Kovalam day 2

I slept well last night, and was awake around 7. 30 in plenty of time for breakfast. It was full Indian this morning and I wasn't in the mood so they cooked me two perfectly boiled eggs. Breakfast is eaten on a terrace with a roof and open sides which are cross crossed with clear nylon(fishing line) cords to keep the marauding crows out!
I installed myself by the pool for most of the morning making the most of it while I'm here. After a few hours of swimming and drying off,
I headed off along the front, chatting to people as I went. There's a lot of enthusiastic restaurant staff encouraging you in, but I tend to chat to them instead which takes the wind out of their sails a bit!
I went to Lonely Planet restaurant for a cup of Chai, it comes so full of fresh spices that you need to either remove them or seive it through your teeth! They run lots of yoga courses here and there was a group of folks dressed in green or red plain cotton saree/sarong type garments sitting round a table for lunch .
After an hour or so more wandering I ended up in the German Bakery for lunch - veg pakora and a fresh lime soda for lunch.
This is one of the original restaurants here dating back or early nineties, long before the promenade set up. It's now very fancy and had time to let on the ground floor with the restaurant above. It used to run a very fine book exchange and sale in the days when I read books not my kindle I made a lot of user of it.
When I first visited in the mid nineties, it was on the two upper floors of a tallish detached building, there was a travel agency on the ground floor and the toilet was on the ground floor too - and round the backside (their description not mine).
My blip today is of various parts of the beach area. The brown bird is a pond heron and just a little further along in the same little stream was the great egret. The top view is looking north towards the lifeguard station and temple on the shore, from the German Bakery - where you can still buy German Baked products. The sign always makes me smile, the South Indian folks refer to taking a bath when they are talking about going swimming, I think possibly a confusion with bathe.
The wooden structure is part of one of the fishing boats which goes out every night into the Indian Ocean. I hadn't noticed before that the boards are stitched together! The boats are all pulled up on the shore during the day, to dry out ready for the next night at sea. Most use nets, and some use gunpowder depth charges they use the same waters as some huge international boats, not a very safe occupation at all!
You can see the black sands on some of the beach shots which, especially when the sea is stormy, comes up onto the beaches. It's extremely fine and a brute to get off when it sticks to wet feet and costumes.
The manager came round to visit me in the hotel this evening. They are doing lots of renovations which is great to see. The place has become pretty run down. He was telling me that they are getting new parasols tomorrow and set one up (or at least got two of the staff to do it) to show me. He promises one will be ready, reserved, outside my room for me in the morning! He then offered to take my picture, so that's the other collage, the pool and restaurant from my room with beautiful palm tree reflections, me on the far side of the pool from my room which is the lit one, please note the new umbrella!