Beach, Bliss, Beach

  By the time we reached the end of our planned stay at Amritapuri, we all agreed that we would love to stay longer. It truly is the most peaceful, loving, spiritual place I’ve ever been. I know that I will go back at some point in my life, and for a longer period. I only hope that I can retain some of the pure bliss that filled each and every day there, and was only growing stronger. Alas, we had another overnight train booked, and would never get another one within the time frame we had to work with. I was also excited to get back to a beach where we could swim and shed a few layers of clothing, so we reluctantly packed our bags, cleaned our room, said some goodbyes (always met with a knowing look-‘You’ll be back…’), and took a rickshaw to the train station, returning to the ‘real’ world. The journey was quick and painless, and as I practiced meditating on the train, 45 minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

Not a single nail! A rare example of a dying art.

  While there is no beach at Cochin, I was looking forward to visiting one of the most important ports from the spice trading days.  Fort Cochin was a Portuguese settlement until being taken over by the Dutch East India Company in 1683. Saint Francis Church, built in 1516, was where Vasco da Gama was originally buried, and has some fascinating inscriptions chiseled into the stone. This area was central to the pepper and cinnamon trade that inspired the very beginnings of global trade, eventually suffering a near collapse after an outbreak of the Plague. We really enjoyed our time here, possibly because of the return to a more flavorful diet, but it was a very relaxed place. We wandered along the shore, did some souvenir shopping (we must have still been blissed out!), and surfed the internet from the comfort of our bed. There was a nice quiet rooftop for morning yoga and afternoon meditation, and the ‘homestay’ prepared a massive breakfast of toast, eggs, fruit, and coffee. On the way back to the train station, we took advantage of the commercial district on the mainland, stocking up on cash from an ATM with a limit higher than $200, and treating ourselves to lunch at Pizza Hut.

  Everything has been going so smoothly, it’s almost unnerving. Even though we were still on the waitlist, we found our seats had been confirmed, the train was arriving at platform 1, so we didn’t need to hike up and over the walkway in the scorching afternoon heat, and the train left right on time. More meditation, I finished yet another novel, ate some tasty train food, and drifted off to sleep. The only downside to this journey is that our train was due to arrive at 04:30, so I set my alarm for 4AM, not wanting to miss our stop. The morning had gotten surprisingly cool, with a steady wind dropping down from the mountains to the east. Reaching up to 2500 meters, this area is a popular summer getaway for the wealthy in the north, where temperatures are over 40 degrees Celsius. Just before our stop, we entered a long tunnel, the first I’ve ever seen in India, the air suddenly warm and humid again.

  It’s a good thing we were ready to go, because the train only stops for a few minutes at the smaller stations, and no sooner than we had all hopped down onto the platform, the train started pulling away. I thought we might have to spend a few hours at the station, waiting for the town to wake up, but there had been one other tourist on the platform, heading north, so his rickshaw driver was waiting around in case someone got off. Another first, his auto rickshaw had doors! We piled our bags onto the roof-rack, piled in, and with a strange sense of disbelief, closed the door behind us. Even though we half-heartedly haggled in the cool, predawn silence outside the station, we still paid too much for the two kilometer ride down to the beach. It was still only 05:30, so our only greeting was from the dozen stray dogs that surrounded us, barking and sniffing. Eventually they lost interest, and we dropped into some deserted wicker lounge chairs, waiting for the sun to rise so we could find a hotel and restaurant.

  We chose to come to Patnem,  the quieter of the two beaches in the area, and so our options were fairly limited. There are only a dozen or so ‘resorts’ on the beach, each with a thatched roof restaurant/bar in front, and various levels of luxury offered in the huts tucked behind. None of them opened until 8:00, so we had lots of time to watch the surf and work up an appetite. There were several that had signs for free WiFi, so we moved our bags closer and waited for them to open. We ended up staying at the resort that opened first, getting a great end-of-season rate for a room, since all the restaurants have similar prices. It worked out well, because this place has the best food. It’s a very laid back place, but the food is possibly the best we’ve had anywhere in India. This is truly the end of the season, and only a few places are still open, the rest are literally disappearing, slowly being dismantled and carted away. Since this is going to be our last chance to just relax on the beach, we have really shifted (stayed?) into low gear. We have spent day after hazy day eating, swimming, doing yoga, meditating to the crashing of the waves, and surfing the internet, planning out some details of the remainder of the trip.

  We will be very busy for the last 8 weeks of the journey, with a couple more UNESCO sites to visit in India, our African safari, a trip up Kilimanjaro (while the girls volunteer near Dar Es Salaam), a week in Egypt, and a whirlwind tour of Europe. Su wants to spend time with friends and family in the UK, while I plan on seeing as much as I can, having never been to Europe. I’ll fly from London to Paris, get a museum pass and rent a bike, then storm the city for three days, fueled by coffee, cheese and baguette; no whining, no compromise, just plenty of iconic landmarks, before hopping on an overnight bus to Amsterdam for more of the same. Our friend and housemate from Salleri, Vincent, lives an hour away, so hopefully we can spend a day cycling around The Hague. I found a cheap flight to Edinburgh that happens to have a 17 hour layover in Copenhagen;  plenty of time to wander the old city and the waterfront, before returning to the airport and finally meeting up with the girls at Tanya and John’s place in Scotland. We’ll still have time to do some camping and enjoy a few pints before heading back to London and our flight home. Yup, still a few things on the agenda. This has already been an amazing trip, it’s hard to believe there is still so much to come! 

Don't know what they've got onboard, but there's a lot of it!