We arrived by taxi at the ferry terminal in kollam and it was back to reality with a bump. Stepping out of the taxi 5 guys trying to get us into a tuc tuc or their own tourist information office. white person = $$$$!
We found a nearby hotel to crash and to wait for the temperature to drop. It was SUPER hot and sweaty outside and Marc was almost drowning in his shirt (the Marc waterfall effect). Later we went for a walk around the town past 1000 jewelry shops and into real local fast food diner (with only one option on the menu) in at 7.00, served at 7.05, out by 7.10... done!
The next day we had booked a trip on the Kerelan backwaters by canoe, including a guided tour of the villages. Waiting for the taxi to pick us up to take us to the boat, we found out we were not gonig to be alone on this trip. A french girl ("une illumine") who was going from ashram to ashram, was telling us the miracles of the "hugging MOTHER" (an ashram guru). We had a great trip on the canoe with a cool guide, who stopped to show us kingfishers, jackfruit, villagers making coconut rope , prawn farms, water snakes etc. It was so peaceful and beautiful in these small villages we would have liked to stay longer on the boat.
After a hot morning we went back to the room to repose, and we found that an ant colony had discovered a miniscule amount of food in our room. We were infested. Getting ready to go for the evening meal, Jacqui could not sit still, something did not feel quite right. After undressing again to her dismay she discovered that she did indeed have (an) ant(s) in her pants :(
After seeing the prawn farms we decided prawn was on the menu for the night. We went to a really good restaurant recommended by our guide from the canoe tour.
The day after we left for Kumely in the mountains “Westerns Ghats”.
