Kanyakumari

The third weekend we decided to go together with the rest of Projects Abraod – group on an arranged trip down to Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India. To sum up the weekend first, it mainly consisted of many hours in bus, antz and people. In this order. But of course we have to put some good experiences in between too ;)

Friday Anja & co went from our placement at 8.00 AM and went over to Batalagundu, where we were to meet up with Sebastien and two French girls from the model farm (an awful lot of girls over there!). We got a direct bus from there to Kannyakumari and were happy about that – till we found out it took a big slope through Madurai which added a couple of extra hours. But nothing to do with that! Here we are happy as long as we have seats to sit in, and the music videos are not louder than that we manage to communicate without screaming (to much)… At 8.00 PM we finally arrived Kannyakumari, and concluded that this trip was a bit longer than we had foreseen. But it was good to get there, and to get a nice room in the hotel (until we got antz invasion...)

We spent the evening in the restaurant and tasted chicken again after a long time as vegetarians. I have told you that, right? Down here we only get served vegetarian food, ergo we are vegetarians the whole way. A new experience, but is works! Also seeing a fork and knife was new, since we now find it perfectly natural to eat with our hands. Sorry, hand – right hand! Wonder how it will be to come home and try to eat Norwegian food with only one hand… Well, now I am far off the tracks here, but that was an important one! ;)

Saturday was the big sightseeing day in the area around Kannyakumari. We could see that this area was quite different from Madurai/ Dindigul, where we have spent our time. More tourists, yes, but also richer and more developed. Interesting to see! The day started with two boring-but-must-have-seen-places with the whole bunch on 50 P.A – volunteers. First The Circle Fort, where three oceans meet around it (ok, it was nice, but not very exciting), and The King`s Palace. Not too much to say about them, but now we can check them off the list. After a busy, but ok lunch and some shopping, we went to the next post on the program; waterfalls. It was really hot down there this day, maybe 32-34 degrees C, so we were looking forward to this! And they lived up to our expectations :) The only thing was that the girls- boys – segregation was really noticeable. The girls had one or two of the waterfalls to be in, the guys four + a swimming pool! AND we had to bath with our knees and shoulders covered, as always. A new way of doing it, but it was really nice and cooling, so we were all very happy about it in spite of all the clothes :)

 

Circle Fort

Beaches!

It's really not easy to take pictures with 10 cameras around your neck.

Sebastien, The fabulous Victor, and Anja at Circle Fort

Very exciting!

Raja's Palace (The King's Palace)

Waterfalls

Wet, but happy!

After this we got in the bus to get back to the ocean, and after a total of six hours in bus this day, we arrived the beach to watch the sunset. It is strange how much one can appreciate to see the white sand  between your toes and  the calm, rolling sea, but after being in the inlands and relative poor areas, this was so nice! We walked around, just taking in the view, the nice breeze and being just the two of us for a couple of minutes… And the sunset in the ocean was really beautiful!  The sun also rise from the ocean here, but we chose to prioritize some sleep when it for once was quiet in the morning. Hopeless, I know…

Beautiful view at the beach...

Some fun must one have too ;)

Big dinner party

In the evening Projects Abroad sponsored vegetarian food for everyone, and with over 50 signed up this weekend, Victor (the coordinator / trip leader from P.A) was constantly running around trying to please everyone. Of course he managed too, he is the best of them all! And the food was delicious, even with no meat at all. Unfortunaly we had like 200 antz crawling everywhere in our room when we came back, but it was a nice day up till that point, and I do not want to ruin it for you with this story, so we just call it a night there ;) 

Sunday was the day for sights in Kanyakumari, which we really would have liked to do see, but after Friday`s experience, we decided to leave early so we would not be too late back home. It went relatively smooth, but we all got a 9 hour trip including the last hour in taxi. Lazy, yes, but if you had been at Madurai Bus station at 5 PM Sunday afternoon, I promise you would have done the same thing, It is so crazy at that time, and even if you are jumping on the bus while driving you might not get a spot, and certainly not a seat. So to get home for dinner we chose the “easy way out”, and luckily got back exactly in time for noodles. Wee!  

Summing up again, we had a really nice weekend, in spite of all the driving, the antz invasion and the feeling of being charter tourists. We met many nice people, and got to see a spot of India we might not have bothered to go to on our own. Success, check!