Varkala was to be our place of rest, a holiday within our travels and we wanted to have a little base here for a while before moving on within Kerala. The train journey from Kochi was pretty good, we got there in about 4 hours, the only down side was that we didn’t have a seat where our ticket said our seats were.

This is because on sleeper class during the day people just sit anywhere regardless of whether they’re ticket says so or not. In our actual seats there were around 12 people crammed onto the lower beds. We opted for the upper deck with the bags and hid away, the plus side of this being that no-one tried to sit next to us. It was a hot and fun journey but we were more than happy to be getting off at Varkala.

We got a rickshaw to the North Cliff, under the impression that we would be staying at Shiva Garden Guesthouse, who had offered a free pick up. The only thing we had to do was make a call from the station area to get them to pick us up, we couldn’t find a phone anywhere and people were not very willing to help. So we just made our own way there and were pleased we didn’t get them to pick us up as we decided not to stay there after all. We wanted something a little nicer, after all we were on our holiday time! So we moved on and had a look at a few places in that area at the top of the North Cliff and settled for a 800rs room at the Clafouti Resort, we thought we’d do one night here and then move on. The room was nice and the location not too bad but the owners are not the most hospitable and we wanted to be on the quieter side of Varkala cliff.

Varkala wasn’t quite what we imagined it to be, it had been over-rated by fellow friends and travellers we’d met along the way. We now realised that we actually had it quite good up in Palolem. It’s a busy cliff resort full of bright signs, craft sellers, hotels and resorts, most of the restaurants cater for the tourist with western menus and the beach, hmmm! Still we thought we’d give Varkala time to grow on us. The first thing we did was grab some food at Clafouti restaurant, with a nice cool breeze coming from the wild ocean below we enjoyed a massive mexican meal, we just wanted a light lunch! We then ventured out to find another place to stay for the rest of our time there. We had read about Varkala Villas on South Cliff and so went for a stroll out along the cliff to the area.

En-route we passed a man demonstrating para-gliding as he was attempting to take off on the section of cliff between north and south. We helped him untangle his kite strings from a car and then he was off with the birds watched by several Indian tourists in amazement. We found Varkala Villas on the South Cliff and negotiated to stay with them for 3 nights at 1500rs/night for their lovely bungalow overlooking their beautiful garden. The owners are very accommodating and friendly with it which helps.

After we moved to the bungalow we spent much of our time relaxing, decided not to take breakfast with the owners (500rs extra) we did our own in the form of curd (yoghurt), fruit and muesli. We’d been carrying the muesli with purpose since buying it in Kathmandu when we first got to Nepal, we HAD to use it! Plus it meant we weren’t spending so much money on food every day plus they had a small kitchen with a fridge we could us too. We enjoyed the hammocks in the garden and would spend time in the middle of the day on the beach. When we were on the beach we were surrounded by other tourists and backpackers taking the time to soak up the rays. We rented an umbrella each time for 150rs and picked our spot where we would read in between dips into the ocean and naps. It’s a hard life!

The sea at Varkala beach is a little wild, you can’t really swim out very far as the currents are strong and the waves fierce. On our first swim Helen got a little scared as she kept having to dive under massive waves and was getting further and further away from Dave. But after time we both over-came wave-scared moments and enjoyed them like they were roller coasters, often washed up and tossed around. The North Cliff end of the beach is where most tourists gather and so this is also a prime spot for local male onlookers having a good ‘perv’ at the girls in bikini’s. It’s quite off-putting and at the same time laughable but they don’t ever see so much flesh on show so who can blame the?!

We took 3 yoga classes whilst we were there, one with the local ayurvedic doctor who’s Hatha style session was a little un-rehearsed, Dave was urging Helen to take over. The main problem really though was the language barrier as the next 2 days we attended an intense Ashtanga Yoga class with a teacher who’s English was much better and his practice was very focused. This second class based with Namaste on the North Cliff in front of Juice Shack was much easier to follow, although we ended up in buckets of sweat each time.

We followed our yoga sessions with a very good omelette and juice at Coffee Temple a few doors down. Although it took over an hour one day to receive the omelette it was very good and they do a fantastic chai-latte too. As Varkala grew on us we ended up staying 6 nights in the end and enjoyed our little routine during the day. One evening we went to the Varkala annual festival along with what felt like thousands of others. The atmosphere was building and building, with dressed elephants, musicians, dancers and folk in tradition costume. The only thing was not much was actually going on. There was a problem with the amount of people on the sides of the road and traffic was making it’s way through at speed, so much so that at one point one of the locals was hit by a passing vehicle which didn’t stop. It was quite a moment, being witness to a hit and run accident and how it was dealt with afterwards. The police went off after the car whilst the injured man was quickly rammed into the back of a van, we assumed he was being taken to hospital. Crazy times!

