Trip to Trivanthum, India

saying goodbye to hosts

It was time to bid farewell to the backwaters and take a train to Trivandrum. My host at Ayana’s (named after their granddaughter) homestay arranged a tuk tuk to take me to a couple of sites on the way to the train station. My host let me know to take my shoes off at the temple and give a little donation inside. They helped me and my bags into the narrow boat and took me across to the mainland where my tuk tuk driver was waiting.

leaving on boat from backwaters

boat landing platform

my waiting tuk tuk driver

gates of Sree Krishna temple

We stopped to see the main place of interest in the area, the Sree Krishna Swamy Temple. It has a beautiful pond in front as many temples here do. I had a little trouble figuring out exactly where the temple was, but for me most of the really interesting stuff was outside. There was an adorable little boy running about with a little girl dancing about so that the bells she wore would jingle. Next I saw several men moving a heavy column of cement with two rollers unfortunately they were different sizes so they would roll primarily on the larger one then periodically have to lift up an end with rods to move the roller further along. I don’t think it was supposed to go that way but they were making it work.

Which ones don't belong...guess which are mine?

pond in front of sree krishna temple

adorable dancing girl

moving heavy cement with rollers

baby staring at me at temple

At the opposite end I saw a family desperately trying to get a baby to look at the camera but he was not cooperating. I figured I’d try since I am clearly identified as not belonging here so I said hello to him in the standard high pitched voice you talk to babies with. Instantly he stopped fussing and stared at me. I walked near the camera so they could get some shots, then they wanted shots of me with the baby and I got a selfie with him as well. He was confused about my mask so I removed it. Then he wanted to touch my glasses also. Later it occurred to me that maybe he just really liked my reflective sunglasses. Either way it was quite a fun interaction. We waved goodbye and I finished exploring the grounds and finally found the temple. Then the guide took me to see “Ambalaphuza Beach” which as my host said isn’t really a beach, it’s just a place for locals to access the ocean.

selfie with cute baby

Ablanbuhza beach

paying my toll on the train

I finally learned how the new rules work on the train (maybe just during Covid)…it is not an hour before the train leaves, it is before the train first leaves the FIRST station. Since the last train started in Trivandrum about an hour before Varkala, that was where I went astray. Sadly even though I got to the station more than 2 hours early, this train started In Mumbai a day earlier so I had to buy the ticket basically when I arrived to Ambalapuza. I also found out how the penalty system works. I pay double the usual fare plus a 250 rupee penalty. So sleeper class (the general class that 95% of people take) would be 140 twice plus 250 = 530 rupees (so $7 instead of the usual $2) but AC 2nd class with a semi private cabin (4-6 people but usually only one other person or maybe two) would be around 1700 rupees ($22).

guy helping me across the train tracks

I could also take the train that was currently in the station getting ready to leave if I was okay with sleeper class. The station master actually recommended sleeper class as safer since all the windows are open due to covid so it is safer than the enclosed AC cabins in many ways. Plus you meet more interesting people as 2nd class tends to not talk much. I decided to take the suggestion for the current train to avoid the 2 hour wait for the next one. A nice man helped me take the “shortcut” over to platform 3 across the tracks. It was sooo much easier than going up and over on the walkway.

the train toilets are not Western

eating samosas on train

At the first stop, the woman sitting across from me had samosas handed to her through the window. Her name was Denelvi who was on the train with her brother. She shared her samosas with me. Her husband called to video chat and they put me on to say hello. I’m so glad I did S1 class instead of the AC2 where I’d miss out on meeting them. I had to say goodbye too soon as the next station was my transfer station. It was fascinating watching all they guys pile out of the train jostling to buy biryani and other hot food from the station vendors (all run by the train system) before all piling back on the train as it pulled back out of the station. It was super cool to watch! I will get some scenes on a video clip for that as well.

my new friend Denelvi

video chat with Denelvis husband

train signs

The next train originated at the transfer station and it was conveniently already on the track right behind me. I found out that all the cars on each train indicate what class they are (S1 for Sleeper class for example) and what possible train routes they go on so I was able to confirm that it was the correct train. I was the only person on the entire car so for the last hour I had it all to myself for the trip to Trivandrum.

