Five ingredients of a successful beach holiday:
1. A quality beach
As we know, beaches come in all shapes and sizes. Some have pebbles, some have seaweed, some have crabs and other creatures nibbling at your feet. Some have syringes, drink cans and other undesirables spoiling the surroundings. Varkala has none of these.
Varkala has almost a mile of warm smooth sand leading down to warm, wavy water. It's never so busy that you have to share your personal space; never so empty that you struggle to spot people you've met. In short, it's my ideal beach.
Because of the scorching heat, I've always left it to 3-4pm before I head down there - grabbing a couple of hours of sunbathing and splashing before an incredible sunset begins at around 6pm. And the water is great. People pay good money at Center Parcs to get waves like we have here. You have to stride out 10-20 metres and then the big waves start. People boogie-board, people dive through and over the waves.
The undercurrents are notoriously strong though, with the blue-shirted lifeguards constantly whistling out to people drifting off towards the red-flagged danger area. In fact, I was in the water earlier with a friend and we started to get pulled towards the Red Zone. The sand underfoot was like quicksand (feet disappearing unless you kept on the move) and the water was too strong. Luckily we managed to haul each other back to the shoreline and had a ticking off from the Indian David Hasselhoff.
And did I mention the beach was an achingly tiresome one whole minute from my front door? Which brings me on to...
2. A friendly guesthouse
There are well over 50 guesthouses in Varkala. I am staying at the best. Why the best? Firstly, the incredibly friendly, generous, inclusive and funny guesthouse owners Shiva and Madeleine are the perfect hosts. I've enjoyed some memorable evenings with them in their front garden, discussing travelling, music, Varkala, Hinduism, property, farting during yoga classes. Here's a pic of Shiva outside the guesthouse (with Madeleine just behind):
Last night Shiva - one of the most positive, interesting and resourceful people I've ever met - made us a meal of fresh calamari with rice, vegetables and salad. Easily one of the best things I've eaten out here.
As well as chill-time in the evenings, I've spent long parts of each day sitting on my veranda reading, listening to music and watching life ebb and flow around me (the house overlooks a pathway with people walking back and forth to the beach and Tibetan market). The veranda:
I've found during the various travels I have done that if you hit upon a really good spot, don't leave straight away. It may sound obvious, but often people dart around countries spending one day here, a couple of nights there. I've done that too, but chancing upon this guesthouse was a great find - and is one of the main reasons I've stayed here all week rather than moving on.
And on the subject of moving on...
3. A nice excursion
Kerala is famous for its backwaters, the cat's cradle of freshwater rivers and canals stretching from Kollam up to Kochi. I've spent a large part of the week with a Danish trio of gap yearers - Sven, Mette and Kristina. They had plans to do a day trip to the backwaters, invited me, and a plan was hatched.
Yesterday morning we met at the ungodly hour of 8am (I was beginning to forget what morning looked like) and got a taxi to Varkala train station, then a train to Kollam, then a rickshaw to the harbour. We were met by a posse of tour operators literally jostling me, and figuratively ripping the shirt off my back. I asked them to calm down, that we'd speak to each of them in turn, then proceeded to go into the first booth - spied a photo of Richard Branson on one of their cruises and thought that if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for us.
A negotiation later and we were in another rickshaw north. We were taken to a ferry port and waited its arrival. It was two boats tied together and carried vehicles and people big and small from the mainland to Munroe Island:
On Munroe Island our rickshaw took us to a small canoe holding area and we met our guide/puntsman for the day. I didn't get his name but during the course of the day his eccentricities reminded me of Alan Partridge. So for the purposes of this blog, this man's name is Alan:
Things started well. A slow meander through small canals, under coconut palms and beside lily ponds. Then Alan stopped the boat, we got out, he walked us a little while and showed us the various flora and fauna. Interesting enough.
However, as he stopped for the third, then the fourth time - each time asking us to get out, walk, and then pointing to a glorified shrub and him saying 'cashnew nut tree, yes?' to us with wide eyes - we began to get the giggles. What else do you say, except 'yes, nice cashew nut tree'?
So this went on for a while before we stopped for lunch at Alan's home. His wife and daughter laid on another amazing, memorable meal of about 8 different dishes: curries, rice, fish, pickles, chutneys, poppadoms, omelettes, banana and pecan dessert. Yum:
Afterwards, wife went and got the cow, milked it, and made us sweet chai with the freshest milk you can get.
A couple of hours more drifting (with the occasional punt from the now-exhausted Alan, and a bit of paddling from me) and we got back to the rickshaw for the journey back to Varkala.
All in all, a successful day with mad Alan (did I mention that he talked incessently into his mobile all day, and said 'good, beautiful place' approximately 50 times in 5 hours?) and the Danes.
4: Lively nightlife; friendly people
I have already mentioned the evening entertainment in a previous post, so won't go into more detail here except to say that each day I've met more and more people and now several times a day I end up bumping into familiar faces, sharing a drink or a chat and moving on. Another good reason to stay somewhere for a decent period of time. Friends Mette, Sven and myself following yesterday's lunch:
5: Tasty food
Again, this has been touched on before, but after 4 weeks of mainly southern Indian fare, it's been refreshing to have the choice of good pasta, fresh croissants, perfectly grilled fish and more. This evening, for my final evening meal in Varkala, I first chose a red snapper from the display:
And then ate it:
So that's Varkala. A place I've enjoyed more than I thought, that's given me a holiday-within-a-holiday at the end of my trip, and somewhere that'll be front of mind when I think back to my travels through India.
Tomorrow it's off to Kochi for two nights, before heading to Mumbai and then home. Some more pics from recent times:
1. A quality beach
As we know, beaches come in all shapes and sizes. Some have pebbles, some have seaweed, some have crabs and other creatures nibbling at your feet. Some have syringes, drink cans and other undesirables spoiling the surroundings. Varkala has none of these.
