Sunday 28 January 2007

Varkala. Last day

Another blissful day: two hour massage, delicious brunch, afternoon in the sea, and now I must dash to watch the sunset over the water.

I have more to say - but another time. Tomorrow we set of at crack of dawn to take a train and then a boat to Allepey, where the day after we will be taking a boat trip in the famous Backwaters. So there may be a little gap before I update this.

Some time later...
There were little touches with my daily massage sessions which were strange but all part of the experience. The masseuses were all young, smiley, pretty and dressed in a delightful uniform of cream coloured saris. I noticed that they treated both husband and wife of the many, mostly german, couples here. I dont know what the husbands though, but i certainly would not liked to have had a male masseur...

my third, Asha, was the youngest, at 18. she had the marks on her forehead indicating she was a Vishnite. She started the session by standing in front of me, with eyes closed, and then touched my feet and my head. During the two hours there were several such occasions, along with pouring oil onto my head (have to say that my hair and underwear are not quite the same now!).

Her style was completely different; more gentle stroking than vigorous massaging. Two hours is a little too long for me to lie on a couch, my back was definitely suffering by the end. But I'm not complaining - it was nice to be pampered. At the end the doctor gave me a couple of special pads together with a list of the various herbs and oils needed, so that Chris can continue the treatment! it was not cheap - 5400 rupees (about 65 pounds) for six hours, but still nothing like what one would pay in Europe.

As usual, we rewarded ourselves for all this hard work by a delicious brunch of muesli and a fruit and ginger lassi (adding the ginger is my idea, and I have suggested they add it to their menu).

I spent the afternoon (rashly?) on the beach, as I wanted to save sunset for walking around taking photos. Annoyingly the fishing vessels arrived just as the sun disappeared behind the haze on the horizon, so i didnt get the shot I had been planning. Still, the sunsets are gorgeous here, and I am totally addicted to viewing them through the leaves of the palm trees.

Supper was another fish meal, yummy, accompanied by a rum and fruit juice. Despite guidebook warnings against iced drinks, we are risking them here, as the waiter was careful to reassure us they made the ice with bottled water. The waiters in our breakfast and supper places great us as old habitues now, and besides we are a patron of the internet cafe at our supper place. There, the guy in charge has quite good English (he was brought up in Malaysia) and treats us rather better (he says I'm truly international - an English woman who has the mannerisms of an indian but lives in France) than some of the other clients and charges us virtually nothing.

1 comment:

Paul said...

Hi again Frances - you do sloth rather well by the sound of it! You really must have an edited version of this trip published when you get back - the travel magazines would snap it up - although the descriptions of bodies covered in oil sliding towards the bath might not pass the censors! We look forward to the next instalment when you manage to free yourself from the hands of the masseuse and get back to some serious travelling - this is not meant to be a holiday you know.

With much love from your avid readers. Paul and Wenol