Sea Castle Beach Homestay
Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside, I do like to beside the sea
So, just let me be beside the seaside and I'll be beside myself with glee
Our train rolled slowly into Kollam Junction Railway Station, giving us plenty of time to get off. Plenty of time, indeed, to take photographs of us getting off - something I wanted to do to emulate those travel documentaries. Kollam Junction railway station is the second largest railway station in Kerala in terms of area and is one of the oldest railway stations in the state. The world's second longest railway platform is situated at Kollam railway station.
We had emailed our homestay host to advise of our time of arrival and hoped the message had got through. Being the only Europeans to get off the train, and perhaps the only ones on it, we were easy to spot by the tuk tuk driver who was waiting to collect us, and who greeted me with 'Frances'. A bit surprised as that was my travelling companion's name, it took a moment to clear up the confusion as 'Francis' was our hosts name. We tuk tuked our way through Kollam, where the driving was frenetic, even though the traffic was calmer than we had experienced the day before in Madurai, through narrow streets and along canal banks and arrived at the beach amongst the palm trees.
Wow!
As we unloaded our bags, I realised one was missing. Whilst taking photographs getting off the train, I had left my overnight bag on board.
We were greeted by our hosts, shown our room, and served breakfast on the veranda, looking out over the Arabian Sea.
There were some fishermen on the beach, tending their nets. We were advised we would need to be up early the next morning if we wanted to see them bringing in their catch.
Our host telephoned the station, and a short time later received a call to say that my bag had been found, and was now with the railway police at the end of the line, Punalar. A taxi was organised and we were soon on our way. Punalar is only about 200ft above sea level, but having spent a week on the flat plains at sea level, we felt that were higher, with a cooler climate too. Apparently, though, Kunalar is the hottest place in Kerala. The road winding up through the valleys showed us a very different India from that we had seen to date.
The Punalur Railway Police Station is the one & only Railway Police Station in Kollam Rural District, which is presumably why we had to go there, rather than have it sent back down to Kollam. Our driver had been told to take us to nearby waterfalls, but we opted instead to view a British built suspension bridge which, at the time, had made a big difference to communications in the area. I was interested in how proud the Indians were of their British heritage.
We arrived at the station and found the police station, where I was reunited with my bag. But not before I had checked the contents were all present. First out was a loo roll. The bag had been found by one of our travelling companions, and handed in. Amazing!
We returned to the homestay, where we were served a delicious meal, cooked to our own specification as to strength of flavour. Kerala cooking is renowned, and Jacuelin lived up to the high stand expected.
Here, the bed was provided with a mosquito net, but I don't think we needed it as by the morning it was no longer around the bed and we were still intact.
And it was the end of the seventh day.
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