To begin with.

Before starting off, I’d like to thank the people behind Instagram for putting forth an idea as such and bringing it into reality. This for sure has changed the way most of us, including me, share photos. And over the past one month, the changes this small, yet powerful photo sharing App brought into my life is tremendous!

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Meeting @hyperkulturemic via Instagram was kinda abrupt, I’d say. It was nowhere in my weekend plans until last Wednesday.

I’ve been following her since the day she set out to explore the Northern parts of India as a part of Xplorience. Also, as I’ve told her over our first chat, I’d even stalked her on FB. So yeah. We got acquainted through Instagram just a month ago (a month ago this trip happened) and the sole power of traveling put us together for a weekend-beach-getaway at Varkala.

Since I was dead sad during my last (solo) Varkala trip, the very thought of going there again during off season refrained me when she suggested Varkala over my initial plan of taking her to the beaches of Alappuzha. But then somehow, a sort of optimism kicked in and I agreed to her plan.

I took a bus to Kollam from my hometown while she took a bus to the same destination from her home. Although we planned our onward journeys so as to meet at the Bus Stand by 11:30, she happened to be one and a half hours late. Since she asked me to arrive well on time as she don’t like to wait, I think she is still sorry for making me wait for so long; heh!

So yeah. We met, had lunch from a hotel nearby, took a KSRTC and got down at Kallambalam to catch another bus to Varkala Maithanam. An hired auto from Maithanam got us to the Cliff. Similar to The Varkala Ways, the stay was booked at Rainbow Cliff Resort.

Around 45 minutes later, past 16:45, we got out for the day’s Sunset. We headed to the right most end of the cliff and proceeded through a small Coconut plantation to reach the nearby beach where a few foreigners were Sunbathing. After spending some time there, we got back to the Cliff.

Hoping that it will add to the overall mood of our evening, we ordered two Espresso and took a table by the roof’s edge. Café Italiano it was, a rooftop restaurant at the Cliff.

But what we were served with tasted exceptionally bad. When asked, the waiter’s response was stupid, yet interesting – “This is how we serve Espresso here. Foreigners have it, and no one had complained yet.” Helpless, we asked him to add milk and serve it hot.

As we sat there sipping it, I tried to spot the Sun that hid himself behind a massive dark blue-ish cloud, showing the world its presence by shining through. I think I can never stop admiring at its beauty when the Sun hides himself and shines like this. Never. Ever.

While the hues in the sky stayed even after that beautiful sunset, we went for a stroll alongside the cliff. We then thought of heading to Bohemian Masala Art Cafe which caught our attention earlier that day, not once, but twice. Its interiors, along with the fragrance of incense sticks and soothing music seemed to be perfectly set for the evening. We took a table that laid besides the main entrance and ordered a Chocolate Banana as well as Cardamom Shake.

While the former was served pretty well, my Cardamom Shake had a big piece of ice in it, that, as I drank, kept melting thereby making it a forever task to consume it completely. To add to it, they gave us bamboo sticks that had a narrow hole (through which we had to suck in the so called Shake) which we had to use as the straw. And when asked for tissues, they offered two almost grungy handkerchiefs – all this was said and done in the name of ‘using only organic materials’ in the cafe. Duh.

Post witnessing a spectacular sunset and after having that so called organic dinner, when we finally got back to our room, we chucked out our plan of going to Thangassery Beach the next day and decided to head again to the cliff/beach for Sunrise. While for the majority, being at the beach for Sunrise is something that is so underrated for the obvious reason that the Sun rises in the East, we chose to put aside that thought and give it a try.

We walked down to the nearby beach where we went the day before. By the time we reached, the Sun was almost up in the sky, shining through the coconut trees that stood behind us. Except for some fishermen waiting for boats and two natives who followed us intriguingly from the plantation, no one else were around. As the Sun rose further up, the sea shined in its glory. There, we lazed around for a while before returning to the cliff for the day’s breakfast.

Since we chucked out the plan of going to Thangasserry Beach, I suggested going to the beaches of Alappuzha rather than parting our ways back home.

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Instead of going into the weekend crowd of Alappuzha Beach, we rode to the secluded Chethy Beach which lies further to the north of Alappuzha. Lying in the outskirts, Chethy holds a beauty in itself.

After taking photos, we sat down gazing at a bunch of tiny shipping boats that sailed far away. Drama was added when crows flew across my frames in the orange hued sky. As the Sun moved down the horizon, one among those boats could be seen crossing the diameter of the Sun.

Upon returning, I also took her to Alappuzha beach just so that she can add one more beach to her visited-beaches-list during the whole course of her Xplorience odyssey.

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