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Trivandrum, India
8° 29' N 76° 54' E
Sep 27, 2005 10:21
Distance 57km

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Other entries in Trivandrum

The Trivandrum, Kovellum & Varkala Tour

Text written in: English

Hey Everyone thanks for the emails,
Well things here in India have been going sour/sweet for me for the last
while. As I have already emphasized India is amazing and there have been so
many good stories already that it is impossible to tell them all. However I
am still finding teaching incredibly frustrating as the children do not speak
english (they only read it), the entire system of teaching in the school is
highly irregular and unorganized, and I have been given little material to
work with. It has been a fight every inch of the way but I have not yet lost
hope. That is the sour part of India. As mentioned in my last email I was
planning to go to Trivandrum for the weekend and in this, as in every Indian
road trip I have taken so far, was the sweet side of India. Friday afternoon
following the end of my last class I left my placement and grabbed the first
bus I could find down to Trivandrum. 3 Hours and a couple interesting
strangers later I got to Trivandrum. By this point it was getting dark so I
brifly explored the area, grabbed some grub, and found a nice quiet hotel. Or
at least I thought quiet. It was a nice little hotel situated on a quiet
street and was even complemented on its peaceful surroundings in the lonely
planet. Unfortuneatly about 1 hour after I checked in, a roudy team of
college cricket players also checked in for the night and made it their
personal goal to ensure no on in the hotel got sleep that night. A rough
beggining I admit however the next two days payed off. I woke up early in the
morning and set out to see a famous Hindu temple in the heart of Trivandrum.
Non-Hindus are not allowed inside temples but even from the outside the place
was amazing and I spent at least an hour circling the massive temple and
looking at the thousands of 3000 year old scultptures carved into the side.
The site its self was in the heart of down town trivandrum but despite this
was absent the busies of modern Indian life. After this I went to the Museums
in the north of the City, upon getting here I found that the museums in the
area were closed due to the Kerelan Election that was being held. This was a
mild dissapointment but I still spent several hours exploring an amazing
Indian style park in which the bulidings were located. The area ,much similar
to the temple, was a nice contrast from the busy streets of India and I
thouroughly enjoyed it. After this I went down to Kovullom, a beautiful beach
on the southern coast of India, here I met many friendly toursits had a
lovely lunch, and spent a good while exploring the long beaches of the area.
I also got a chance to check my email  and found in my inbox a letter from a
couple of gappers that said they were in Varkala ,a beach town not far from where I
was. With this, I headed back to Trivandrum grabbed my bags and then caught a
bus to Varkala. I arrived by 5 and met up with Laura, Emma,(the two gappers)
and the Australian Paul (I met in Cochin) just in time to grab supper  and
watch the sunset. Varkala was the jewl of my trip, this small town on the
south western edge of India consists of one small black beach and miles upon
miles of breath taking cliffs. The Cliff tops are lined with small restraunts
and Cafes and they all serve good food, play good music, and overlook the
ocean. I spent the remainder of Sunday hanging out with everyone here, which
was wholy relaxing and then lazily made my way back up to Kollum by train in
the mid afternoon. The trip was great, as a downside I spent way to much time
in the sun and got a tad of heat stroke as well as a small cold( which I have been 
recovering from this week )but over all every bitter momment leading up to
and following the trip were well worth it. All in all the most difficult
thing I am finding in India is simply settling down at my placement after a
weekend of exciting travels. Any way I gotta run and hope to hear from you all
soon.
Take it easy.
-Adam