After the beach the other day, we all went up onto the cliff to have Ayurvedic massages. Delightful! The boys said theirs was more like a rubdown, but mine was pretty deep tissue. Different customs here as well, no modesty allowed as you do the whole thing without privacy towels or anything. Interesting.
After the massage we were all too mellowed out to go to yoga in the 100+ heat, so we grabbed our things and headed to a restaurant for a bite to eat and some cool refreshments. We spent the evening chilling out, in preps for another early yoga morning.
But alas, we slept through our alarms, so we grabbed some breakfast and then Ryan and I headed down to the beach while Oli braved a rickshaw on his own to town to get a haircut. When he returned with his very Indian hair, he hung out on the beach for a while as well, sipping coconuts and jumping in the waves. After we had all burnt a bit, we headed in for a shower and then Oli and I went to the tailors to get some more clothes done and to have the ones we had made in Madurai cut down to size. We found out that we had been totally and completely scammed before, ahhhhhhhhhhh the perils of travelling. We met up with Ryan and some friends he had made on the beach for some drinks, which turned into more, which turned into watching how the locals dance at the clubs- if it was a bit more in sync, they could have passed for a Bollywood film! Oli and I called it quits at 3, and headed off to bed. The following morning when I went to wake Ryan up, he had apparently just gotten in after dancing all night, swimming at dawn, and then a game of cricket on the beach with some locals. Never a dull day with Mr. Stern.
We grabbed a rickshaw to the train station, then a 30 minute train to Kollam. When we arrived, we threw our stuff down at the hotel, then headed to the jetty to signup for the backwater canoe trip. It left immediately, so we hopped in (another) rickshaw and headed out of town for 45 minutes, before we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere with 5 other Westerners. We were led to a tiny canal with a long boat, and we hunkered down for our afternoon tour.
The trip was amazing, as we were guided through tiny little canals along houses and tiny towns, where we got to see men building houseboats, prawn farms, and lots of children begging for pens. It was so quiet and serene for the most part, and all of the people were incredibly friendly. It was an amazing experience. After the tour, we grabbed some dinner on the way home(burgers, how lame of us!).
The following day, yesterday, was the hell day. We left at 9am, took 2 trains, a few rickshaws, and a bus, and after 11 hours of travel, made it here to Sulthan Bathery, where we found out that the animal reserve is currently closed. UGH. So today we are going to head out to Mysore to view the palace, and then hopefully had overnight to Hampi. Love and kisses!
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