Miles of golden sand fringe the Indian Ocean, and it was all virtually empty except for the fishermen and this very excited group of school children and their teachers!
The children are very keen to practice their English and have their photograph taken. I certainly never had teachers as colourfully dressed as these ones were!
Cycling past the fishermen was quite oderous, with the fish that are caught being processed and packed into ice ready for selling. Seem to be all shapes and sizes on offer today.
I was a bit worried when I took a photograph of the fish seller he thought that I actually wanted to buy one, fortunately it was the person behind me!
This was a popular area for the local bird population who were more than keen to help clear up.
Nets need to be mended and
Laundry done when the catch has been landed.
But that didn't stop the school party from enjoying their day. No icecream on sale, but prepared fresh fruit stored in glass jars filled with water.
The fishermen use traditional Kerelan boats when they go out to sea
and when not in use they are dragged up onto the beach.
Where ever we go people want to have a photograph taken with us. Weird or what?
Still it's wonderful to be beside the sea at thong last. Strangely many Kerelans are unBle to swim apparentl- because they don't have public swimming pools or lessons. Bit of a mistake when you live by the sea?
We cycled on, through the back waters, where the water is chock full of water lilies and water hyacinth.
We had a brief stop at a Syrian Christian Church built on the spot St Thomas was supposed to have preached from. I don't know about that, but the front door was quite beautiful.
The colour combination of the walls, doors, shutters and painted wood work was very appealing.
Continueing on our ride we rode through a series of villages all celebrating some Hindu festival. That meant the elephants were out in force, decorated brightly with cloths and gold jewellery. To stop them from charging away their feet are shackled with giant chains, which wasn't very pleasant for them I expect.
There are two Indian states which are communist, Kerela being one of them. With state elections happening later this year the campaigning seems to have started in earnest with slogans and symbols daubed everywhere.
Lunch was at a very smart hotel restaurant, where the Head of the Bank of India was also dining with his retaineu. Pity we lowered the standard somewhat were we trooped in not and less than fragrant... Still a delicious lunch of thali serves Kerelan style on a banana leaf. Doesn't look much but I'd eaten some of it and then remembered to take the photographs!
A cooling rest was needed after that ride but not for long as Terry, Debs and I went off to explore the local area and do a bit of retail therapy.
Guruvayoor Has one of the largest Hi du Temples in India, and it seemed that they were all keen to go. The streets lined up to the temple are packed with Indian tourist shops, with the shopkeepers more keen on local trade rather than harassing travellers. So quite lovely to stroll and browse at all the tat!
Fashions here in the south are different from those we saw in the north. For one thing - most men don't wear trousers but a dohti. Basically a colourful cotton bedsheets 2m long which they wrap around their waist and hitch up or not depending on how hot they feel. Ladies saris and shalwar kameis tend to be more subtly coloured unlike the peacocks of the north! And no turbans are worn either.
There were no Holy Coconuts only Holy bananas, and no one was remotely interested in selling us one either. bliss!
We came back after dinner with everyone else and it was really busy with ?worshippers going to the temple to make offerings. We just went to see the dancing entertainment
Went on for a bit too long if you ask me....
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