the next train I had the whole car to myself the whole time

locals waiting for train to pass

fruit plate they had in the room for me

By the time I got to the Hilton Garden Inn in Trivandrum, I was surprised how much I missed a fully air conditioned room, a strong flushing toilet (with paper), a luxurious bed, and a powerful hot shower. It really is nice to be back in the city, though I sure love the people in the backwaters. Even better, Hilton always treats me right. They upgraded me from the cheapest room (the one I reserved) to a one bedroom suite. It’s so great to feel special. There was also a nice fruit plate for me in the room. I did not venture out into the city so all I saw of Trivandrum was the ride from the train station to the hotel, and the hotel to the airport. And the fabulous one-bedroom suite, so my impression of Trivandrum is pretty darn good!

this orange banana looks and tastes just like a regular one on the inside

the outer room

the bedroom

bathroom shower and sink

I spent most of the night rerouting my trip including 3 hours on hold with AA to get my flight changed (4 hours if you count the 1 hour I was on hold before they disconnected me). I did finally get it all worked out and will return on the 17th. I actually got 4 hours of sleep as well. Thank God for Skype and for Google Fi, which lets me call the US for free if I’m using wifi calling. That’s saved me a small fortune. I was also lucky that I ordered Windscribe, a VPN that makes your wifi location look like wherever you want. For some reason, if you are in India, you are not allowed to Skype to an India number. I decided to leave Sri Lanka in my second trip since Maldives is right next to it and zigzagging around Asia is not that productive.

very quick breakfast the next mon=rning

The next morning came way too soon and my ticket said to be at the airport 2 hours early. I figured 90 minutes would be okay so I set my time deadline and had about 5 minutes to gulp down some food at the breakfast buffet (free breakfast for diamond members at international locations…another reason I pick Hilton when I can, especially when the rooms are so cheap in this part of the world…$50/night) though I was too scared to try most of the dishes as they looked spicy. The lady at the counter said she could get transportation for me to the airport for 900 rupees. I thought that was a bit high, but she said I could also check Uber, which I did. It was only $146 rupees. Later I realized that was $7 and $2 respectively, but still a 350% markup is high.

unexpected extra drive from terminal 2 to 1

My Uber came after a few minutes, and we pulled out towards the street, but then a policeman stopped us. I was worried he was in trouble because I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt, but the hotel guard told me a VIP was coming through and they were closing down the street. Luckily it literally took about a minute for the 5 police cars and the black SUV to come whizzing by. My driver asked which airport terminal and I was glad he did after my error in Delhi going to the wrong one. I was in terminal 1. He drove me to the place in Uber and then pulled over, pointing out that I had paid to this spot (terminal 2) but terminal 1 was way farther up. After some confusing conversation (his broken English, my zero local language, and a thick plastic sheet between us for Covid safety made it much harder) I said that I would pay him 100 rupees more if he just got me to terminal 1, thinking that it was maybe 3 blocks up.

Trivandrum Airport T2 to T1

He started driving and we went out into city streets, winding along and I was sure I had pissed him off and he was just going to drop me somewhere so I’d miss my flight, but then I saw streets resembling the stucco-like walls that I’d passed coming from the airport to Varkala. It turns out Terminal 1 was actually much, much further, about another 18 minutes drive. Whew, I was glad I hadn’t pissed him off or something. He got me there 75 minutes before my flight, which would have been disastrous if he hadn’t checked on my terminal, so I tipped him 600 rupees and we were both very satisfied with the end result. As it turned out 75 minutes was plenty of time to get my bags checked in as the airport was pretty small.

spice store and sundries

It turns out you can take water with you on flights in India. I must say it is confusing to ask a yes/no question and have the person say something that sounds affirmative while at the same time they bob their head left and right. After security, they had some little shops like Subway Sandwiches, a sundries shop, and a spice shop. It was only an extra $20 to upgrade to business class for this 3.5 hour flight so I did since I got better food and a much nicer seat. The food was good and not spicy. Since there were only 5 of us in Business class, I also got a whole row to myself so I had a nice nap, which was good as I had a full day in Delhi.

decent food in business class

aftermints are good