Dreams Beach Resort Varkala

... t much to write about the last 10 days, apart from that our daily routine consisted of getting up and having coffee, having a museli and fruit brunch in a cafe overlooking the dolphin-encrusted sea, a two to three hour yoga session on the roof of the Silver Estate guesthouse, back to our room for a shower, and then a delicious meal in a very friendly, if rather reggae-heavy, ambience.

All of the food there was good, but the vegetable biriyani deserves a ...

... days to relax and flood the kids with western food before we head north. Goa or Varkala? in the end, Varkala won out. After a truly frightening 3 hour taxi ride (I kid you not, I thought we were going to die and the kids and I were in the back seat without seat belts - have a laugh at that Darryl:) we arrived at this cliff side beach town. After nixing the top Trip Advisor recommendation (Marine Palace -rooms OK, property scuzzy) that ...

... the coconuts free with his knife. Some of his buddies were shrieking in approval and racing in to collect the fruits, some of which had split open on impact. We waited on the path until all the fruits were down, these coconuts can be lethal. According to some experts and often talked about in travellers tales is the fact / myth that 150 people die every year due to falling coconuts (which is apparently 15 times the amount of people who are shark food). When the ...

... alcohol is semi- illegal. Most places have it but its served in a tea pot with tea cups. That way if the police walk by everything looks kosher. One cafe did not even bother with tea pots they had a look-out that would whistle if they spotted the police. Everyone would put their bottles under the table. I can't believe the policemen are not ...

... to become the norm and over the next few days, as I talked to more and more people, it was apparent that most of the Ashram's inhabitants shared this same devotion to her. Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma) spends only four months a year at the Ashram, the rest of her time spent touring around the globe. It is unfortunate that she is currently off on one of her tours now, so we will not get the chance to meet her. I admit, I am a ...

... hatte Badewannentemperatur und auch sonst war alles sehr entspannt. Was man hier auch sehr schoen beobachten konnte war folgendes. Da indische Maenner anscheinend ziemliche Gaffer sind und sie es insbesondere an die westlichen Touristinnen in Bikinis abgesehen haben (indische Frauen gehen meist in voller Montur schwimmen), patrolliert hier am Strand immer ein Polizist mit Trillerpfeife und Schlagstock. Er haelt dann durch pfeifen und Schlagstockwedeln die ...

I: Since the last entry we've been through a lot and we've visited many places, although quite quickly, because we're starting to fell the pressure of changing countries. Our flight to Singapore is next thursday, and we still have a whole lot of plans before leaving India. Palolem was a nice beach, but after a lot of western tourists we needed some real India again, and the best way of getting it is travelling by train (all the people staring att us really brings us back to the feeling ...

... lassoed with marigold garlands. Once I'd recovered and explained the term "hayfever" to Sanjit it was time to depart. Em just thought to check the beer was onboard - so distrustful of anybody being capable of anything!! A mad panic, however, ensued and Sanjit made a quick call to Shaida then hurriedly leapt into a rickshaw with a cry of "wait just five minutes please - there is no beer on this ship!" There are moments that make me love my wife a bit more and this was one - the ...

... aan die koeien gevraagd wat zij daarvan vonden. Aangezien we hier weer effe aan 't strand liggen, en een beetje meer tijd hebben, heb ik dan maar een van de edele runderen geinterpelleerd. Weinig succes want ze loeien natuurlijk in 't hindi.. maar daarna met tolk lukte het dan toch. Blijkt: de koeien zijn zich stillaan aan 't organiseren om in de politiek te gaan. Hun voornaamste argument hiervoor is dat het ...

... inside and get to walk around instead of standing in the street and asking the shopkeep to get the items for you. Its fun to shop that way sometimes, but when you don't know what they have, its hard to know what you could get. I found out by wandering around the "supermarkets" in Kollam, that there are two different detergent cakes for washing whites and colors. My failed attempt to get the pizza stain out of my white meditation outfit with the ...