God's own country

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  Varkala, Kerala, India
Friday, December 29, 2006

Kerala is known, by Keralans, as 'God's Own Country'. Probably in much the same way that numerous English counties proudly refer to themselves as: "[insert name of county], the Garden of England"; and in the same way as countless cities round the world talk about themselves as: "[insert name of country] - the Venice of the [North]" just because they have the odd canal.

That said, Kerala is rather nice.  And, if you were to hold me to the point, I'd be willing to wager that the big man upstairs did indeed have a hand in its creation.  However, since logic would then inexorably require that he was also responsible for Milton Keynes, it's hardly a compelling argument.

Anyway, the bit of Kerala we're in right now, Varkala, is both very beautiful and very holy

01 Travelling in style

.  It's a beachside paradise combined with a sacred Hindu pilgrimage site (think Canterbury Cathedral plonked down in the middle of Blackpool - but warmer obviously and without Blackpool's proliferation of bananas and coconuts).  This is where we will be seeing out our last few days in India.
 
The journey down here from the hills was comparatively blissful.  We again shelled out for a taxi for the first part of the journey (this time only 15 quid - maybe the petrol costs are negligible and the driver just puts it in neutral and trusts all to the handbrake and the donation he makes to the church warden at the top of the hill?).  We got to Kottayam just in time to catch an express train south which pulled in to Varkala just 2 hours later; in time for us to get a room, have a swim and watch the sunset.  A nice Czech couple we'd met in Kumily did the same journey by local bus and it took them all day just to get to a place 25km north of here (they had to finish the jouney the next day); so the price of the taxi effectively bought us an extra day here.
 
The travelling's over for now and we can at last relax (properly, I mean. Ahem).  Sheer red cliffs look down over a beach of pure yellow that inches into a roiling blue sea; they appear to have come straight from a child's picture book - drawn with just 3 primary-colour crayons

02 Varkala beach

.  There is some real surf here (unlike in Goa) and boogie-boarders vie with bodysurfers and even a few actual surfers for space in the waves.  The cliffs above the beach are where all the restaurants, guesthouses, internet cafes, and Ayurvedic Massage parlours are located (being the four pillars of the classic Indian traveler's destination).  With all this within a few minutes walk from our simple, but friendly, guesthouse, the formula for our days is not hard to imagine:
7am wake up; 7.45am have breakfast; 8.30am swim in the sea; 10am read; 1pm eat lunch; 2pm read; 3.30pm swim in the sea; 4pm eat pineapple on the beach; 5pm read (or, if feeling guilty, write overlong blog entry); 6pm drink sundowners; 7.30pm eat dinner; 11pm go to bed; 7am (repeat as required).  (T)

Love all, T&R
 

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