Varkala has almost a mile of warm smooth sand leading down to warm, wavy water. It's never so busy that you have to share your personal space; never so empty that you struggle to spot people you've met. In short, it's my ideal beach.
Because of the scorching heat, I've always left it to 3-4pm before I head down there - grabbing a couple of hours of sunbathing and splashing before an incredible sunset begins at around 6pm. And the water is great. People pay good money at Center Parcs to get waves like we have here. You have to stride out 10-20 metres and then the big waves start. People boogie-board, people dive through and over the waves.
The undercurrents are notoriously strong though, with the blue-shirted lifeguards constantly whistling out to people drifting off towards the red-flagged danger area. In fact, I was in the water earlier with a friend and we started to get pulled towards the Red Zone. The sand underfoot was like quicksand (feet disappearing unless you kept on the move) and the water was too strong. Luckily we managed to haul each other back to the shoreline and had a ticking off from the Indian David Hasselhoff.
And did I mention the beach was an achingly tiresome one whole minute from my front door? Which brings me on to...
2. A friendly guesthouse
There are well over 50 guesthouses in Varkala. I am staying at the best. Why the best? Firstly, the incredibly friendly, generous, inclusive and funny guesthouse owners Shiva and Madeleine are the perfect hosts. I've enjoyed some memorable evenings with them in their front garden, discussing travelling, music, Varkala, Hinduism, property, farting during yoga classes. Here's a pic of Shiva outside the guesthouse (with Madeleine just behind):
Last night Shiva - one of the most positive, interesting and resourceful people I've ever met - made us a meal of fresh calamari with rice, vegetables and salad. Easily one of the best things I've eaten out here.
As well as chill-time in the evenings, I've spent long parts of each day sitting on my veranda reading, listening to music and watching life ebb and flow around me (the house overlooks a pathway with people walking back and forth to the beach and Tibetan market). The veranda:
I've found during the various travels I have done that if you hit upon a really good spot, don't leave straight away. It may sound obvious, but often people dart around countries spending one day here, a couple of nights there. I've done that too, but chancing upon this guesthouse was a great find - and is one of the main reasons I've stayed here all week rather than moving on.
And on the subject of moving on...
3. A nice excursion
Kerala is famous for its backwaters, the cat's cradle of freshwater rivers and canals stretching from Kollam up to Kochi. I've spent a large part of the week with a Danish trio of gap yearers - Sven, Mette and Kristina. They had plans to do a day trip to the backwaters, invited me, and a plan was hatched.
Yesterday morning we met at the ungodly hour of 8am (I was beginning to forget what morning looked like) and got a taxi to Varkala train station, then a train to Kollam, then a rickshaw to the harbour. We were met by a posse of tour operators literally jostling me, and figuratively ripping the shirt off my back. I asked them to calm down, that we'd speak to each of them in turn, then proceeded to go into the first booth - spied a photo of Richard Branson on one of their cruises and thought that if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for us.
A negotiation later and we were in another rickshaw north. We were taken to a ferry port and waited its arrival. It was two boats tied together and carried vehicles and people big and small from the mainland to Munroe Island:
On Munroe Island our rickshaw took us to a small canoe holding area and we met our guide/puntsman for the day. I didn't get his name but during the course of the day his eccentricities reminded me of Alan Partridge. So for the purposes of this blog, this man's name is Alan:
Things started well. A slow meander through small canals, under coconut palms and beside lily ponds. Then Alan stopped the boat, we got out, he walked us a little while and showed us the various flora and fauna. Interesting enough.
However, as he stopped for the third, then the fourth time - each time asking us to get out, walk, and then pointing to a glorified shrub and him saying 'cashnew nut tree, yes?' to us with wide eyes - we began to get the giggles. What else do you say, except 'yes, nice cashew nut tree'?
So this went on for a while before we stopped for lunch at Alan's home. His wife and daughter laid on another amazing, memorable meal of about 8 different dishes: curries, rice, fish, pickles, chutneys, poppadoms, omelettes, banana and pecan dessert. Yum:
Afterwards, wife went and got the cow, milked it, and made us sweet chai with the freshest milk you can get.
A couple of hours more drifting (with the occasional punt from the now-exhausted Alan, and a bit of paddling from me) and we got back to the rickshaw for the journey back to Varkala.
All in all, a successful day with mad Alan (did I mention that he talked incessently into his mobile all day, and said 'good, beautiful place' approximately 50 times in 5 hours?) and the Danes.
4: Lively nightlife; friendly people
I have already mentioned the evening entertainment in a previous post, so won't go into more detail here except to say that each day I've met more and more people and now several times a day I end up bumping into familiar faces, sharing a drink or a chat and moving on. Another good reason to stay somewhere for a decent period of time. Friends Mette, Sven and myself following yesterday's lunch:
5: Tasty food
Again, this has been touched on before, but after 4 weeks of mainly southern Indian fare, it's been refreshing to have the choice of good pasta, fresh croissants, perfectly grilled fish and more. This evening, for my final evening meal in Varkala, I first chose a red snapper from the display:
And then ate it:
So that's Varkala. A place I've enjoyed more than I thought, that's given me a holiday-within-a-holiday at the end of my trip, and somewhere that'll be front of mind when I think back to my travels through India.
Tomorrow it's off to Kochi for two nights, before heading to Mumbai and then home. Some more pics from recent times:
 |
| Canoe in the backwaters |
 |
| Coconut man, backwaters |
 |
| Backwaters |
 |
| Sari catwalk |
 |
| Rickshaw |
 |
| Shiva at work |
 |
| Beach, Varkala |
 |
| Shops, Varkala |