Onwards to Kollam and New Year's Eve

A bit of luxury for our New Year's stay

After a couple of idyllic days at the beautiful homestay, Mango Kerala Homes, I was slightly reluctant to leave 🥲. We set off around 9.30am, and it was already scorchio🔥 🥵. In theory, today seemed like an easy ride, but the soaring temperature would make it feel that much harder.

Although we'd been staying in a sleepy backwater village, the traffic back on the main road was surprisingly hectic 😳 . It wasn't long before it quietened down again, and we found ourselves on a fairly small road. To begin with, there was a nice breeze, and we were helped by a reasonable amount of shade being provided by the intermittent trees along the roadside. The scenery was reminiscent of that we'd experienced in Tamil Nadu, except the rice fields were much larger. We cycled past a number of churches and it being Sunday, lots of services were being held. Huge crowds were gathered outside, and enthusiastic singing could be heard from some distance away.

Our plan was to stop for lunch just before reaching our accommodation. However, with about 5 miles to go, we stopped at the roadside for a quick rest. No sooner had we stopped than we were mobbed. A guy on a moped pulled up and introduced himself as a fellow cyclist called Vinil who's cycled all around India. He was really friendly and enthusiastic, and gave us his phone number, should we need his help with anything during our stay. He also commented that our bike chain needed attention and gave us the details of a good bike shop fairly near to where we're staying tonight. Finally, he told us the best place to go for lunch and we took his advice. That turned out to be another top tip - the Kerala lunchtime special was first rate 👌. From there it was only a few miles to our accommodation for the night. Wow, Leela's 7th heaven resort was very plush and unbelievably cheap too 😉. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and had an early dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was a bit lacking in atmosphere but the food was fine - not our best meal but tasty enough.

Our one night of luxury did the trick; and we felt refreshed and raring to go the next morning 😂. First, though, another lengthy photo shoot and a video review for the hotel 🫣🫣.

Once we got on the road, we wound our way back down the small and very uneven dirt track we'd come in on. It didn't seem quite as challenging as it had the day before. Fresh legs and renewed enthusiasm made all the difference.

We reached the main road soon enough and continued along it for a while, through several small villages.  It wasn't long before we turned and found ourselves on a road running parallel with the sea. That came as a lovely surprise as I hadn't appreciated that we'd be cycling with the sea in full view. It was wonderful - coconut trees lined the way, and we could see and hear the waves crashing as we went along. We cycled through a number of small settlements - lots of ladies seemed to be hard at work planting trees on the beach - presumably to act as additional sea defences. As usual, everyone was very friendly, and we got lots of shouts and waves as we went along.

We were just over halfway when the tarmac road we were on suddenly disappeared, and we found ourselves on an uneven sandy track, which soon became quite difficult to cycle on. We continued as best we could but eventually found ourselves in the middle of a quarry. There were lots of lorries around making it quite stressful to navigate.  Several cars and mopeds were heading in the same direction though, so we assumed it was ok to continue and that the road would resume soon enough. Unfortunately, after about a mile or so, an official looking guy approached us from the side of the road and basically told us we couldn't continue as the road was private access only - for the construction company. We had no choice but to turn round and head back onto the main road - a few km back to an alternative road that would lead us to a bridge over the river running parallel to the sea. This put us on a different road to Kollam and meant we lost the sea view for the rest of the ride. I was feeling quite peeved, whereas Max happily embraced the adversity 😂.

There were roadworks for several miles along the main road - we'd been told about this beforehand. Apparently, there is a huge amount of roadwork being undertaken in India at the moment - as part of a drive to open up business across the country. This was our worst experience of it so far, and it definitely meant it was a day of two halves in terms of the cycling experience. I found myself homing in on the rather catchy (or corny?) road signs along the way - "Safety is not a slogan, it's a way of life", "Speed thrills but also kills"; "Safety is gain; accident is pain" are the only ones I can instantly recall. 

