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.