Well the question of toilets is sorted. Western all the way. In the airport you had a choice. Not really a tough one to call. At Leela Cottages it's western. However much a relief that is, it doesn't really address the issue of frogs/toads in the loo. And when I say in the loo, I don't mean doing the breast stroke in the water at the bottom. I mean clinging on to the side just under the seat, staring up at me as I turned to flush!! I've no idea how it got there or if it is even poisonous, but I've firmly put down the toilet seat and shut the bathroom door and I'm now in the not very secure confines of my mosquito netted 4 poster bed, hoping I won't find it on the pillow next to me during the night. I could regret saying that given the power of my thoughts on occasion.
NB On the matter of the frog in the frog in the bog, it was fairly pale with dark spots, so I'm thinking toad, but I'm no expert....
The drive from the airport was long and hot. It took almost an hour. The smells, sights and sounds were in a world of their own. The landscape is similar to Zanzibar, only much more densely populated i.e. many more people crammed into a much smaller space. The plethora of skinny dogs and boney cows by the roadside, coupled with the smell of rotting fish as we drove over a bridge across the river and the nose wrinkling stench of rotting rubbish as we drove past a dumping site, was a real overload for the senses. I was in and out of sleep on the journey and after an initial attempt to converse with the young guy who met me at the airport, I was grateful for the quiet, well, as quiet as India is with the constant chatter and the cars beeping each other for no reason.
But really, as far as I was concerned none of that matters. I'm here in India and that just makes me smile every time I think about it. Leela Cottages is signposted as 'Boutique Sea Side Huts' of which there are 10. All individually designed, built and styled as the vision of Ravi Kumar, a 36 year old, originally from Delhi, who is the wisest 36 year old I've ever met. After my initial collapse into a snooze like state when I arrived, I prised myself off the bed to go and eat this evening and found myself involved in the most open and engaging conversation I've had for a very long time. Ravi's view of life and therefore his intentions on how to live it, are quite unique by western standards. He is a true Karma Yogi in action and his philosophy of the world left me wanting to call him Guruji on more than one occasion. He is very proud and yet humble of what he has achieved here. This is the end of his third season and in my opinion he has a lot to be proud of. The yoga shala (an addition for this season) is made from wood, with a compacted, dried mud floor, a woven palm leaf roof and the most enchanting star shaped light shades hanging at different heights from the ceiling. Ravi's pride as he showed me the shala was tempered by what I can only describe as a child like embarrassment, that it didn't have a wooden floor. Whatever the aesthetics, the energy of the space is beautiful and you can feel the heart and soul of the intention with which it was built. I have my first yoga session in there at 8.15 tomorrow and I can't wait....