Art Museum - formerly the Napier Museum built in the 1880s. Inside there was a stunning collection of Buddha carvings, metalwork, exquisite ivory carvings, Thai shadow puppets, Balinese masks, old coins and so on. I was fairly gobsmacked to realise that Greek classical art had extended its influence as far as India as early as the second century BC and here were fine examples of Greco Buddhist art, Buddhas with beautifully draped costumes and cherubs with parrots adorned a later Royal carriage in the Sree Chitra Enclave. Came away enthralled.









Time for a quick egg biriani in the gardens before finding a quiet shady spot to phone Morgan and wish her a happy birthday before she goes to school - this involves both of us singing down the phone. We had just punched in the numbers when what seemed like an entire school, all super smart in their brown and white uniforms, thought our shady spot looked like a good place for their picnic! We managed - goodness knows what they thought of these two sweaty old codgers singing into a phone!