Trivandrum and Varkala

Trivandrum is a very interesting. It has more people than Winnipeg but is much, much smaller. Also, other than on and just off the main drag, it feels more like a forest than a large city. There is cover of palm trees and dogs and goats running around. It is very polluted and there is garbage everywhere. Before we came to India I expected things to be sharper, not pointier, but sharper smells and bright colours. Instead things are more of a blur. There are lots of smells and sounds and colours, but they are all mixed together, although the heat and humidity may have something to do with that.

Today I saw the best stereo system ever, 4 amplifiers tied to the roof of a jeep. It was playing what I think was radio but do not know as it was in either Hindi or Malayalam.

Today we had breakfast at the Indian coffee house. The building is red on the outside and a mix of white and very light green and pink inside. It was shaped in a 4 storey corkscrew shape (like the tower of Babel). The seating twirls upwards around a central column. It has fast service and yummy food. Yesterday I had a masala dosa, a crispy crepe like thing with potato beetroot curry, and today I had an egg and onion omelete with toast with jam, not very Indian, but good nonetheless.

Later we went to train station to go to Varkala, a very popular beach town but the locals said that it was very beautiful. We accidentally booked on second class which is the lowest class, we think that they don't ever stop selling those tickets no matter how many they sell. We thought we were buying one class up (sleeper) but we got the names mixed up. Anyways we could not even fit onto the train so we went to the sleeper car and got in because we learned we could upgrade when the ticket man came round. He never came so we got a cheap ride, 50 percent off, so we saved 50 cents each!

When we arrived in Varkala we walked along the beach until we got to the main tourist beach. We climbed up the stairs to the hotels and restaurants on the cliff above and stopped in a restaurant for a cold drink. Later, when we were walking along the cliff looking for a hotel, a boy in a shop asked us if we were looking for a room, so we said yes. His aunty showed us the room they had on the top floor of their family home and we took it. It costs much more than our hotel in Trivandrum but Varkala is very touristy and the location is great. Everything here is more expensive than Trivandrum, but compared to Europe it is dirt cheap, And the area we are staying in is very beautiful.

We rented boogie boards and played in the surf today and yesterday. That was fun. We also looked around town and got some souvenirs, I got a funky lampshade and my mom bought a few gifts for friends, (and a few for herself).