In the morning we got a bus back from Kollam to Trivandrum and then a train from there to Varkala. The train took forever to even leave the station, we were sat on it for nearly 2 hours so were a bit annoyed but we finally arrived and went to a nice cafe where we had food and then sat chilling out right by the beach. Varkala is beach resort set ontop of a red cliff. Later on, we went for a couple of beers which was funny because bars and restaurants in Kerala (except 3-5* hotels) have been banned to sell alcohol, so they serve beer in large mugs. The waiter told us that the owner pays the police and it seems every other bar and restaurant must do the same because they all serve it in mugs and you are just asked to put the bottle on the floor by your chair!
The next day, we had a bit of a lazy morning before heading to the temple here. Again, we were only allowed in the grounds of the temple and not inside and we didn’t think it was the nicest temple we have ever seen. Afterwards, we went for lunch and then spent the rest of the day on the beach. Jonho also had his hair cut which was an experience to say the least. The guy cut his neck, gave him an aggressive Indian head massage in the process and put some minty gel on his hair, making his eyes water and he came back to the room and absolutely stunk of the stuff!
We went out for some more curry in the evening but had an early night as we had to be up at 5.30am for our train to Kollam…
Kerry and Jonho's Travels 