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We headed to the train station after a long day of just waiting around (we were a bit limited on what we could do, as we had bags with us!). We got there with a couples of hours to spare and the train was delayed slightly, so we settled down at the station, with our bags as foot rests. We managed to draw in a bit of a crowd and got chatting to some of the locals; we were even asked for our autograph, even though we explained that we weren't famous!
The train arrived and we settled into our bunk for the night. We actually had no choice, as there was no head room, so we had to lie down all the way! It was GREAT!! We hadn't got A/C as we thought, but this wasn't a problem as the windows didn't have glass in them so the breeze was our A/C! The Sleeper train, however uncomfortable, was actually one of the best experiences we've had so far!
After a pretty sleepless night, as the trains are really loud and at every stop men come walking up and down the aisles shouting, "chai-ah, chai-ah" (tea) and "kopi, kopi, kopi" (coffee), we arrived in Calicut at about 5.30am and headed straight for a hotel - which was full! After ringing all the hotels in our Lonely Planet book and being told that they too were full, we headed to a main street and asked at all the hotels we passed - but all were full! At this point we were tired and fed up as we had been walking for a couples of hours with our backpacks and it was starting to get hot! We asked if it was a public holiday and we were told it was a strike, a bit confused we thought we'd head to the last hotel in the book, our last resort; a 5* hotel, which was completely out of our budget! But they too were full, so Laura, being tired and just a little bit emotional, welled up and started to cry! (SO embarrassing!) But it did the trick, as the man from the hotel came rushing out to take our bags and said we could stay at the hotel for breakfast, while he rang around on our behalf for a hotel! Luckily he found one so we finally got to have a shower and a couple of hours kip before trying to see a llittle bit of Calicut.
We had a wonder through the town and then to the beach for our customary sunset drink; this time we opted for fresh coconut juice. The man cut open the coconuts with a machete - it was done in a flash, he did it without thinking, very impressive! After we'd drank the juice he cut it up, making part of the shell into a spoon, so we could eat some of the flesh - very nice, but could have done with a touch of Malibu!
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