India, Sri Lanka and The Maldives - Days 39 to 41 - Kovalam & Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu

Sunset over the Arabian Sea 

Our meal out at Ali’s kitchen in Kovalam was very nice, but Kovalam does seem terribly expensive. Still, we thoroughly enjoyed our big tiger prawns and fish and chips!

Passed her on the way out for our meal. Obviously enjoying a good soak in the hot late afternoon

Day 40

Only a couple of hours to Kanyakumari, India’s southernmost point, so we had a fairly gentle start, enjoying our last breakfast with the waves pounding on the beach.

First of two courses at Alis Kitchen in Kovalam. Tiger prawns in a hot curry sauce - fabulous!

On arrival everywhere we might want to go was within walking distance of the hotel, Shareef went to great pains to tell us this, so we expected him to vanish off to his guest house. Not so, his bed for the night was in the car, in the carpark so we had to walk past him as we went in and out!

Not quite the sunset we'd hoped for from our table at Alis, but it faded into cloud/smog anyway

We looked at the swimming pool, and thought, later. If we are going to go out to Vivikanandena Island we need to go and look. Copied from Tripadvisor “This is the place where Swami Vivekanand did meditation and attained enlightenment. It is also said that on the same rock devi Kanyakumari (Goddess Parvati) did tapasya for Lord Shiv. Her footprints are still there on this rock.” I’d read much online about queuing for 2+ hours just to buy tickets, before queuing to get on the boat, hence why there is a normal rate of 75p or a fast pass of £3.00! We were lucky, no queue at all, we just had to wait for the death trap ferry to be filled to capacity while wearing ridiculously huge, hot life jackets! The journey took about 6 minutes, though mooring up was interesting in the choppy sea. But which sea? At this southernmost point the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea all meet. Sadly they weren’t all different colours as I would have liked (pink, orange and green?) so there was nothing to actually see. Once on the island you then had to queue again to buy tickets o visit the temple. You had no choice, there was nowhere else to go, so why not sell both at once? At this point you also had to remove your shoes, free storage, but then you had to stand on the ground, which was very hot. There was a painted white line, which was noticeably cooler, to walk on, except where it was worn out! We did a quick circuit, looked in the mandapas (shrines?) saw a mark in the rock Brian reckoned was a chiseled footprint, and decided we’d done it. We’ll just nip onto that ferry that’s waiting…. Except for the group who wanted to have their photos taken with us. This happens remarkably often, and it’s not just kids. We have taken to photobombing people if we are passing, they all seem quite happy about it! We missed the ferry, but there will be another one along when it’s full to depart, and we are in the shade!

Kanyakumari, the southern tip of India.  Vivikanandena Island has the temple on it and is the most southerly point of India, so we had to go!

I’m primed for an icecream shake and we’d passed what looked like a nice place quite close to the hotel, so off we went, in the stifling heat. It did look good, but sadly had no electricity. Back the way we’ve come then to a slightly strange food court which did the job. See our Relive video of our walk: click here

There's nothing like a good ferry to take us out to the island. Unfortunately, this was nothing like a good ferry!

Back to the hotel to chill though the AC is definitely old and clunky (as is the whole hotel really. It’s the only one I commented on the average reviews to Ranjeet before we came, only to be told in no uncertain terms that it was the best one in town!) Fortunately the bar was very cool, as was the beer. Although everyone enjoyed the homestays(and the last one felt like a homestay though it billed itself a resort) it’s quite nice to be back in a hotel again. Quick Look at the crossword before sunset then. We did go out for sunset, apparently it’s the thing to do, as the hundreds of people on the viewing platform attest. Sadly, as ever, the sun didn’t set, so much as vanish behind the cloud/smog. At this point I mentioned to Brian that we hadn’t actually been to the southernmost point of mainland India, he was counting the island. Why do I open my mouth? With that we had to walk the 1.2km to the point, against the flow of people all coming away from the disappointing sunset, just to say we’d done it!

