Saturday 23 February 2013

Day 40 - Kuzhupilly Beach House

I think that if you fancy a break, a great host and a relaxed atmosphere like no other, you can't go wrong with this place. There is nobody on the beach apart from the odd fisherman wandering up and down holding hit net over his arm watching for the wake of little fish, then lobbing it in with the skill that only countless generations of fishing tradition can manage. The fact that all he seems to catch is a size 8 left flip flop isn't a reflection of his efforts, skill level or passion for the art of fishing.

The beach hostel / house thing is about 20m from the sea, and if you open your balcony door you can hear the waves crashing. The sunsets are spectacular and about an hour after it has set the host and his wife (mainly his wife) have a big home cooked meal served up. The moment you look like you are about to finish something, your rice for example, a spoon appears by your right ear ready to ladle some more onto your plate. The trick is you have to finish just enough that you show that you clearly liked it, however you have to leave a little bit to show you couldn't eat it all. I find leaving food difficult, ( coming from a family with 5 brothers) my mum would cook big meals however she would put them in a bowl in the middle of the table for us all to dig in, leaving anything on your plate is a sign of weakness and like vultures you'd miss out on a tasty lamb chop if you looked like you were flagging. Darwin would be proud of my family set up.

The top floor of the Beach House is open, there is a kitchen, some hanging chairs, a couple of 'chill out beds' and a large dining table. It is perfect, there is a sea breeze blowing through, you can hear the sea the birds and the laughing of kids playing on the beach. Apparently people come and stay here for months on end, they write, paint, and generally relax. One artist (a guy from the Ukraine who's name looks like Mohammed Ali typed 'War and Peace' in the font Windings) stayed in his room for three months while he was here and just popped his head out of his room to eat.

A couple of fisherman on the backwaters

A washed up Manatee

This is how clear the nights sky is. Points for the constellation, bonus for the stellar object I'm trying to capture.

A kingfisher in mid flight. They are as rare as hen's teeth, so capturing one in focus in flight is as rare as rocking horse poo.

This is the obligatory sunset picture from the beach about 30 seconds walk from the door of the beach house.

We have started a habit, albeit for the three days we are staying in this Beach House, wake up whenever, have breakfast, jump about in the sea, back for a siesta, coffee while we email / blog etc and the hottest part of the day goes, then back to the sea, jump about and back for a shower then dinner. I don't know how I have time to fit all this activity into one day. I'm going to need a diary to manage my time.

2 comments:

  1. I'm thinking Orion, and DA14?

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  2. Correct with Orion, however I was going for The orion nebula. I would have accepted M42 or NGC 1976, depending on whether you are old school Messer denotion or preferred the New Galactic Catalogue form of recording celestial bodies.

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