Bottom of India
- Sep 30, 2016
- 3 min read
We got the train to the very southern tip of the country, more to say we had been there than from any real purpose. We’d taken a few trains at this point and felt confident in our ability to catch them, normally they stop at the stations for at least ten minutes and we can walk along to get to our carriage.
However, this time the moment the train pulled up all the locals were running and shouting at us to get on! Unsure what was going on we walked a little faster, 30 seconds after it pulled up the whistle sounded! Ah crap! We ran and just made it on to our carriage before the train started moving. It was running late and to make up time they weren’t really stopping at any stations!
Kanyakumari is a cool little place but there isn’t a huge choice for restaurants, our view from the hotel was pretty cool though:
To be honest, we were pretty focused on the idea of Goa now. We hadn’t seen other Westerners for a while and were looking forward to talking to people who just wanted to chat and didn’t have any ulterior motives.
We went for a wander down to the seafront and saw all the usual shops and souvenirs. What did catch my eye was a sign for India’s first model wax museum. Oh yes. Don’t mind if I do…
The next day we made a beeline for the wax museum and the level of weirdness did not disappoint! We arrived to a black windowless building covered in painted flames, went to the ticket booth and asked for two tickets please, I treated Greg because he was definitely being dragged here (and it cost about £1).
The lady smiled and a security guard directed us towards two blacked out double doors, inside there were already some Indian tourists sat in an 8 seater block, similar to cinema seats, but with crash bars. Ok, maybe you sit in the seats and tour the museum?
We were hurried into our seats and strapped in (how fast does this thing go?), I then noticed my seat was a bit wet… why is the seat wet… we’re being handed 3D glasses… why are we… oh for God’s sake... the lights go dark, curtains pull back and we’re in one of those 4D rollercoaster cinemas!
For about five minutes we’re thrown around and squirted with water from the handlebars as 3D snakes chewed on the rollercoaster tracks. The lights came on and we were handed napkins to dry ourselves off and herded back out into the light where a queue of local tourists waited for their turn.
Bemused, we noticed a small ally down the side of the building. Upon closer inspection we found the entrance to the wax museum which I don’t think you had to pay for…
Finally! Let me show you some of the treasures we found inside…
(David Beckham, if you were wondering)
Guess who this is!
That’s right! Obama! Hahahahaha. Excellent.
Satisfied with the wax museum we still had some time to kill, so we got lost down the little back streets where we found some colourful houses and a magnificent church.
This place was so pretty on the surface, but like much of India, was spoiled by all the rubbish.
As this was the very south of India, we obviously had to get to the very end of the town. So this is our (slightly haggard) selfie from the very bottom of India.
Our tour company messed up our train for when we were supposed to be leaving to Goa (angry face) so we had an extra day to kill in Kanyakumari. We thought we’d get a drink as we hadn’t had anything for a while, and as our hotel had a bar attached we thought it would be perfect.
The Jolly Bar was definitely an experience. The bars in India are not at all designed with women in mind, except for the swimwear models who have their pictures on the tables.
We ordered two double vodkas and sprite and sat down under the neon blue lights. From the first sip I said this is moonshine, vodka doesn’t burn like that! Greg finished first and wasn’t as sure as me that this wasn’t legit, so tried to order another drink.
The only drinks available were white spirits, so Greg got a “Bacardi”. Definitely moonshine.
We ordered a couple of beers and went to the room instead. That’s enough India for one day.
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