Travel Day 963 – Varkala, Kerala, INDIA
After spending a couple of relaxing Daycation days at the beach, I decided that it was time for a little bit of discipline again…
Fishing Boats by Odayam Beach in Kerala
In the ashram the early morning hours had always been the most enjoyable time of the day because everything always seemed extremely peaceful and the cooler temperature of the morning helped me to feel a bit more alive. But a 4.30am rise as done in the ashram sometimes seemed not actually necessary and so I rather opted for a 6.30 start of the day…
So far I had really only been either on the cliff or down at the beach, but today I decided I would explore the coast towards the north of Varkala. I had heard that there was supposed to be another beach called Odayam and I intended to find it. My little exploration walk started then in the mist of the early morning, while passing by all the touristic restaurants and shops on the Varkala cliff. The extent of this restaurant mile was actually quite impressive and it gave me a little hint of how busy Varkala must have been in high season when all these places were actually filled with people…
Coast of Odayam Beach in Kerala, India
Eventually the cliffs ended and so did the touristic overdevelopment of Varkala. All of a sudden the coastline began to look like it did by the ashram in Amritapuri with a dam of big stones piled up to protect the shoreline from the Arabian Sea. The only difference was that here the remaining patches of sandy beach were used by local fishermen and their boats. I couldn’t help but think how great the contrast was between the settlements of the local fishermen and the touristic restaurant mile in Varkala…
Eventually I reached the Odayam Beach area which seemed to be a very sparsely developed tourist place and it was probably reflecting what Varkala used to look like 20 years ago. Yeah, getting up early and going for a little exploration walk to Odayam had been a great idea and I was already looking forward to explore something else tomorrow morning… : )
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