A rest at last on the beach. At Kovalam – neither of us were looking forward to this as we expected it to be full of Europeans and we found it is actually it is a beach of two halves. Lighthouse Beach, touristy and horrible, Hawahi Beach, Indians, fishermen and something of old Kerala and this is where we stayed. We arrived a day early with nowhere to stay (Gill panicking again), but thanks to the credit crunch and Mumbai, we got perfect little rooms in the first place we stopped. Overlooking the beach we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves. Every morning, we awoke to the chants of fishermen as they manhandled their enormous nets ashore. We felt really comfortable here for three days. We did drag ourselves away on an expedition down the coast to the most Southerly point in India, stopping en route at a temple which was not even in the Lonely Planet and was a typical Tamil Nadu Hindu temple, heaving with devotees in their black temple lunghis. It was the first temple we had been to where men had to go topless, much to both our delight!
Just as an aside, the guy who runs the place where we are staying reminds us of an Indian John Cleese in Fawlty Towers, barking orders at his army of Manuel Patel’s. Still no “bar”, but on a twist to the beer in a teapot story, we have moved to beer and wine wrapped in newspaper on the sand! Gill is still carrying her “Sprite” in case of alcohol emergency….
Just as an aside, the guy who runs the place where we are staying reminds us of an Indian John Cleese in Fawlty Towers, barking orders at his army of Manuel Patel’s. Still no “bar”, but on a twist to the beer in a teapot story, we have moved to beer and wine wrapped in newspaper on the sand! Gill is still carrying her “Sprite” in case of alcohol emergency….
