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15/4/2011
Sneakily got up and out, paying our nice friend the 200-a-night price and legging it before his a****** boss turned up. Chris stole some random flip-flops off the floor. It seems to be a commom travellers thing trading flip-flops and knicking them. Not that I've been in on it as Í had my crappy ones for ages!
Said bye to Chris and Magdeleina joined me to head for Kanyakumari. Cheeky egg on toast at a seaview cafe to start the day but travel started badly, waiting an hour for the first bus which didn't turn up so an expensive air-con bus to Trivandrum first was in order. Joined by a handicapped English guy and I presume his wife who we walked and planned tuctucs with to get closer to our destination. However, whilst they were in the train station toilets, some guy tagged Magdeleina and me who caught the bus to Nagercoil to save some time. The couple must have thought we were real a******s but it was leaving there and then!
The buses were terrible and considering it was only 60 kilometres between Kovalam and Kanyakumari, it was turning out to be a long, pain-in-the-backside travel. Four-and-a-half hours total! At least the rides were scenic though, hills, mountains, palm and banana tree forests, marshland, all picture perfect.
In Nagercoil's bus station, got to witness yet more cattle feeding on all the litter whilst pissing and s***ting all over the floor and then almost stacking it in its own pee.
Jumped on one bus only to be fobbed onto another which was kind of the locals trying to save us time as there were more stops on the first bus. However, getting on and off buses here is a nightmare. The Indians are selfish and rude and pretty inhumain when it comes to this! I mean, does it not make a fraction of sense to let someone with huge bags and the people in front to get off first before you all start clambering on? Not to these klutzes. It infuriates me big style!
In Kanyakumari by the afternoon where a tiny local man tried collaring us into a hotel and then after I asked him to leave me alone, he followed me to every single hotel that I was enquiring prices for! I was shouting at him, telling him to fork off and leave me alone but he continued and played the dumb look. I thought he was blatently stitching me up as the receptionists all saw him. On the other hand, it was an Indian holiday period so the area had many hotels fully booked. I felt so nasty when he found us a 200-a-night room but then the cheeky git asked for money as the hotel guy wouldn't give him commission. I gave him some change but that's all I had and after all, he was following me for half an hour when I told him to do one!
Sweltering weather as we walked to the train station where I purchased my ticket and then around the town checking out the architecture of temples, buildings and the statue (some poet) and Kumari Amman Temple out at sea (but close to shore). Walked up a long jetty of rocks and had a dip in the not-too-clean waters and got amongst the locals in their everyday life whilst they sorted through fishing nets and that!
Hungry as, I indulged in a curry that was mild yet still tested my pallet and a Limca soft drink which Magdeleina said was the best. As the soft drink expert, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't going to beat the likes of Irn Bru, Vimto, Sobo or Coke Vanilla!
Went on a long 35-minute walk to a sunset point where rumours and literature reckon some of the best sunsets are. Only problem was, there wasn't much of one when we got there. Tonnes of locals and Indian tourists there aswell, as it did have pleasant views and it was a reasonably nice area.
Randomly, have had a fair few photos with random Indians and foreigners alike who seem to just like a photo with a white person! Or maybe it's because I'm tall....
All this day, I had a stinking cold in boiling weather, carrying toilet roll with me to try and combat my runny schnoz and pinching napkins from restaurants when that ran out. It was that bad!
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