Now that all the necessities had been
done and dusted, life in Varkala continued at an unbelievable relaxed
pace.
Our biggest decision each day ....... was where
to eat!!
With the Blue Moon next door and a
fabulous family run Thali place in the side street behind our rooms,
our bellies and taste buds were well satisfied.
By the end of the first week we had
fallen into a pattern.
Early mornings were spent walking along the
cliff to Black beach while the children enjoyed luxurious lie ins in
bed.
Peter had decided to get fitter while
he was away from the usual temptations of Wales and each day he rose
with Ippy and I to walk the 3km along the beach while the sun was
still rising.
Breakfast or brunch was had in the Blue
Moon once the children eventually climbed out of bed and was usually
accompanied by a large pot of coffee that Peter would consume until
well after mid day.
We discovered Amantha's during an
afternoon of exploring, where we all had wonderful fun wandering the
back streets until we got so lost we ended up walking though the kitchen
of a restaurant three cafés down from the Blue Moon to get back onto
the cliff top!,
We would wander over to this hidden away paradise most days to enjoy a late lunch while sitting in their beautiful little garden.
The family who run Amantha's are
amazing. Smiling, helpful, friendly, caring, the list is endless.
And their food is great!
Each day we
looked at the menu and each day we tended to chose the same thing,
veg thali for Angharad and myself, cheese pakora's with veg noodles
for Cian.
Only Peter seemed to changed his choice
each day working his way from the veg thali to various curries
through to the veg pakora!
With the thali costing 100 rupees
(£1.30) and filling us to bursting point we were able to stay well
within our budget of £5 a day per person on food.
By 3pm each day the sun had dropped
enough to allow a few hours on the beach.
The water was warm, the waves were
great and for two hours every afternoon we swam, jumped and generally
floated around until we were ready to climb back up the cliff steps
to shower and change.
Evenings were spent at the Blue Moon
where Cian got amazingly sized portion of local fish from Shiva at a
fraction of the price and Peter and Ippy were able to share a beer or
two over a game of backgammon.
Occasionally we tried a few places
along the cliff but to be truthful we were quite disappointed in
them. The food was OK but the prices were double what we were paying
at the Blue Moon!
As Christmas day approached everyone
got into the buzz of decorations and nativity cribs and the Blue Moon
was no exception.
Our tree was raised complete with lights over a freshly thatched crib
and extra lights were hung from the trees over our heads.
Christmas day was spent on the beach
with dinner at the Blue Moon.
It seemed quite surreal to be sitting
with sand beneath my paws on a day that traditionally included snow
and red robins.
Our evening meal was wonderful and we
splashed out on extra beers and desserts to top the night off.
We
even managed a mini snow ball fight or rather an ice ball fight!
Each evening all the fresh fish is laid
out of a huge table for people to choose as they walk past.
The
table is filled with ice to a depth of a few inches.
Shiva had just
completed the finishing touches to the display when Peter called him
to throw an 'ice-ball' over.
Never one to pass up a silly moment
Shiva obliged and for about five minutes an 'ice ball' was thrown
from person to person around the restaurant until it finally
disintegrated.
With loads of laughter Shiva ran to the back of the
restaurant as a friendly customer chased him with a bucket of left
over ice.
It was only once we all calmed down
that we realised we now had a definite aroma of fish to our hands!!!
A sudden queue to the bathroom developed as everyone went looking for
soap!!
Peter and the children were due to
leave for the UK the evening of December 30th flying out of
Kochin so, just after Christmas, Peter booked them some train tickets for the morning of the
30th to ensure they had seats and got his flight details
out to confirm the departure time.
As he read the times on the ticket he
glanced at the date......... 30th January!!
When he had originally been booking the
tickets he had tried to book his return for January 3rd
but the prices had been too high, when he had changed the search to
the 30th the price had dropped tremendously and so he had
booked it not realising the month was still on January not December!!
He looked at Ippy in horror, he now had
48 hours to sort things out!!
While Ippy and the children headed for
the beach Peter began the phone calls searching for a way to change
his flight details.
The airline were extremely helpful and offered to
change his ticket without any charge at all.
They could get him to
Dubai without any problem but all their connecting flights to the UK
were full until January 5th!!!
If he up graded everyone to business
class they would be able to get him home but this was gong to cost an
extra £800 EACH!!!
Without a plan B he booked the
upgrade!!
On December 30th Ippy and I
waved goodbye to Peter and the children and moved down the cliff to
our new rooms.
Nanda had been an absolute angel in helping Ippy and I
get new digs at the most amazing price of 500 rupees!
We unpacked our few belongings, sat out
on our virtually private balcony to call Peter, only to find their
flight had been cancelled!!!!!!
The airline had apologised profusely
and arranged to put them up in a five Star Hotel with all expenses
paid until the next day when they planned to fly them out to Doha at
6pm!
Ippy and I looked at each other in
shock, all that money and they still were stuck in India! Unable to
change anything or help in any way Ippy recited the Serenity Poem.
'Please grant me the Serenity to accept
the things I can not change, the Courage to change the things I can
and the Wisdom to know the difference.'
We said goodnight to Peter and the
children as they began to order things to be delivered to their room
and promised to catch up once they got back to the UK.
Three days later we sat down with
Whatsapp and got the entire story from Peter.
Having spent the night and most of the
next day eating, swimming and having fun in their luxury hotel, they
had eventually booked into Kochin for their flight to Doha.
Peter
had asked about the connecting boarding cards only to be told they
would be issued in Doha.
In Doha however there were NO boarding
cards, as for some reason they hadn't been put onto the connecting
flight even though the airline had taken the upgrade payment!!
To say Peter was not amused is an
understatement and the airline jumped through hoops to try and fix
things.
So instead of spending New Year in the
chill and damp of the UK as originally planned, they were now put
into another fabulous hotel, with all expenses paid, plus their
flight seats were up graded again to nothing less than FIRST CLASS!!
By the time Peter did the maths of what
he and the children had managed to spend during their three day
adventure plus the experience of living a life style they would never
see again, we all decided it had been worth every penny!
Plus with his travel insurance for
cancelled flights and such he would probably get compensation
anyway!!
Ippy and I said goodnight to Peter and
settled down on the balcony to watch the sun set.
We still had
another three weeks in India to look forward to before we headed to
Singapore.
Already we had been introduced to new
friends through Nanda and in two days time Emma was arriving in time
for her Birthday.
Now that Peter was safely home with the
children Ippy was determined to show me the joys of life in India!
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