Varkala spectacular

Varkala coast
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Excerpt from Ben's diary:

Next day we're off to Varkala from Alleppey bus station. Bus is once again fairly manic, using addresses on shop fronts to check where we'd got to. Off at Kollamballam, where we're immediately approached by an autorickshaw driver and we accept his advances which provse to be a mistake. 15 km later he is still insisting he doesn't know where out intended guesthouse is (despite claiming to know that it's full) but is keen to recommend and, of course, take us straight to The Bamboo House. We're dropped off to find there is a dirth of guesthouses. We look around several of these (rickshaw driver still in tow after the 5th - looking for commission we assume). Find a very clean well kept place for half the price of his recommendation, plus a seaview from our balcony.

Becks looking relaxed
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Varkala is a very beautiful place, lined with clifftop restaurants and shops, sea breaking onto rocks and sandy beach below. This is idyllic. Unfortunately this means the place is very touristy, it is however low season so it's not too busy. Resolve not to let associated hassle and tourists spoil the place.

We're here for two nights and enjoy some beachtime and lots of relaxing drinks and meals at one of the clone restaurants lining the clifftop. Lots of fresh fish on offer, which is the best choice, if expensive.

Varkala clifftop
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We're very relaxed but ready to be jolted back into life after three days here. Off to the station for the very late/early 02:45 Varkala - Madurai train. We leave in time to get the last taxi to the station, first ride in a tata car. It feels rudimentary but a/c is very good. Very strange being in a car at all, as if sealed off from India.

Waiting at the station we get chatting to a local policeman. We talk to him about his job, he works at different places every day, sometimes on trains, sometimes on platforms, doing 24 hour shifts on/off. He earns 10,000 Rupees/month, which gives him a comfortable life he says. Enough for his wife to stop working when she has their first son (proudly displays pictures of both on his mobile). Still, he is astonished at the price of a ticket to a Man U match, but knows all the latest premiership scores and news.

We also try to learn a little Malayaram - but even Becks is defeated by our total unfamiliarity to it and the sheer weight of syllables which overwhelm any of our attempts to learn the simplest of phrases.

Finding out which end of the train our carraige is at proves difficult at the samll station. All locals and the policeman tell us it is at the front, Becks thinks it is at the back and is proved right as the train rolls in and we run to find our carraige. Got to be quick, train only stops for one minute at a small station like this.

Finally settle down to sleep on our train, again rocked to sleep by the motion. This is a noisy one though, sleep harder to come by. India awakens at the crack of dawn, we does until 08:30. Train is late again, a common occurrance, accompanied often by miraculous recovery of time against the schedule posted online.