Buy the ticket. Take the ride.

We were somewhere outside if Varkala when the drink began to take hold. There was beautiful palm tree's to the left of me and sweaty Freddie to the right. We had entered into a tropical paradise that we all knew we were going to eventually taint with sin. Our tuk-tuk came to a grinding halt just outside a vibrant building with pink and yellow painted walls. Its name, Golden Beach Resort.The name was made quickly apparent by the obscene billboard outside that screamed out desperation. Immediately we regretted saying the word "budget" to the driver.

We burst through the front door and were greeted by a man from Croyden, well he had lived there for at least two years. Ignoring the rooms we were walked straight to the roof to enjoy the view. Before we had time to take it all in the Croydian served us all a ice cold bottle of beer and an orange he had bought off a tuk-tuk driver hours earlier. We sat there for hours not wanting to move an inch, even though we were only 100 yards away from a beautiful beach.

We decided to leave as the urge to swim whilst the sun was setting became too great. We arrived at the beach with our bodies as white as freshly laid snow. This was made ever more visible by the fact that the beach had black sand. With nowhere to hide, we leapt into the water to try and rid our skin of all our past evil doings. The undercurrent was strong and the waves were high, it was all to much for such inexperienced and inebriated swimmers. Unfortunately Andy was swept out to see. Only joking.

We got a call from the girl's when we got out of the water, it was to arrange to meet at a bar along the cliff tops. Yet another precarious line between fun and danger. This was not good news as none of us had a towel and we had to drip dry. Once that process had finished, we were on our way. I think the walk made me develop that well known condition of Vertigo. If that is at all possible.

Walking on the verge passed all the bars, shops and restaurants it was almost as if we were not moving but the scenery was just circulating. Each place seemed to appear five minutes later. Like a Scooby-Doo episode. Arriving at the bar we knew we were late as the girl's were sitting next to their empty glasses. A real feeling came over us all and the need to catch up with them ran deep in our psyche.

The drinks were flowing and it was almost as if we had turned into barflies, buzzing around the bar with only one need in life, to drink. The only thing was we had to pinch ourselves to realise where we were. In Kerala, India with absolute freedom, for the weekend. The feeling we were all together as one was overwhelming but having thought about it since, I have realised that it was the drink doing that.

I met a danish couple and decided that there and then was the place I was going to have my first danish lesson. Over the computer, we used google translater to teach me the differences between our two cultures and languages. I found out, interestingly, that the danish have a word that describes a feeling they get when they are around their families and friends doing something they all love. I said like is it like the word 'comfy' they said that that is not the same thing.

The night was old and it was time to head back. We walked back along the fierce drop off the cliff but that was not what worried me, it was that a stray dog was following Andy and I. Everyone was nicely tucked up in bed. Then we noticed a dog barking in front of us. Looking up we saw a pack of 15 standing at the top of the pathway we needed to walk up to get back. All of a sudden they were steaming straight for us and before I knew what was happening, human instinct took hold and Andy and I were scrambling up the wall to the right to get out of biting distance. We ran up the garden on the other side of the wall, only to find ourselves locked out for the night. It was not good as the packs of dogs were moving about the streets like waves. Andy climbed to the first floor of the hotel and came down to unlock the door to let me in. We slept like a log that night and we woke in the morning and that put an end to our trouble in little paradise.

James

Buy the ticket. Take the ride.