Sunday, April 22, 2007

Thunder and Lightening

So, when I last left you, I was sweltering away in an internet cafe in Trivandrum. I am still sweltering away, but now we have a sea breeze as well.

Nele and I spent a full day sightseeing around the city, which included visiting an amazing temple complex dedicated to the bed that Shiva reclines on. Yep. Thats interesting. (its a bed of 5 cobra's). It was a little difficult to appreciate, as tourists are not allowed in, so even with our best efforts of break and enter, we still managed only to walk the perimeter. It was a very beautiful building though (PMA Abster)

We then slogged through the markets and the shopping streets, but seeing as we are now on a stricter than strict budget (with flights to Thailand to pay for in the next month) we weren't in the buying mood. That night we decided to chicken out and go back to the coast - at least to breathe some fresh air again.

Next morning, after a brief financial tussle with the supposed "Christians" at the YWCA (that was where we were staying) we made a graceful exit to the beach. A 40 minute Rickshaw ride brought us to the famous Kerala beach resort of Kovalam.

Kovalam is famous for being the place on all the "Kerala - Gods own country" PR posters, with the soft white beach and traditional fishing methods. BUT, I had read in the guidebook that this was actually a bit of a blag, as it is terrifically overdeveloped and full of package tourists. We waited to find out the truth!

When we arrived, it did seem that the place was certainly more developed than we are used to - the whole of the beached are lined with proper Spanish style hotels and bars etc, but the magic thing is, that its (of course) out of season, so there is very very little tourists here. We spent a beautiful afternoon wandering the deserted white sand beaches swimming in the clear azure sea and talking to the fishermen with thier picture perfect Kerala fishing nets and boats. Heavenly.
We bought some fruit off an ancient old lady with betel stained teeth, and I must say (it could have been the atmosphere, but Im not sure) it was the best pineapple ive ever tasted! SO SWEET!

Both Nele and I agreed that we had really stumbled into paradise this time. The 4 beaches are all thickly lined with lush green palmtrees and the whole atmosphere of the place is truly spectacular! Of course its Indian summer holidays at the moment, so in the day there are bus loads of Indians on the beach, boys bathing in thier brown pants, rolling around on the shore with all thier male relatives, and the ladies paddling to thier waists in full sari's and squeaking every time they get splashed by thier sons/husbands etc. By night the whole atmosphere changes into a totally peaceful sanctury. On the first night, we ate fresh fish caught off the beach that morning, and watched as countless small boats went out to sea, each bedecked with one or two twinkly lights. Really beautiful. Like a dream.

Yesterday, we found a whole network of walkways behind the main drag of the seafront - which wind thier way through wild coconut tree forests and then between different hotels and shop backs - a bit like a very exotic St Ives. WOW this place rocks. We now walk this way every time, as it skips all the beachfront shops (look look, you buy? very cheap!) and gets us straight to the sea without hassle. The locals use this route to get to work, so we are also getting to know some of them already. Yesterday morning, we were wandering, and we came across a small smart hotel, which had a very inviting looking pool. We decided to ask if we could use it, and they said yes - so for 50 rupees (about 60pence) we got exclusive use of the pool for the whole day, sunloungers, soft clean towels and a personal waiter, who brought us cold drinks and ice. Wahoo!!!! The day was only slightly marred when one of the Indian employee's friends tried to kiss Nele when she walked past. Unluckily for him, he felt the full combined force of two Euro tough girls. I think he regretted it by the time we had finished with him!!

As you know, this is not the first time that Nele and I have felt our "personal space" invaded. As you know "Eve teasing" as its called in India, is very common. It seems that Indian men on holidays, seem to think its acceptable to grab/kiss/fumble European women at any given oppounity. Both Nele and I have had unsolicited bum and boob grabbings, and now we are ready! We had a minor victory the other day when we were approached by a group of Indian men in the water (remember Indian men cannot swim very well, so when im on my own, I simply keep out of thier depth, but this time we were in the shallows) They approached like the zombies in day of the dead....slowly yet purposefully! We had clocked them and were ready. One of them dived under the water and tried to grab Nele by the leg - she simply got him in a neck lock and kept him under the water till he panicked. EXCELLENT! I dont think he will try THAT again. Hahaha. Hopefully he will get the idea that Euro women demand as much respect (if not more) than our Indian counterparts.

Anyway, what was I going on about before I got all feminist....

After the Pool Debacle, we retired to a peaceful beach restaurant to watch the sunset and then the ensuing HUGE thunder and lightening storm. It had been brewing all day, and finally it broke just as we were having dinner. For over 4 hours, the sky was filled with purple and dark blue sheet lightening and electric yellow and purple fork lightening. The power kept cutting in and out, and then the RAIN! It was a classic tropical storm! SO primal and exciting. We watched the storm for an hour or two and then retired. What a day.

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