The tail end of Sri Lanka and the beginning of India
Near Kollom
31c feels like 36c
Humidity 67% feels like 99%
Our Indigo flight to Chennai was uneventful despite the very annoying habit the airline have of encouraging you to check in online and then making you pay for random seat selection. After you've paid they very politely inform you it's not possible to check you in online have to check in at the airport. Most annoying to later discover this is a scam of theirs.
Booking a taxi from the airport to our confirmed hotel was not the easy option we thought it would be. We had no data, we were given the wrong registration number, told to stand in the wrong place etc etc, an hour and a half later we finally arrived at our 5* (not) hotel. It was a 'dry' couple of days in Tamil Nadu so we were glad we had purchased some duty free rum.
An overhead metro is under construction in Chennai hence the whole city feels like one massive building site. Turns out pretty much the whole of Tamil Nadu (the bits we visited anyway) are pretty dire. I often found myself wondering what on earth anyone in a wheelchair or with a buggy would do to navigate the pavements and roads. The answer is they don't. We've seen plenty of disabled people and lots of babies but no perambulators.
It's been 15 years since we've visited India and the cost of accommodation has rocketed. Food (outside tourist areas) is still cheap but even the most basic rooms, in some places, are silly money. We tried out a USD 14 room in Mahaballapurum. They were so disorganised they upgraded us by mistake (gave us A\C and hot water) and it was basically a cell, no towels, no toilet paper but we did get filtered water on tap, so that was good. We decided our price point was off, Despite the accommodation Mahaballapurum was nice enough for a couple of days. We saw Krishna's Butterball and some very beautiful, life-size carvings. We also saw the saddest site of all, a turtle had been damaged by a fishing boat, it's shell had been pierced, breaking his\her protection.
No idea how to change this ⬆️ 🤷♀️
Continuing south to Puducherry, the old French colony, we thought we might be able to grab a baguette or a croissant, the french like to leave food legacies like us Brits like to build railways. The French quarter was a bit French, and there was a promenade but not much promenading going on as the police were chucking everyone off.
We had decided on the old skool approach of looking for accommodation, that's to say find an area with accommodation and go ask to look at rooms. The first one we tried wanted £25 for a dingy room, opposite the reception area (noisy) and a window you couldn't see through. A couple of others confirmed our suspicions, Puducherry was expensive and for no good reason. We ended up walking for miles (seeing the town and finding accommodation) with our packs in the heat of the day, we were a little fed up. We settled on a place for £21, which was fine.
We decided that one nighters would be basic and cheap and we would just have to suck it up, whereas 2 or more nights we would splash out a bit for something nice and (hopefully) clean.
A little bit of this discombobulation is to do with us and India, and getting our heads around being here and amongst the mayhem. Weve settled into it now, after 10 days. We've got our heads around the trains and tuk tuks, although we're yet to take a bus.
After the amazing temples at Trichy and Madurai, and in light of the above accommodation angst, we decided to head straight to somewhere we knew we could relax, spend a few days chilling and hopefully get reasonable accommodation. We were heading to Kovalam, in kerala.
If you've ever visited the USA you'll know that every state is different and sometimes crossing from one state to another can seem like crossing into another country. It's the same in India. We got on a train in Tamil Nadu and off the train in Trivandrum, Kerala, and it felt like chalk and cheese. Not everywhere felt like a sh*thole. There were pavements, electric buses, the streets were relatively clean and there was a distinct lack of smells of urine, sewerage and general rubish. Initially we thought we were judging Tamil Nadu harshly but actually, it really was sh*t.
Kovalam has changed significantly since the 80s when we first visited. When we went back in 2008 we were shocked at the changes, the massive hotels, the promenade stealing half the beach. But we knew what to expect this time so we were chilled. We swam every day, even lounged on the beach under large umbrellas for a couple of hours. The demographic has changed significantly, not a lot of 20\30 somethings any more, but a lot of 60\70\80 somethings possibly reliving their banana pancake days of the 70\80s, who knows. Despite the tourists, Kovalam is still first and foremost a fishing community which is nice, not eveything has changed.
We've moved up the coast to a lovely place on the lake, near Kollom. Hoping to hop in a kayack tomorrow and do a bit of wildlife spotting. Who knows, but for now we're enjoying the peace and quiet of the lake watching the crows, cormorants, egrets and kingfishers flitting around.
Laters
Daily life photos