With about 10 miles to go, we stopped at a small town to try and find a cold drink. We stopped at a layby near a shopping mall to figure out our next move and soon found ourselves talking to two very friendly security guards. They kindly directed us to the food court at the top of the shopping mall where we ended up having a very nice thali lunch and refreshing lime sodas. Just the ticket to cool us down and refuel us enough to continue the rest of the way. We arrived at the Prasanthi hotel in Kollam, where we stayed for four nights - over New Year. It was another luxurious treat - a five star hotel for just £50 a night 😉🤩. We were shown to our room and it was fabulous - I'd say the best we've enjoyed so far. 

We wandered out to explore Kollam and found a very little cafe, which seemed to get good reviews, for dinner. It really was very basic looking indeed but the food was fabulous - the best paneer tikka we've had so far and a very tasty dhal and channa masala 😋👍. It was so good we went back again the following night and did it all over again 😂. 

Max took the bike to the shop that Vinil has recommended and got the chain fixed - they were so helpful, did a brilliant job and were extremely reluctant to even take any money for it!!

For New Year's Eve we booked tickets for a party at another 5 Star hotel over the road from where we were staying. We weren't quite sure what to expect but they were offering us a variety of entertainment (including bollywood dancing and water drums) and plenty of food so we were successfully reeled in! Partly in preparation we indulged in a spot of pampering beforehand. I went for a luxury pedicure treatment and Max went off for a haircut which turned into something of an extravaganza full blown facial (which cost alot more than my luxury pedicure I might add 😂). In fact he was convinced he'd misheard when they told him the price at the end and that they were adding an extra nought on by mistake 🫣🫣. I think they felt sorry for him because they gave him a lift back to the hotel afterwards 🤣. 

Back at the hotel we scrubbed up as best we could and headed over for the NYE party around 7.30 pm. When we arrived they seemed to still be getting ready - there was a sound check going on and some of the food stations were still being assembled. Also, there seemed to be some confusion as to where we were sitting - possibly because we weren't resident at the hotel, no-one really explained. We chatted to a young couple from Sweden who arrived shortly after us - but they were soon shown to their table leaving us to sweat it out for a little longer! Eventually we were seated and soon after the party began. It was a slow burn at first but gradually it picked up and we really enjoyed it. The Bollywood dancers in particular were very energetic and entertaining. The food was buffet style and very tasty indeed, although heavily meat based which we're not eating here in India. There were lots of nice salads though - reminiscent of the ones we regularly enjoy at the Euston curry houses. We stayed until about 11.30pm by which time the water drums were getting very loud as were quite a few of the guests (at least those that were drinking anyway). It felt like time to leave and since we'd outlasted the Swedish couple we made what we considered to be a respectable exit. Once out on the street it was even rowdier and it took us a while to make the short hop back to our hotel as lots of locals kept stopping us to wish us a happy new year 🤩. 

After a few days r&r we were ready to move on again. We loved the Prasanthi hotel and enjoyed all the great food options we checked out in Kollam aswell one of the quieter beaches away from the main town. Apart from this though there wasn't a huge amount to enjoy, at least not as far as we could tell anyway. Our next stop was Varkala, the surfing coastal resort of Kerala and were keen to see what that had in store for us. 

The now very familiar scenery 

The road out of Kumarakom

More of the familiar lush landscape 

A fab lunchtime thali on the way to Kollam 

With Vinil - the cyclist who recommended this restaurant and the bike shop in Kollam 👍

Sunday service had just finished 

Complete with swimming pool 

Another beautiful purple sunset 

Leela's seventh heaven resort - another night of luxury 🤩

Outside Leela's the next morning 

Our first sighting of the sea 

Back from fishing 

Suddenly we were in the middle of a quarry! 

A procession through the streets of Kollam - celebrating the life of a former guru (we didn't get his name) 

Bollywood dancing on NYE 

The water drums on NYE 

More Bollywood dancing 💃 

All scrubbed up - bring on the NYE 🥳 

Outside the Quilon Hotel NYE party 

Ditto 

Sunset Thirumullavaram Beach Kollam 

The Pransanthi Hotel 🤩

Sunset on Kollam Beach