A journey through a small rural village off the main east coast road, over a bridge past an estuary to the sea, over bumps and pot holes, past shacks and makeshift Indian dwellings lies the somewhat luxurious hotel called the Fishers man's cove. A westerners haven in amongst the dirty trash laden and disheveled India we are seeing with fresh eyes. Again we are greeted with flower and shell leis on arrival and find ourselves in an idyllic rustic lobby with ceiling fans whirling and delicious sea breezes wafting through. Our home for the next week :)
The children are so excited and we spend days swimming in the beautiful cold pool and wandering through the tropical gardens beneath palm trees. Beach walks everyday, kite flying and building sand castles. The beach has beautiful golden sand and in the distance we spot a fishing village with banana shaped fishing boats coming and going.
We have a wonderful time at a Christmas Eve banquet, ocean side, palm trees decorated with Christmas lights, a live band playing Christmas songs and delicious food buffet style...served by white cotton clad men with chefs hats. It's such an unreal atmospshere...feels like we are in a strange movie...a kind of out of body experience...
Christmas day the children open their presents in the hotel room....courtesy of a hotel staff delivery at 12am the night before, of the pre wrapped gifts Ash had prepared on his last trip in November. The rest of Christmas day was spent by the pool, club sandwiches for lunch and fruit smoothies were our Christmas day treats along with a pedicure for me at the spa...oh the decadence!
A totally different way to spend Christmas but the hotel did their bit to provide Christmas decorations about the place and play Christmas music....doesn't seem to fit though honestly. 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas' blaring from the speakers as we are baked in the sun!!!! LOL
The highlight of our stay was the mouth watering Indian buffet each evening....10 or more different curries to choose from....taste explosions with every bite....I didn't know there we so many different ways to make a curry....sweet puddings too and seasoned fruits and fresh veggies....I am chomping at the bit to learn some of these regional dishes....perhaps a personal chef is in order....!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
New beginnings
Our journey begins...South Lyon to Chennai....
A late arrival into Chennai Wednesday 23rd December .... the humidity hits us and the unfamiliar warm smell of a foreign place as we walk through to the terminal. I am immediately struck by how old, dirty and run down the terminal building is ... what a contrast to the pristine US terminals. Baggage claim is a chaotic swarm of Indian faces scrambling for their belongings. The intrigue we are causing is quite amusing to me as people look on at us...white faces and blond children. Walking through to the outside we are greeted by a paparazzi style crowd...walking towards our driver John Peter every eye is upon us...feels weird to stand out so much. The shoe is on the other foot over here, we are the foreigners by the colour of 'our' skins. I like that....feels enlightening.
Our driver greets us with flower leis and lots of smiles. Getting into two cars is comical as our luggage is piled high on top of one of the vehicles totally unsecured by anything (we have 13 suitcases!).... Ashley suggests some rope which is a good job since the road is full of holes and bumps and we would have without doubt lost a few suitcases on the 45 minute journey to the hotel! Just prior to entering the car a man walks up to me whilst I am holding Charlotte and snaps a photograph with his cell phone...then Emily yells out that she can see some stray dogs wondering around.....people are everywhere and the sound of horns beeping is quite thrilling... the whole experience is surreal at 4.30am after a 35 hour journey!
A late arrival into Chennai Wednesday 23rd December .... the humidity hits us and the unfamiliar warm smell of a foreign place as we walk through to the terminal. I am immediately struck by how old, dirty and run down the terminal building is ... what a contrast to the pristine US terminals. Baggage claim is a chaotic swarm of Indian faces scrambling for their belongings. The intrigue we are causing is quite amusing to me as people look on at us...white faces and blond children. Walking through to the outside we are greeted by a paparazzi style crowd...walking towards our driver John Peter every eye is upon us...feels weird to stand out so much. The shoe is on the other foot over here, we are the foreigners by the colour of 'our' skins. I like that....feels enlightening.
Our driver greets us with flower leis and lots of smiles. Getting into two cars is comical as our luggage is piled high on top of one of the vehicles totally unsecured by anything (we have 13 suitcases!).... Ashley suggests some rope which is a good job since the road is full of holes and bumps and we would have without doubt lost a few suitcases on the 45 minute journey to the hotel! Just prior to entering the car a man walks up to me whilst I am holding Charlotte and snaps a photograph with his cell phone...then Emily yells out that she can see some stray dogs wondering around.....people are everywhere and the sound of horns beeping is quite thrilling... the whole experience is surreal at 4.30am after a 35 hour journey!
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