Category: Holidays

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.

We were woken quite early by torrential rains somewhere around 5. The first real rain of the holiday. The leftover rain from cyclone Thane which hit Tamil Nadu. By the time we got up just after 7 it was still raining but not quite so hard and the power keeps going on and off. The corridors outside our room are flooded but the staff are going a good job of clearing up. As the walls are made with big holes for ventilation the rain came straight in.

Tim’s foot is sore as expected. After some multiple asking we got some ice onto it. Hopefully that will help – it is quite swollen. It seemed to do the trick and the rain cleared about 11-11.30 and so we decided to go and explore.

We wandered down the steps at the back of the hotel and along the beach. The signs of the rain evident in the water rushing down the hill in the gullies and down into the sea. The beach opposite the Hindustan Beach Retreat were as busy as ever but with the addition of lots of people dressed in yellow – which we later established as the 79th annual gathering in respect of some guru.

We ended up in Cafe Kerala – which was meant to do great coffee but as there was a power cut after the rains they could not make any – after a stop in the Tibetan Market which resulted in the acquisition of more bracelets and a Tibetan Shawl.

We left N&L on the cliff top and went back via rick shaw for a swim after having arranged to meet at Little Tibet @ 2.

We went to Cafe del Mar which was not bad – C, M and F went and had had some henna done. Very nice. B and T arranged a massage for New Years Day. Nick and I arranged a minibus to take us to the airport on Tues am as the hotel quoted over 6000 rupees. B bought some earrings for her and C. We then all retired back to the hotel to prepared for the New Years Eve party.

It looked very like rain and by the time we got back the hotel has decided to move all the preparations inside the hotel and it stated to rain hard again at about 5 and lasted about 2 hours.

The evening party was held in reception and was great fun and very different. It was extremely noisy and there was a never ending series of ‘performances’ and games from 7.30 through to midnight. It was all a bit much at times as it could have done with a break and some music to dance to. There was an enormous amount of food as well. Far more then the 80 odd people at the party could possibly eat. The entertainment was a mixture of some classical Indian music played live, a magician who was very good, a dance troupe who were OK with a very odd Michael Jackson impersonator, a Keralan martial arts demonstration, and a series of games like who has the most rings, longest hair, biggest bald patch! The dancers and the martial arts were very restricted by the height of the ceiling. The most extraordinary thing was the fire eating by the dance troupe which was done with the low ceiling and great spouts of fire. The smoke detectors most have been turned off as when I looked at the ceiling he next morning it was singed black in places! The count down to new year was followed by some great fireworks and then a Indian techno disco which was impossible to dance to.

The kids decided to jump into the pool fully clothed and we retired to poolside with a cold bottle of wine.

We got to bed about 1am and the kids stayed up until about 2.30 apparently having all fallen asleep in C and T’s room. How we slept through all the other noise reaching the hotel from other parties I don’t know.

Happy New Year 2012.

We have had quite a quiet day which has been nice.

B and I read our books while C and T did some work in preparation for exams. We had all agreed to meet for lunch at 1.

N and L, M and F went out and explored the shops on the cliffs. Something we ne’er really got a chance to do wen we were first here.

I went out and got some water, biscuits and coke and explored a bit for an hour, also looking for free wi-fi as the hotel wi-fi is not cheap. Found free at Eden Gardens just opposite the Hindustan Beach Resort where we first stayed but everywhere else was protected with a password, which they will give you for free if you buy coffee etc.

We had a good buffet lunch at the hotel and the went to the beach. The wind was picking up as a result of the cyclone on the other side of India in Tamil Nadu and eventually the life guards blew their whistles to get everyone out of the sea. B and I had a wander with C and M along the cliff top (C and M did buy some bangles and I got my t-shirt tear mended for 15 rupees (20p).)and ended up in Little Tibet for coffee, cake and drinks. M and C went to get N, L and F but Tim who,had got himself a game of football decided to go back to the hotel to shower.

I managed to upload the rest of the bog to end day 12.

We then went to find out the times of the Katalaki dancing and found make up starts at 5 and by that time it was nearly 6.15 and the show starts at 6.45 and goes onto 8. so we decided to give it a miss and comeback on the 1st. Apparently once you have paid your 250 rupees per head you can nip in and out of the makeup preparations and the show.

We got ricks haws back to the hotel and then back again at 7.30 for a meal at Cafe Italiano. Good pizza and pasta and beer server in tea pots and mugs so it did not look like we were drinking!

Poor Tim has hurt his foot playing football. He kicked someone else’s foot and bent back his three little toes on his right foot and has got quite a limp. Hopefully nothing serious but he will be limping for a day or so.

Bed quite early at about 10.30. Nice easy day.

Beep beep beep 5.50am. B and I get up and make our way to say good bye. Sad to see everyone go but I am glad we made the effort.

We all go back to bed and sleep, or try to, until about 7.30. Read a bit, pack. We have arranged via Eugine for a minibus (another friend) to pick us up at 11 and take us the the Gateway Hotel in Varkala for our final days.

Rather than eating in the hotel we decide to go to Waves, the German bakery (again!) for breakfast and have a good breakfast looking out over the breaking waves and swimmers and get back to the hotel just before 11.

The minibus turns up as expected and we cram the bags in with help from the hotel staff and the driver. It is a tight squeeze. 2 hours later after one stop at an ATM we are back in Varkala and the Gateway. The minibus has its underside inspected by a mirror to check for bombs …. apparently this has happened to N&L a few times but is the first time I had seen this and a reaction to the Mumbai incident a few years ago which happened to the Taj Hotel there. The Gateway is also a Taj group hotel.

The hotel is quite obviously a step above anything we have stayed in so far in India. The staff are better trained and more fluent in English and the whole reception airy and welcoming. You can see the sea but more importantly as Tim says ‘the pool is enormous’. Well it is pretty good size and bigger than the pools we have had so far.

Nick and I try and book the driver of the minibus to take us back to Trivandrum but we find out he is going to Kochi… So that is why Eugine knows him and we have done him a favour by paying for some if not all of he journey. Well it worked well for all of us.

We have got the rooms we wanted with gardens but need to wait until about 2 to get into the and so decide to walk to a restaurant on the cliff and the first one we see and leave the main bags in reception. We end up in a cafe called Peace and have a good lunch. Adults all eat Dal Makana and the kids a mixture of Pad Thai, Spag bog, lime juices and lassis. We get a tuk-tuk back it is too hot and a 15 min walk back. It might be quicker to walk down to the beach and get the the cliff that way. We’ll try tomorrow.

Our rooms were ready on our return – rooms 101-104 all at one end of the hotel, all with gardens, nice beds, good bathrooms and very welcoming. we run up and down deciding who gets which room. Adults end of with identical rooms and the kids with ones which are the same size but decorated a bit differently. Apparently all the rooms are being or have been redecorated by 3 different designers and one of the rooms had fresh paint on a patch on the wall!! It was dry before the end of the afternoon.

We potter about, kids to pool, B unpacks, etc. The afternoon passes quite quickly and we meet for a drink in N&L’s room to drink some of the remainder of the beer left from that we bought in Kochi for the Christmas party which never happened.

Dinner was on the terrace overlooking the pool with an excellent buffet, the best for days probably since Vanilla County and a bottle of voignier white wine from Grovers. It was on them menu as a Sauvignon Blanc but there was none and it had been replaced by the voignier.  The waiter was quite confused when we said it was not the right one but understood when we pointed out the grape name.

We all retire to bed and the most comfortable beds so far in India.