Other things did come of the festival though in the form of fire crackers and fire-works, they were so loud we could feel the ground shake, and they continued on throughout the night. We found solace at Oceano, an Ayurvedic resort who also offer a great menu of what we found to be delicious Keralan and other Indian food. We ended up eating there 3 times in the end as the food was so good and it was very rarely occupied. Oceano is on the South Cliff next door to KR’s Guesthouse. (Whilst this was our favorite jaunt for food we did also have an award for Cafe Del Mar’s smoothies on South Cliff).

Halfway into our stay in Varkala we met Andy and Lisa who through the power of Facebook were introduced to us via a mutual friend back home. We were staying 30 seconds walk away and so it was easy to meet up with them and we enjoyed beers, food, smoothies, yoga and beach time with them too. Next door to where they were staying at Villa Jacadera is Absolute Ayurveda a clinic that had been highly recommended to us by the family staying in the bungalow next to us. I knew they had to be good as Katrin is an ayurvedic practitioner back in Germany.

Based on her recommendation we chose a day package (it’s actually 2 hours ish). For 2700rs we enjoyed a full body massage, a chidroreah treatment involving 45 minutes worth of buttermilk, honey and other medicinal things being dripped onto our forehead. This was followed by a herbal wash (for Helen) and a facial for the both of us. Bear in mind that you are completely naked during this kind of treatment aside from a very small cloth thing! We both felt really good afterwards though an our skin felt amazing. Any of these treatments back home would cost a fortune so we figured we may as well do it in the home of Ayurveda.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8, Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

As we have a great house to stay in whilst here in Venice Beach and we are travelling for up to nine months, we want to try and save money where we can. Today was shopping day and we ended up at Whole Foods (“Whole Paycheck” as its known by the locals) so we had to be very conscious of each product we bought. We really need to find a cheaper place to shop without a car this might be difficult.

Helen spent the afternoon at Exhale for the 1st full day of Yoga whilst Dave took the Leica and a selection of lenses for a walk around the local area which included a fair few random garage sales on the street. The fishermans pier at Venice Beach is a nice little stroll into the ocean and offers some good photo opportunities.

Venicebeach.com has listings of up and coming events and we just so happened to be here for the Venice Beach Music Festival which was a nice little event. Spending time watching the graffiti artists and skateboarders in the skate park, you can easily loose track of the time.

We decided to cook for ourselves and we were both suffering from the effect of jet-lag as by 8pm we were ready for bed.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM & Olympus PEN EP-1, 17mm f/2.8 & 100mm f/2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

WHOA BESTIVAL….(bestival) I got ma Beb-ey!

Well not exactly what Paulo Nutini was chanting in his song, however it worked for us all year round since our last Bestival jaunt in 2009! Dave’s been singing it on average weekly since we came back after that one!! So of course we were mega excited about going to this wonderful gem of a festival on the Isle of Wight. Last year was going to be tough to beat…the weather was amazing all weekend, the line up was very strong, & it was our first festival together!

This year the journey down & back seemed really smooth, we were set up & ready to head to the Thursday night shindigs by 8pm! The ferry journey from Portsmouth is always fun, I feel a little bit geeky saying that, but it’s just like going on holiday, it’s only a short journey but you start getting a really nice feel for the festival atmosphere. Rammed full of people all with the same agenda & a nice buzz of excitement is in the air.

So Thursday saw us find a camping spot, which took ages as they were filling the campsites to their maximum & not letting people into the smaller sites further afield. This was probably one of the negatives from the weekend, I don’t think it got people off to a good start. Some campers had already set up their tents & were being told to take them back down again & move back to the other sites which were full to the rim!! We eventually found a spot on the edge of the black campsite, set up quite quickly & headed off to get a feel for the new layout of the festival site. A new field was added this year called ‘The Wishing Tree Field’ & Tomorrow’s world had a new venue ‘The Rock n Roll’ tent. Funnily enough the wishing tree field had a massive sculpted tree, somewhere you could go, make a wish & dance! There were also new additions such as ‘The Cabaret tent’ & many small venues. We did read that this year was about the small venue, so it was good to see little places packed with people dancing.

