Kerala Part 4: Day 5
Day 5: 26th Jan 2012
Ashtamudi, Verkala Beach
The next day morning we sleep in late. Lazy breakfast by 10:00am. The dosai and appams are nice and soft. We keep asking for more, and they keep bringing them. In that respect, the service at the resort is quite nice. The dosai are better than Woodlands at Ernakulam - as I would sadly discover the next day.
The resort, the lake, the place takes our your sense of time - which seems suspended. By the time we are ready to move out, it is already 1:45pm. We head back to the main highway, reach Kollum by 2:15pm, and take the NH 47 further - with Verkala beach in mind. A few pit stops for coconut water, and we reach a junction where you are supposed to leave the main highway and take a smaller road to the right that takes you to Verkala. The road here is curvy, and also inclined, so more fun than the highway.
We reach a railway crossing, get across it and take left to reach Verkala Shivgiri railway station. Another 3km further and we reach the base of the famous Aiyappa temple. A narrow street leads you to the public beach. However this is not where you would like to be. It is like Juhu beach in Mumbai.
We ask around for north cliff (or simple 'cliff') and are directed to go further ahead about 4-5km. The road climbs further and you suddenly arrive on a wide opening - a table land. This is the famous helipad. To the right, a narrow lane is walkway down to the actual beach. We park the bike near the table land and walk down the narrow lane.
The walkway reminds us of Goa. It is dotted with tiny shacks, eateries, shops, German bakeries, karaoke bars. You see mostly firang tourists. Even the beach down below is filled with them. We see people bathing in the sea, lazing around in the sand, some even paragliding from the top of the cliff, some just hogging the numerous 'waterholes' and guzzling beer like fish.
We come back up and decide to have a late lunch (4:30pm) at one of the shacks. I think it is called "Sea view". It has some reclining seats, which you can turn and sit facing the ocean at a distance. Nice location. The grilled garoupa is great (you just have to insist on grilling the fish sufficiently), so is the pasta. The lemon mint tea is passable, as it has more lemon and almost no mint.
By this time it is late (6:00pm). We see the sunset from the cliff and start back hurridly, since we have to reach Ashtamudi for dinner at William's house. The traffic on the road back to Kollam on the highway is pretty horrific and our journey is slow, now that it has turned dark.
We reach William's house, which is a kilometer before the resort by 9pm. All members of both families - Manual and William, and their wives and children - all come out to greet us. We are overwhelmed already. We apologize for the delay, but they brush that aside. We are taken inside, where food is laid out.
And what a wonderful dinner it is! There is boiled rice, a nice yellow kadhi-like preparation, karimeen fry, the best fish curry ever - made by Manual's mother with her own home-grind spices, fresh prawn from William's chinese net fried to perfection - I have tears of joy in my eyes just as I write this and remember the taste of each!
William chats with us while we eat. The family is ever attentive - especially Manual who keeps serving us till we are about to burst at the rim. Post dinner we go to the back side of the house, which is on one of the eight arms of the 'Ashtamudi' lake, and get to see the Chinese net in action. The men of the house show how it is operated, with the lights being lowered, and the prawns getting attracted to the lights. In the next 2-3 minutes, the net has a couple of fish and a few prawns - some big ones too.
The men take turns at night in operating the net from the wee hours to the morning, then go to the resort and work the whole day. They hardly sleep 3-4 hours. Most people in their village too wake up as early as 2am, and go fishing. What a tough life - and here we are, thinking that life in metros is hectic! The food, the chat, the company of nice and friendly folks - this is arguably the warmest experience of the entire trip and will remain with us all throughout. I do not remember sleeping this well in the recent times.
Day 6 and 7 to follow ...
Best,
Shreekant
Ashtamudi, Verkala Beach
The next day morning we sleep in late. Lazy breakfast by 10:00am. The dosai and appams are nice and soft. We keep asking for more, and they keep bringing them. In that respect, the service at the resort is quite nice. The dosai are better than Woodlands at Ernakulam - as I would sadly discover the next day.
The resort, the lake, the place takes our your sense of time - which seems suspended. By the time we are ready to move out, it is already 1:45pm. We head back to the main highway, reach Kollum by 2:15pm, and take the NH 47 further - with Verkala beach in mind. A few pit stops for coconut water, and we reach a junction where you are supposed to leave the main highway and take a smaller road to the right that takes you to Verkala. The road here is curvy, and also inclined, so more fun than the highway.
We reach a railway crossing, get across it and take left to reach Verkala Shivgiri railway station. Another 3km further and we reach the base of the famous Aiyappa temple. A narrow street leads you to the public beach. However this is not where you would like to be. It is like Juhu beach in Mumbai.
We ask around for north cliff (or simple 'cliff') and are directed to go further ahead about 4-5km. The road climbs further and you suddenly arrive on a wide opening - a table land. This is the famous helipad. To the right, a narrow lane is walkway down to the actual beach. We park the bike near the table land and walk down the narrow lane.
The walkway reminds us of Goa. It is dotted with tiny shacks, eateries, shops, German bakeries, karaoke bars. You see mostly firang tourists. Even the beach down below is filled with them. We see people bathing in the sea, lazing around in the sand, some even paragliding from the top of the cliff, some just hogging the numerous 'waterholes' and guzzling beer like fish.
We come back up and decide to have a late lunch (4:30pm) at one of the shacks. I think it is called "Sea view". It has some reclining seats, which you can turn and sit facing the ocean at a distance. Nice location. The grilled garoupa is great (you just have to insist on grilling the fish sufficiently), so is the pasta. The lemon mint tea is passable, as it has more lemon and almost no mint.
By this time it is late (6:00pm). We see the sunset from the cliff and start back hurridly, since we have to reach Ashtamudi for dinner at William's house. The traffic on the road back to Kollam on the highway is pretty horrific and our journey is slow, now that it has turned dark.
We reach William's house, which is a kilometer before the resort by 9pm. All members of both families - Manual and William, and their wives and children - all come out to greet us. We are overwhelmed already. We apologize for the delay, but they brush that aside. We are taken inside, where food is laid out.
And what a wonderful dinner it is! There is boiled rice, a nice yellow kadhi-like preparation, karimeen fry, the best fish curry ever - made by Manual's mother with her own home-grind spices, fresh prawn from William's chinese net fried to perfection - I have tears of joy in my eyes just as I write this and remember the taste of each!
William chats with us while we eat. The family is ever attentive - especially Manual who keeps serving us till we are about to burst at the rim. Post dinner we go to the back side of the house, which is on one of the eight arms of the 'Ashtamudi' lake, and get to see the Chinese net in action. The men of the house show how it is operated, with the lights being lowered, and the prawns getting attracted to the lights. In the next 2-3 minutes, the net has a couple of fish and a few prawns - some big ones too.
The men take turns at night in operating the net from the wee hours to the morning, then go to the resort and work the whole day. They hardly sleep 3-4 hours. Most people in their village too wake up as early as 2am, and go fishing. What a tough life - and here we are, thinking that life in metros is hectic! The food, the chat, the company of nice and friendly folks - this is arguably the warmest experience of the entire trip and will remain with us all throughout. I do not remember sleeping this well in the recent times.
Day 6 and 7 to follow ...
Best,
Shreekant
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