As a freelancer chasing after work it’s often difficult to find a convenient time to escape for a family holiday. Early in the year is normally ideal but somehow I’d landed quite a bit of work for an exhibition and a book. With the wedding season fast approaching, my desperately neglected wife Annie finally put her foot down (to put it mildly) and insisted I take a break from bookings and organise a getaway as far as possible from the coldest London winter we’d apparently experienced in 30 years.
Climate change?
So, where to go in March that’s hot, interesting, inexpensive and has fantastic food? Inspiration came from our favourite local restaurant Ganapati in Peckham. We’d never visited India and Kerala looked like it would be the perfect destination. Being the end of the peak season it wouldn’t be overcrowded with tourists like us and not being monsoon season we were guaranteed lots of heat and not a drop of rain. But best of all there’d be daily feasting on fresh seafood, warm Paratha’s, hot Masala curries, exotic fruit and Keralan street snacks from dawn till dusk! Still, taking our two young boys (2 & 4) to India was a little bit daunting for a whole host of reasons so a little research was needed first.
Seafood on Papanasum Beach
I can’t recommend Tripadvisor enough. After trawling through the recommendations we settled on Varkala and a suite at the Hindustan Beach Retreat. Not a swanky boutique hotel, but it was clean, comfortable, with a pool, good facilities and perfectly situated at the South Cliff end, smack on Papanasum Beach.
As soon as you arrive you’re greeted by fantastic hospitality and warmth. The people here are amongst the friendliest I’ve ever met. By pure luck we arrived just before the beginning of the 1o day Arattu Temple festival. Our hotel was sandwiched between the 2000 year old Janardani Swami Temple and a stretch of seashore said to have medicinal properties by the pilgrims that visit it daily to perform obeisances to their departed souls and forefathers. Not sure about the medicinal bit since I contracted an ear infection towards the end of the holiday! Temple festivals are a serious business here to the mostly Hindu population. Everyday was an amazing spectacle involving much drumming, chanting, elephants and fireworks. Our boys loved it, especially when the Cobra snake charmers turned up with monkeys in tow. They weren’t so keen on riding an elephant and who can blame them. They’re enormous and elephant bare-back riding is a bit challenging on the bum!
Yee-haa!
In short we had a totally chillaxed and memorable time in Varkala, met some special people, swam loads, had some interesting experiences and of course the food was everything we’d hoped for (I still dream about the Brinjal Masala I had one night). Not many families holidaying there, mostly European travellers, back packers and the occasional hippy. Thankfully it’s not yet as developed as somewhere like Goa or even Kollam further up the coast, but it’ fast becoming renowned as an Ayurvedic or Yoga retreat. If you fancy assuming the lotus position whilst sipping on iced coconut milk and want a bit more than amusement parks, nightclubs and overpriced restaurants then head out here before it’s too late.
Mmm Sandalwood incense . . . .
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