Travel Day 957 – Amritapuri to Varkala, Kerala, INDIA
Today was finally an Active Travel Day again and after more than three weeks in the ashram, I was quite excited to be moving again…
Arrival at Varkala Beach in Kerala, India
Since I was by now used to getting up early, I checked out of the ashram at 6am and tried to find the best rickshaw deal to get to the railway station. After spending so many weeks in the ashram where one did not have to worry about money or bargaining, I felt almost a bit overwhelmed when I tried to get a fair price. The rickshaws at the ashram wanted 230 rupees, the rickshaws across the bridge still wanted 170 rupees, but luckily after another 5 minutes of walking I found a bus to the railway station for as little as 13 rupees…
The train then had a fixed price, but once I arrived, again I had to bargain and walk off while trying to get a reasonably priced rickshaw. Once I found one that agreed to a lower price, the driver took me for a ride and tried several times to drop me off at hotels that most certainly paid him a commission. Luckily he understood at some point that I was not too impressed by his pushy attempts and he finally drove me to the spot where I wanted to be dropped off. Needless to say that he wasn’t in the best of moods when we parted ways…
Varkala Beach in the late Afternoon
And so within my fist few hours outside of the ashram, I had to realize how sheltered we actually were over the last few weeks. There was no traffic, no constant honking of horns, not pushy rickshaw drivers, no touts, no vendors who tried to sell stuff I didn’t want or need and as mentioned above, no bargaining was ever necessary. On top of that, filtered water was provided around the clock and all food was safe to eat, even fruits, salads and ice cream. Yeah, the Amritapuri Ashram really had been a little paradise-like oasis in the middle of the Indian realty…
But as I found out soon, Varkala too seemed to be some sort of oasis. It was a complete tourist oasis and not nearly as sheltered as the ashram, but at least it had good accommodations, great restaurants and a really nice beach. So even if this day seemed to be a bit much for me to take in, at least Varkala seemed to be a nice enough place to slowly adjust back to reality…
Beach view from the Cliffs in Varkala
So I ended up spending my Active Travel Day turned Arrival Day first in one of the airy restaurants overlooking the cliffs and the ocean and then at the beach. There was obviously nothing that I wanted to more than just laze in the sun and going for a swim in the green looking Arabian Sea. But best of it all was that I had already found some company since a lot of people from the Amritapuri Ashram seemed to come here and so my adjustment back to reality turned out to be more gradual than initially expected… : )
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