(Feb 2009 - March 2009)

Beach beach BBEEAACCHH yeeehaaaahhhhh

I think it is fair to say that I LOVE THE BEACH.... LOVE LOVe LOve Love, love it!!!!....And after being left a little solo in Kochi I figured the best thing I could do was get myself to one sharpish! Refresh the soul and all!! The Western Coast of India is famous for beaches and luckily for me I had spotted the perfect one.. A barely known spot in northern Kerela known as Malabar Costa.


Wow this place.. well perhaps I should stop there because part of its charm is the fact that you´re practically alone......but it´s just so amazing I have to share it with you....


As always the scenery makes up just a part of any experience abroad . The people and the places you stay and visit make up the rest. Here at Malabari Costa the place I stayed, the wonderful people I met and the amazing places I visited is what really makes this place unique.
I stayed at what can be loosely described as a homestay.

My days (initially I planned for 4 I left after 10!) consisted of waking, breakfasting with 5 others then beaching it from 9 ish until midday. Shower, lunch, brief siesta then beach until sunset.... the beach was me me and only me miles and miles of sandy beaches just for me..

when i say me I mean only me no sellers no bars no OTHERS.. heaven... heaven heaven.. and the homestay.... well, apart from the guests being a real interesting bunch of people the food was out of this world.. INCREDIBLE does not do it justice.




I spent those 10 days living a clean healthy existence getting myself ready for a bit of India solo.. and what a perfect retreat Malabar Costa was....



And on top of all of that - if it's possible to top that - was the phenomenon of Ttheyam. A local ritual of which i was lucky to witness. I was unaware of its existance until I met the owner of my homestay. Some visitors came just to see the Ttheyam, I felt very shallow when he discovered I was there for the undisturbed beach time.... but that quickly changed when I witnessed this extraordinary event.

Theyyam is an amazing ritual performed just in this area of India at this time of year. (Kerela Jan-April) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theyyam.




I visited two performances and although the first wasn't quite what I had hoped for the second blew my mind away. The dancers dress themselves up as Gods,


go into a trance acting out various stories concerning Hindu Gods, they train all their lives for these performances..




It´s quite spectacular to witness this, especially when they look right at you, yet through you.

Our host at the homestay was incredibly knowledgeable and really helped to put the complicated stories into some sort of context both in terms of the villages and the gods history.

It was after much pained deliberation that I left this paradisical bolt hole. I headed inland for another brief yet rather unsuccessful tiger spotting mission

at Waynard Park,

where all I saw was bamboo

- lots of it!

Tail between legs I bounded to Varkala beach (yes more beach!) and prepared myself for the much anticipated OM chanting, back bending, Yogic ashram experience.

Bags are packed and ready to go...

OOOOOMMMMMMMMM