Kovalam day 1

Thanks for all the good wishes, I arrived safely at my hotel around 3am and was still buzzing so did a bit of case sorting before going to bed. I slept till around 9 and got up for breakfast. Breakfast here is taken on a terrace which is surrounded by netting to keep the extremely bold crows from diving in to steal food off the tables!
Next on my agenda was a swim. The waves were a bit rough, in fact one man staying in the hotel was knocked over by one this morning and bruised some ribs, so I'm glad I decided to stay in the pool. I've gone a*** over t** before, in the sea here and it's not very dignified! If the sea is calmer I'll have a go another day otherwise I'll stick to the pool. The sea is so much warmer than the pool and I love the saltiness of the water.
I went for a walk along the front around mid day and changed some money. The exchange rate is much as it was last time which makes it easy to do conversions in my head. I ended up in a small cafe in one of the back lanes for lunch and had a fresh lime soda and some veg noodles.
The beach area here is full of shops interspersed with restaurants, cafes and smallhotels/guest houses along a raised pedestrian promenade area about 3/4 of a mile long around the edge of the bay. The shops range from little shacks to quite plush outfits. Again some are aimed at locals with local prices and others are more upmarket jewellers and leather shops.
There is a complicated network of paths and lanes going back a couple of hundred metres behind the beach front. These pathways are largely just dirt tracks rather than finished surfaces and twist and turn all over the place. There's a lot of rubbish around here, with sudden drops into ditches and puddles which are best avoided. This back area is full of small accommodation, restaurants, tailors and other shops. Just because a shop isn't on the front doesn't mean it's not a good place to go.
I don't know what the crime rate is like here, but I always feel very safe and I've always found people to be friendly.
I took a couple of pairs of trousers to a tailor I know to be shortened. £2 total and they'll be ready tomorrow night.
Today's collage has a scene through a rather interesting gateway on one of the back paths, taken with permission. I noticed the gates first of all and then saw that what was inside was fascinating.
The fish is a typical display outside one of the beach restaurants in the evening. Fish are brought in along the shore every day and sold on the beach. The boats go out overnight.
The coloured powder and incense are outside another back shop, a beautiful eye catching display.
The three generations were on the promenade, again taken with permission (and I did show her my blip and she said it was OK to include them). There's such a strong family likeness. Little Jez is one, so he's just a little younger than Josie, he was very chatty. The black spots are charcoal and done to ward off the evil eye and to make a child less beautiful and less appealing to anyone who might consider stealing him. God or human.
Kovalam is very different to anywhere else I go to in India. The people are very eclectic, a number are local, a large number come from Kashmir, others are former tourists who have loved the lifestyle and stayed, a number are regular visitors from across the world while others are first time tourists. Everyone seems to get on well together, the residents are fairly equally split between Christian, Hindu and Muslim.
I did find, from all I spoke to, a sense that things are finally going back to normal, although like anywhere dependent on people being able to travel, the place has become run down over the last three years. I was also very heartened by the number of shopkeepers and restaurant staff who, although I could not presume to call them friends, I have known for a while and were still here and came out to greet me. I could tell the difference between those who were welcoming anybody and those who were welcoming me, and that felt good.
I picked up a local sim too, the shop keeper set it all up for me. It means I can have local calls and use it to make a hotspot to allow me Internet connection on my UK phone, so that's good.
I sat and watched the sun go down then made my way back to my hotel. The hotel has only around 25 rooms but has a great setting right on the promenade - although its terrace is about 10 feet above the walkway which means it's not overlooked by passers by.
I'm off for an early night tonight!
Steps today 11 800