Kerela: Sunny and Hot!

Not wanting to bring a downer on anyone but it is damn hot and pretty sunny here right now... as I write this it's 5.55 in the morning in the UK - it's currently 11.30am here right now. I'm in a beach hut sipping an ice cool lemon soda, the surf's about 10 meters away lapping the sand. Simon was last spotted in the shade of a beach umbrella and sarah was taking a cooling dip in the arabian sea.

So, thats the picture - We're in a small beach resort called Varkala in the southern indian state of kerela - "gods own country" they call it here. A place of palm trees, white sands and red cliffs. The Indian equivalent of cornwall - talk about laid back. A place where many travellers come to get away from the relative hecticness of Goa (a few hundred miles north) or (the now commercialised) Kovalam Beach south from here (about 60 miles).

We arrived here yesterday after a brief flight in from Mumbai and a 40 minute train journey from thiruvananthapurum... or trivandrum for short. The train was done in style... 2nd class... sitting in the metal luggage racks above other travellers who had already taken up all the seats... cheap as chips (about 80 pence) - and to be honest, surprisingly comfortable... having said that I couldn't imagine doing that for more than a few hours, the young chap next to me who I got talking to was heading to Chennai (madras)... 17 hours away! He seemed happy enough though...

Upon arrival in Varkala - we flagged a rickshaw and (unsurprisingly) the driver took us to the wrong place (his brothers) before finally admitting defeat and took us (almost) to the rooms we'd booked the previous day. I say almost because the detour he took us on meant he'd taken us too far off the correct path so we had to walk the remaining distance... which in itself was interesting as we then picked up another local who then tried to take us to HIS sisters place... after some confusion he also admitted defeat (we know how to handle these unruly types :D ) and he guided us to the rooms we'd booked, a short hop, skip and a jump away. After settling in around 5pm yesterday we had a wander down to the beach, then back for a quick freshen up and then headed back to the clifftops (where all the bars and restaurants are) to settle down to a nice meal of tuna, barracuda and prawns... with the obligatory G&T's - accidently blowing our daily budget... oo ps... :S

Just been looking at pictures on the web of the snowfalls in the UK - this may seem strange but I'm rather jealous... I like a bit of snow... I guess we'll be seeing some in july when we get to NZ!

Right then... I'll leave it at that... I'm gonna go take another dip then start thinking about some lunch...

Take care everyone.

X :)