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Kanyakumari

We got a bus from Madurai to Kanyakumari, which is the Southernmost tip of peninsula India. It was pretty badly hit by the tsunami - around two thousand people died here. It was another long journey - by the time we got there it was dark. My iPod's battery had long since given up the ghost, leaving me with no choice other than to plow my way right through to the end of Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance - sweet as a nut mate.

Ariving at the hotel (which was right on the beach and has been refurbished recently after damage from the tsunami), we were faced with a choice of two rooms. One had an Indian-style toilet, no fan, and no sea-view. The other had a Western-style toilet, a shower with hot water, complimentary towels and soap (such a luxury in this place!), and a nice balcony with a good view. With the difference being only 150 rupees, i made the executive decision that we should take the more expensive of the two rooms. Having just spent two nights in a manky Madurai motel (albeit one with Kingfisher and Masala Dosas on room service), it felt like a five star.

One of the things Kanyakumari is famous for is the gorgeous sunsets and sunrises. We would only be here for one night - and we'd already missed the sunset - so we resigned ourselves to the fact that we'd have to get up ultra-early the next day to see the sunrise. Watching the sunrise with Agent Dolac was not quite what i'd expected/hoped for on Valentine's Day 2007, but there we go!

I read in the Lonely Planet that if you are here in April, you can see the sun and the moon very close together in the sky. In the middle of February, the moon is just fading as the sun comes up...spectacular colours on the horizon, lots of people around the hotel and the streets outside getting up to watch it...really nice. Once the sun was well and truly up in the sky, we went back to bed - after all, 7am is practically the middle of the night! :O)

When i finally got up properly, i noticed that my iPod, which i had left on charge overnight, hadn't actually charged. I thought we might have had a power cut, but the socket was workig fine with my camera, and with the TV...but nothing was happening when i plugged the iPod in. No charging sign, no flashing lights, nothing whatsoever. After an hour or so of plugging it in, unplugging it, plugging it in again, etc, i finally gave up and accepted the fact that my travelling companion would not be providing me with anymore sweet music for the remainder of our trip. The prospect of not being able to listen to music was frightening, but i was consoled by the fact that we had brought headphone splitter with us, meaning i could/can still listen in to Chris'...not sure i can stomach his 80's synth pop for long (give me Wolf Eyes any day), but we'll see...

We finally managed to get some laundry done - both of us literally put our entire wardrobes, minus one set of clothes, in the wash. For one day, we both walked around wearing our new traditional tops, getting funny looks from the locals, and even some of the other tourists - textbook!

Just off the tip of the mainland are two islands, one with a couple of temples and one with a statue of the Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar, which is 133 feet high, representing the 133 chapters of his Thirukural. Imagine an Indian version of the Statue of Liberty, and you'll be somewhere near the mark. Both islands were impressive and well worth getting the ferry across for.

A short but sweet stay!

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