Weekend in Kovalum

We got up at 5am today to go to Kovalum, we packed took a bus to junction, then walked to the train station, found our platform, everything was the same as usual. Just less crowded because it was morning we got on the train (which has wood benches for seats, and fans in the ceiling) I'll never take cushions for granted again.

I saw some police today, and it made me think, how in China I felt like the government was everywhere, but in India I feel like it doesn't exist.

On the train the man across from me is sleeping and the one next to him ate something from a plastic bag, when he was done with it he threw the bag out the window. A person wearing and Armani belt just walked by.

We took the train to trivandrum and then took a bus to Kovalum. Kovalum is beautiful. The beaches have black sand and huge waves. I found beautiful India. Once we figured out where we were going we found a restaurant on the beach and bought a pineapple from some woman with a basket on her head. (best pineapple I've ever had) There are a lot of tourists here, which feels strange. After lunch we went hotel searching we found a pretty nice one for 250 Rs (aroudn $6) dropped off our stuff, and went for a walk. We walked through this back area, it was swampy, and gorgeous. At one point on the walk we were followed by a dog. I've never been so afraid to have dogs around but the doctors all talk about Rabies a lot so, I was afraid. On the beach there were people selling cotton candy. After we walked around for a while Zelda wasn't feeling well, so we went back to the hotel. I went back out later for a short walk.

Later that night, we went to dinner at a restaurant, that was pretty much exactly the same as lunch, except located in a different spot. It was just between two walls with some cloth over it for a roof.

My second day at Kovalum I had food poisening so all I did was sleep after breakfast. For breakfast we went to the German bakery which has a "French Breakfast" that consists of a croissant, cafe du lait, and a ciggarette. During the day while I was in the hotel the hotel owner came by and looked in the window and then opened the door, um CREEPY.

The third day at Kovalum I was feeling a little better, so we went back to the German Bakery, and got juice and banana cake (which had red bananas, which are really weird) We stayed there for a while reading, then went to "The rock" island thing which was beautiful except for the Indian boys who kept trying to get my phone number, and talk to me. As i walked away from them they were saying "follow me", but when I didn't listen to them they started following me.

After a while we went to swimming, and met a woman from Ireland, and talked to her for a while. The water was kind of cold, it was really nice. Unfortunatly there were some not smart white people swimming in bikinis, which attracted all of the Indian men on the beach, they were lined up, take pictures and staring.

Dealing with the men might be the hardest part about being in India.