Friday came along, the weather was okay, no rain so that was a positive! On our agenda were The Wild Beasts, Delphic, Simion Mobile Disco & Hot Chip. The XX were performing & I would have loved to have supported them fresh off their Mercury music prize win, but Dave was more for Simion, & I couldn’t be bothered to fight with the thousands of teens backing up at the Big Top. We did venture to a few other venues in between acts & explored other areas we didn’t really see last year. Hot Chip were most definitely the highlight of the day for us. Zane Lowe warmed up for Dizzie Rascal the headline act, we stayed for a bit & then let all the teeny boppers get on with it!

Saturday every year is THE fancy dress day, with a fancy dress parade & catwalk competition later on. This year the festival was the year of the Fantastical. Generally the whole site is themed around this & people were dressed up from Green Toy Soldiers to Bearded ladies, cup-cakes to fairy tale characters & s&m lovers!I had a bright yellow dress, I was aiming for princess but struggled to find the tall pointy hat I wanted for it! It’s just nice to dress up though.

On the hit list for that day was Giles Peterson’s 1.5 hour dj set in the Bollywood tent, Mumford & Sons, The Flaming lips, Giles Peterson always attracts a good crowd & I love being part of a load of mad fancy dress dance lovers! It’s such a nice vibe & to be partying like that at 5pm in the afternoon is surreal, refreshing & lot’s of fun. We both loved Mumford & Sons, although perhaps I a little more than Dave…he he! And The Flaming Lips blew us away, they really know how to put on an amazing show. Having little knowledge of their music both of us had heard that their live shows are something else, so we knew it was going to be good. But it’s a really magical experience, something that almost feels fantastical. Really good performers for sure! After the wonders of The Flaming Lips, we headed to bed in anticipation of a late night on the last night to see LCD Soundsystem…dreams of ‘Someone Great’ going on in our minds.

Sunday came & the sun came with it! It was a lovely day indeed. After a slow start & another round of welly boot wearing we set out to just soak up what was happening. A spot of The Cuban Brothers kept us smiling & the amazing choice of food kept our energy levels up. Fat Freddy’s Drop put on an refreshing performance, I had seen them a few years ago in Christchurch, New Zealand this time round they were much more giving to the crowd, really having fun with it on stage. Dave didn’t have any knowledge of them & was pleasantly surprised. They are a brilliant set of musicians fusing together reggae with house, brass & soul creating a magical mix of good tunes. The Prodigy were headlining that night, but to be fair I think my Prodigy days are numbered, I did enjoy it but just couldn’t really connect with the music. Straight after they finished their set the fireworks were set off along with the bonfire made from wood to be a fairyland castle, we watched from the distance with our veggie burger & Hot dog.

With 2 hours to go until LCD we journeyed around the site one more time, venturing back to the Wishing Tree Field before a spell at the silent disco. Those things are so much fun, two Dj’s competing against each other everyone listens through headphones choosing which channel we want to tune into. It’s so funny from an outsider’s view looking into a room full of people dancing randomly to different things in silence!!

So with that to get us geared up for LCD & we aimed for the Big Top in anticipation of the New York performers to come on stage. When they did we were not let down by any means. They really were the best performance of Bestival 2010 for us! We are big fans anyway & love their music so we hoped they would be as good as we imagined &they really were. After 3 nights of dancing & trenching up hills in muddy wellies we still had some gas left in the tank for LCD. I think they made our festival! Such an eclectic mix of house music, powerful lyrics, experimental electro & experienced musicians. YES!! If this was their last gig together as LCD we were there & very chuffed to have been so!

So there you have it, a round up of events for Bestival 2010! Rob Da Bank should be proud of what he has built with it, from a small festival of dj’s back in the day to now a mainstream dance festival it’s a real pleasure to have been a part it. Great location, good choice of food, good venues, fab line up’s, comedy, fancy dress, good hygiene…the list goes on. I have a feeling that when we’re back from our travels, it wont be too far down the list of things for us to do!

Here are a few photos from our mini adventure… (Nikon Coolpix, processed in Photoshop)

We are heading to Bestival on the Isle of Wight. Exciting times. We are most definitely taking more stuff with us than we will when we jet off for a year!

Dave needed a shave, sarnies were made for the journey, tent & rucksacks packed. Taxi!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, processed in Lightroom)