Kovallam

I've said before that you keep meeting the same people. Belinda was going to the same place I was. We were lucky to have a very nice Indian bloke near us who kept us right (after introducing us to his whole family, as usual).
Indian buses are just another world but I think they are great. As the (2nd) bus got nearer the beach you could feel the difference with the air gettting fresher and more and more coconut groves. I had booked a room at 450/- but we decided to go to a place that was cheaper and not in my book. fortunately it was full but the place I had booked was just across from it. When we went and asked if he had two rooms the answer was yes at 350/-. Bargain. I think this was the nicest hotel that I've stayed in this trip. It was set back about 50 yards from the beach in a coconut grove. It was spotless, quiet and just so relaxed. There was a communal verandah outside the rooms and it was so nice to just chill. It was also nice to go to the beach and go swimming on Christmas day! The beach was beautiful and the water was quite warm. What do you expect when you're only 700 miles north of the equator?
At breakfast one day and American guy, Ben, who Belinda knew and I had met walked into the restaurant we were in. So the three of us had a really good beach orientated couple of days. We didn't really do anything more than eat, drink, swim and lie in the sun! At least we didn't waste our time.
Being at the beach has got me thinking about avoiding cities for the rest of this trip (however long that is) and travelling right up this western coast hopping from beach to beach. I'll have to investigate further!