Month: January 2012

We got up in good time for a 9.30 departure from the hotel. Breakfast and then some group photos of us all taken by Nick.

The minibus turned up as planned and we got to the airport to drop off the Eustance family at just after 11 in good time for their flight to Mumbai.

We continued onto out hotel The South Park, Fortune Hotel. This was OK a business hotel which is cleaner than the hotel in Periyar and much nicer than the place we could have ended up in when we were in Kochi. Rather than sit in the hotel we decided to venture out to see the temples, and in particular the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, at the fort area of town. This proved to be a bit of a mistake it was too hot, the rickshaw drivers all wanted to take up to Kovalam Beach and did not speak English so we came back. C is also not feeling 100% either.

We decide to spend the afternoon in the hotel and venture out for dinner, there is a very good Italian mentioned in the Rough Guide. C and T get some work done and we get a dodgy room service!

I find out we cannot check in online from Trivandrum airport and arrange a large car to get us to the airport at 2am.

The kids work during the afternoon and B and I read until about 4.30 when we decide to venture out to look around a bit more and so in the opposite direction from the morning towards the Napier Museum and the zoo.  The temperature was much better and we had a good time exploring a bit.  I even managed to get rid of my 2 1 pisa coins to a coin seller – he was a bit surprised!!  We bought some chocolate (Toberlone) for the kids and I got a watch strap for only 150 rupees which is about 1/8 of what I might pay in the UK!

The decision was made not to go out as we were not that hungary and C tummy was playing up so we went to the hotel restaurant instead.  They had only go an enormous buffet which the staff were only too keen to show us and also looked delicious.  However once B and T had had a bowl of soup and I a few bits of tempura we decided we really were no hungry after all!  The staff were really good and we only paid for our drinks!!

We decided to play cards until 9.30 and then went to bed ready to get up at 1.40 to leave the hotel at 2am!!

A bit of an odd day really!

New Years Day 2012 started bright…. The rain has gone …. Sometime after 8.30! We wandered to breakfast about 9.15 N&L were already there. No children surfaced. We eventually work them about 10 as breakfast ended @ 10.30.

We had no real plans for the day other than massages and F had a manicure booked. We decided in the end to spend the day at the beach as it was sunny and the last day.

Lunch was at the Chill Out Cafe and it was impossibly slow. Apparently the staff were all hungover from the night before and there was only one chef! The food arrived eventually but not before F had left for manicure and come back. It took over 1 1/2!

The afternoon was also on the beach and we went back to the hotel at 4.30 ish for a swim and to relax. We decided to have dinner out.

We were greeting with the most amazing surprise from the housekeeping staff! All the beds had been decorated. Ours had a swan made of flannels decorated with bougainvillea leaves and some other flowers, M and F had an elephant, C and T a doll and most amazingly of all the staff had ‘borrowed’ Nick’s Father Xmas mask which he had worn on Boxing Day on the boat trip in Kochi and made a Father Xmas figure sitting in the bed, under the covers, with the TV remote control in his hand. It was wonderful. I don’t think many places would have made such an effort or had the courage to use something from one of the guests! It could not have been more appropriate.

We settled the bill and for the first time in India it was (just about) right and the process easy!

We decided to have a pre dinner drink and the head out to the Lotus Cafe recommended in the Rough Guide. The rickshaws had a hard time finding it as it was on the South Cliff. It was an great spot on top of the cliffs with nothing else around and the lights of the fishing boats at sea. It was very dimly lit and very quiet. Nevertheless they were serving food but again sort staffed as the staff had or were recovering from hangovers and the service was very very slow. Adults all elected to have Kerala fish (butter fish) in banana leaves and the kids a mixture of different things. Despite being slow a good meal. (L pointed out the fish was not well cooked half was through but it was very hard to see as there was so little light…. however as a result there was some mild ill effects the next day which was a pity).

All in all a good day.