Attractive (and very grubby) lifejackets had to be worn and they didn't leave until it was crammed

Still, it used up the time till the restaurant opened where we found the man from the bar in charge. He was very good, taking our order before the big group from Japan sat down, though as it turned out they had preordered. Still we didn’t have to wait long for one of the best meals we’ve had since we arrived.

On the island amongst the faithful. Stay on the white bits, its cooler. I strayed off onto brown slabs to take this photo and I had to take it very quickly as my feet were burning. White makes the slabs just about bearable in bare feet

Day 41

Almost 4 hours north to Madurai, so I’m writing in the car. It’s going to be hot, no sea breeze no upland.

Standing looking at the temple (not sure it is a temple but not sure what else to call it) with our backs to the mandapas that contained the 'footprint of Goddess Parvati'. The imprints of the toes looked very new to me but we weren't allowed to take photos inside so you'll have to go and see for yourself!

Breakfast was interesting, the reviews I’d read online about the hotel had more than one comment, obviously from northern Indians about the staff discriminating against them, talking about them, in their own language and giggling. I didn’t see any of this, though I did see some very rude and demanding behaviour towards the staff from what I assume was northern Indians. I asked Shareef about this when we got in the car, so got his version which may or may not be correct and unbiased (according to him Tamil Nadu, where we now are, is the largest state in India, according to Wikipedia it’s Rajasthan!) In the north they all love Prime Minister Modi who is Hindu, Hindu, Hindu, in the south Kerela is communist with a few more states being communist alliances and much more inclusive. Although we found the north to be inclusive, Shareef’s view is backed up by the news yesterday that immigration is to be made easier for everyone, except Muslims which is going to spark some trouble.

Go and pose for a photo in front of the Thiruvalluvar statue on the neighbouring island I said. It would have meant her standing on black marble in full sun so she stayed with feet in the shade and leant across!

Here we are at the most southern tip of India. Next stop, Antarctica and we're still in the Northern Hemisphere. Out there three seas meet, to the right is the Arabian Sea, the left is the Bay of Bengal and in front is the Indian Ocean. There's no visible sign of swirling currents or waves, just a choppy sea that was very noticeable on the ferry

A selfie!

Round the other side of the temple/shrine

Waiting for our ferry back again. Its a different one but just as old and crammed full before it left again

Very satisfied with our afternoon trip to the island at the southern tip of India we chilled in our room for a while, went to the bar for a beer and wandered back out to watch the sunset. Here it is about to disappear behind cloud 

All the people who'd paid to go up the tower on the right to watch the sunset were going to be disappointed

There's quite a few of them up there

The final faint glow of the sun behind the cloud. It was then that Jackie mentioned about the most southerly mainland point of India. The island we went to is the most southerly point, but the mainland most southerly point is at that statue just poking up in the distance at Sunset Point. Its 1.2km away, so we had to go. Its still very hot so Jackie pleaded that we must walk slowly

We arrived in plenty of time before dark

There were still lots of people at Sunset Point, although masses had already gone, we know as we passed them going the other way

Of course we had to go as far south as we could and, we settled for this as this rock is on dry land. Sea separated those rocks further out and, since the island we went to earlier was further south, this was the furthest mainland part 

Nice photo of Jackie obviously relishing this moment

And a look back the other way at how much beyond the statue/monument we'd walked

Nearly forgot to put this photo of our breakfast at the Kovalam hotel overlooking the sea. A wild, isolated place with table service!

Beer 'O Clock in Kanyakumari in frozen glasses

And finally, today, about 2 hours ago on our way to Madurai at a new cafe alongside the dual carriageway that leads from Kanyakumari to Chennai via Madurai. We stopped for a refreshment break and Shareef, our driver took this. We're drinking our usual chocolate ice cream milkshakes having eaten our samosas. It seems to have become our regular lunchtime snack to avoid overeating between breakfast and big dinners. I did tell him that it isn't cool to be seen drinking milkshakes but he took it anyway!