On April 1st Friday - We boarded a plane to Thiruvananthapuram Kerala. After a chaotic flight- thanks to the tantrums of my brother. The weather was so hot and humid that we started sweating as soon as we set a foot out of the airport. We got into a cab and set off to our resort. After a drive of 15 minutes- we reached Uday Samudra Resort. The place was gorgeous, there were multiple tanks with colorful fish of all sorts, there were many pictures, murals, wall paintings. The gramophone which played calm music made the atmosphere even more pleasant. We took a couple of pictures. We then entered our room , freshened up ensured we dabbed a good amount of sunscreen and then took a walk around the resort- we went past the restaurants, around the brilliant blue swimming pools, through the herb garden ,green lawns. The beach was just a couple of meters away from the hotel; so after exploring the resort we stepped out to go to the beach. We dipped our legs in the water and felt the waves splash on our feet.
This was followed by a heavy lunch ,where we enjoyed a continental cuisine and striked up a conversation with the friendly chef. It was afternoon and the heat was at its peak so we went to our rooms and took a nap. We then played online charades and put on our swim suits; glanced at the picturesque scene, played in the ocean, took photos. The waves were ginormous and they were extremely strong. The wave showed me and I hurt my knee but that didn't stop me from swimming. My brother who looked forward to the beach wasn't very impressed by the saline water and thus he decided to stay on the shore and built sand castles
After this my brother who didn't really have a blast in the beach wanted to play in the pool. We watched as he got elated and splashed about in the pool. I did a couple of laps and we cleaned up and got ready to go to a temple nearby. The temple was dedicated to lord Shiva and had a humongous statue of him-it looked perfect everything including the minute , intricate details like the scales of a snake, the beads of the necklace were made with perfection.
we admired the grand piece of art, visited other shrines, prayed, went to another beach nearby and took a couple of snaps and ate the holy food- prasad. We then had a feast went to bed for we had a busy day ahead of us.The next day we had a hearty breakfast and went to the beach and spent 15 mins gazing at the ocean while my brother and his friends were playing in the pool. After cleaning up we got ready to go to Kanyakumari- the southernmost tip of India. This is the place of confluence of the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. We then boarded the car and prepared for a 3 hour drive.
After an hour we reached Poonal backwaters where we took a boat ride, while the fresh air was rushing through our faces we appreciated the beauty of a various lush green trees of mangoes, coconuts jackfruits etc.
We took a good amount of pictures and stopped by at a island like area where we beat the heat by drinking cool and refreshing coconut water we also had some refreshments and cookie. Me and my brother along with his friends climbed upon a camel and went for a ride .The camel thudded its feet on the sand and we rocked to and fore as it moved. I was enjoying and fearing for my life at the same time.
I got of the camel and petted it(despite the awful stink it carried around)
We then got back in the car and resumed our drive- I am a person who suffers from motion sickness. If I stay in the car for long durations- my head gets woozy and starts spinning, my stomach starts churning, I get nauseous and have a head pounding migraine. The only cure to this terrible pain is sleeping in the car- which unfortunately is practically impossible because no matter which in position you try to sleep either your neck or your back feels like it is about to snap. After a good amount of shifting about I fell asleep and when I woke up we were in Kanyakumari. We stood in a huge line and finally boarded the ferry which took us to the Vivekananda temple. We went through the temple and learnt about Swami Vivekananda's life, we then gazed through the balcony like structure and looked at the glistening ocean. We noticed that the Arabian sea had a greenish tint while the Indian ocean was more towards blue;
We then walked towards the Confluence en route- we came across many tiny thrift shops where shopkeepers were advertising their colorful wares.I had expected 3 different colors of water to merge into one and to my disappointment the Kanyakumari confluence was nothing but thousands of people jumping around in the water and taking "holy baths". We just dipped our feet had food and set of to the hotel. Trip back to the hotel felt even more tiresome .After a very very tedious ride we stopped at a Punjabi restaurant and had a light dinner reached our hotel and went to bed without second thought.
Even after a tiring day we had to wake up at 6:30 .I begged my parents for extra time. After waking up we adorned our selves with traditional clothes.We then went to the Padmanabhaswami temple. Legend has it that this temple has an underground vault filled with gems and stone worth more than trillion dollars and that the treasury can be only opened by a true devoted saint and if any other person attempts to do so they shall face the wrath of death. I got the goosebumps when I entered the temple. Since salwar kameez wasn't allowed in the temple I had to tie a dhothi around my waist and go in. The temple was wonderful and a sight for sore eyes. The stone carvings were extremely pretty and unfortunately we couldnt click any picture. The architecture however was the best thing I had ever seen .We even had a look at the Vishnu sculpture this place is extremely famous for . After a dharshan of the multiple shrines we took some prasad and went out for breakfast.
After breakfast and a nap (my brother was again jumping about around the pool) we went out to Olive- for lunch.We had mouth water varieties of food.I barely had place in my stomach but the food was soo good that I kept shoving it in my mouth.
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