Photos: Walking from Varkala to Odayam

Life in Varkala is none too stressful. When I was in Kerala’s beautiful beach town for a week over Christmas last year, I spent my days tanning (i.e burning) myself on the beach, treating myself to the occasional massage, eating ridico amazing South Indian food, consuming a few too many super cheap (and strong) cocktails by night, and leaving Faisal, the unbelievably handsome waiter at the Chill Out Lounge, ridiculous tips for no other reason than to reward his jaw-dropping beauty. I recall having thought at one point in my Varkala stay that I had never felt as relaxed in my life. In fact, the weird state of dreamy half-awakeness that Varkala stirred within me, caused me to lose my Blackberry and very nearly lose my passport.

For some, Varkala obviously isn’t chilled out enough, and those tourists choose to situate themselves in a town about a 30 minute walk north called Odayam. I preferred to be near the cocktails and massage joints, but I did often enjoy a stroll up to Odayam to break up the arduous sun-massage-eat-drink routine (it’s a tough life etc etc). Here are a few snaps from my cliff-top strolls between Varkala and Odayam – fishing boats, cows, and kite flying ahoy!