According to the paper today, the monsoon has officially started here in Kerala. That seems a bit off to me as the sky is bright blue and there are but a few clouds off in the distance. True when we arrived here there was a fierce thunderstorm the first night, but it's been near perfect weather since. As to where we are... We've made our way down from the hill station of Munnar, to the sandy beaches and (back to the) heat of Varkala. It's the off season here at the moment, so the beach and town is somewhat deserted. Almost all of the businesses and restaurants are closed but there are a few, with great views over the beach cliffs, that are still open.
Munnar was a nice, refreshingly cool place to be for a few days. We ran out of things to do and see after a day or so, and the little city itself isn't that interesting. The area around makes for great viewing as it's mountainous and covered with tea plantations. Most of the area is owned by Tata, who also makes cars, sells cell phone service, provides satellite TV, and much, much more. Oh, and they just bought the Jaguar and Land Rover brands... A little game we've taken up is pointing out all the new things of everyday life we see that have a Tata branded offering.
As for Varkala, there's not much to do other than be at the beach, and I'm fine with that at the moment. It's quite the beautiful place, with the beach nestled and protected from development by cliffs. A nice town is perched at the top of the cliffs, and there are even police that patrol the beach to keep hawkers and gawkers moving along... Trash is cleaned up regularly off the beach too, so it's really nice and sandy. A few more nights here reading and swimming, and we'll head off to Cochin for one last night and then to Mumbai. I'm excited to see it, especially so since I just cracked Shantaram (soon to be a movie featuring none other than the demon barber of fleet street, Johnny Depp).
Off to the beach!
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