Today, our taxi came at 9.00am on the dot, in front of our Madurai Hotel to drive us to Kanya. We stopped on the way to a dhaba to have a chai tea. A guy was wearing a tee-shirt which said ‘Nothing is illegal until you get caught’, Josie pointed him out to me. The driver was very good, he managed to avoid a 4WD driving in the opposite direction on our side of the 4 lanes (2 on each side) highway.
Getting out of Madurai was a bit of sportive driving but after that, it was a highway all the way. We saw rice fields after a while, then kms and kms of wind mills, some with two, some with three blades. They seemed to catch the wind OK, maybe due to some mountains on one side channelling the wind ???
We arrived at the Seaview Hotel around 1.00 pm. We were happy to find that our double-connected bedroom had a view on the very tip of India, so no need to get outside for the sunrise tomorrow morning. The bathroom was not very cleaned although all made of marble, and the bedroom was a bit stuffy. The AC rooms are best avoided in the winter as the air is very pleasant outside. The downstairs restaurant was excellent though, so we enjoyed a nice Malabar fish curry in the evening and we even risked ice cream for the kids for desert.
For lunch, we decided to be more adventurous and had a tali at a more local restaurant recommended in the Guide du routard. We were taken in a stuffy adjacent room, but we asked to be in the main room with everyone. We ate in the company of a dozen of school boys hungry for their tali.
In the afternoon, there was plenty of time to visit the Fishermen Village. The village is being reconstructed after the 2005 Tsunami, and is not shy with paint colours, fishing boats and houses alike. We visited a Christian church. There were no chairs inside, so you had to pray really humbly, and I rested there with Josie. Then, we walked at the end of the jetty, and further proceeded to visit the memorial of Vivekananda on an islet 40m from the shore. We were taken in a very crowded boat as this was a very popular place to visit for Indian tourists who wish to pay homage to the first century (or so) poet Thiruvalluvar. There is a meditation room where the Ohm sign is lit/displayed in red. This is probably as far off the tip of India you can get at that point.
In the distance we could see the fishermen going even further, probably trying to catch what could end up as our ‘Malabar fish curry’.
After that, we made our way to the Gandhi Memorial. It was completely empty. Gandhi chose for his ashes to be scattered in that very place where 3 seas meet: the Indian Ocean, the Bengal Sea, and the Arabian sea (or Oman sea). In the same fashion this mausoleum has been designed by three architectural influence : Christian, Muslim and Hindhu.
Finally we made our way back to our hotel, missing the Kumari Amman Temple, so no ‘celibacy vow’ for me, I am afraid! ...
A very large tourist market goes along the holy coast. This is definitely designed for Indian tourists, you find a lot of colourful godly trinkets, frilly dresses for little girls, plastic baseball bats for boys, pink sugar candy sellers, horse rides.
14th of January
This morning, we saw a picture of Brisbane flooded in the Hindu News . Paul texted Bill to let him know he could use our house if his was flooded as he lives in a more at risk area, but Bill said although it was a big mess, his house was ok.
