Positive Mental Attitude...

Congratulations to simon on his first blog post... I think he found the experience a little painful but the boy did good.

Apologies to Katy for such a demonic looking me in that picture... not sure what happened there - it looked ok on the camera TFT screen... hope you had a lovely day katie. x

So, positive mental attitude. Yeah... I was a bit negative in that last post wasn't I - certainly a combination of feeling sorry for myself and kovalam as a 2 week holiday destination getting me down, but you push past the veneer and it has a certain charm I guess.

We decided to go for a walk yesterday - you can only really do this very early so we got up at 6am and were off pretty sharpish. Simon had determined via Flashearth.com that there was something interesting over the headland...* so we went exploring and sure enough, there was another beach... only this one was deserted - no tourists, the odd fishing boat on shore but that was it...

We crossed the deserted beach and scrambled over more rocks (avoiding the natural latrines that the locals use - [gundarh!] yack) and down onto the next beach and there we discovered a group of twenty or so fisherman pushing their boat from the top of the beach towards the surf... they beckoned us to pass and then as we did they urged us to help, which we did. This was quite a special moment and made the morning... simon, sarah and I grabbed onto the nearest point of the boat and as the men shouted in unison we all heaved and pulled or pushed - and believe me, that boat was damn heavy... makes you realise how tough these guys are - with their somewhat amaciated appearance... don't judge a book by its cover...!

We continued onwards south down the coast and came to another rocky outcrop that we ascended up onto a road and were greeted by a bunch of goats, a few locals and we were approached by a chap who became our guide to what we were to learn was the 2nd largest fishing village in Kerala - we were shown round by this amiable gent, who at first we were worried was just after ruppees but we soon realised that he was genuinly interested in showing us his village - another touching moment - trust in the kindness of strangers and all that... we did a circuit of the place, taking in the mosque, the breakwater (with huge monolithic concrete obelisks that looked like giant everlasting gobstoppers [from the gene wilder version of charlie and the chocolate factory]) the fishing boats, the defecating fishermen (best to forget that bit I think), the fishermen fixing their nets and so on...

We then thought it best to head back as the sun was starting to get hotter and we were concerned for our poor pale skin... we bade farewell to our guide and we walked back along the road.

We were back 9 am - ish... back to kovalam, back to the hawkers and the tourists but feeling like we'd achieved something postive something good and worthwhile. All in all a cathartic experience.

Later on we got our dive masks out and went snorkling along the rocky outcrop below the lighthouse, practicing our freediving techniques... not exactly Tanya Streeter territory but a good taster for us diving n00bs... (I'm speaking for me and sarah here)... we soon got tired and needed to head back in after swimming with cute stripey fish things and picking up hermit crabs and so on... simon stayed frolicking in the ebb and flow of the water only to return later with tales of 'a huge fish' that swam away as he approached it...

It's our last day here today... we've already checked out of our room and we intend spending the day lazing around in the shade - we need to head back to thiruvananthapurum airport at about 8/9pm tonight for a flight at 4am! yes... we intend spending the night at the airport - our first experience of airport living... how exciting... the only downside is this particular airports departures/arrivals lounge is as big and plush as say... barrow-in-furness bus station in the seventies just before that big chewits monster ate it... but we'll be in mumbai early tomorrow... larging it up at sarahs uncles once more before we (finally) head north to visit the family in the cooler climate of Chandigarh...

Wow... that WAS a big post... I'll pepper it up with some pictures over the next few days... in the meantime take care people.

Oh... and thanks for the concern over the train thing in Haryana... we were quite shocked to hear about it - I'm sure there'll be some repercussions and maybe a national strike which may effect us but ghopefully by that point we'll be safely tucked away in chandigarh...

Take care...

:)
x

PS - can someone send me a couple of 99p bags of haribo starmix, tangfastics and trebor/nestle refreshers to Chandigarh... I'm desparate here...!!!!

* you can have a look here...