After being on public transport for 36 out of 48 hours we landed in Triruvananthapuram, the capital city of the prosperous Kerala. Both hungry and exhausted it then took us over an hour to find a restaurant that actually stocked anything we were remotely interested in consuming. As frustration began to take its toll we sat down in a decent enough looking restaurant that transpired to only have 'tomato fry' available. I had previously known of his disfavour towards tomato and as the food arrived I looked in astonishment at Toms expression of both anger and suprise....."I didn't think it would have that much tomato in it" as he flirted around some onion at the sides. What else he was expecting from a 'tomato fry' I will never know. Needless say, I had two meals, Tom had a chapati and a side salad.

We then headed to catch a local bus to Kovalam beach where we would spend the next few nights. With the whole 'tomato-gate' incident fresh in his mind the subsequent events involving a bottle of beer in his backpack, an explosion of the aforementioned bottle as well as a not too insignificant cut to his hand and a lost driver made for quite a tense tuk-tuk ride to the hotel.

Anyway, we got settled in to a very nice and very reasonably priced hotel and headed for a quick beer on the beach before getting an early night. We were dragged into a bar by a very friendly older gent who then forced the young lads behind the bar who were trying to close up that "these good men need there beer" (or words to that effect at least). Feeling guilty, we supped up and headed to bed.

Kovalam wasn't the beautiful and picturesque beach that we had hoped for, nor was it a bustling tourist hot-spot. It was more like a middle ground resort with many beach front bars and restaurants that due to the low season were largely empty. The beach was smothered in bluey-purple jellyfish that were all the more apparent due to the dark colouration of the sand. The dissapointment and exhaustion of the past few days led us to the conculusion that after breakfast (that saw us cross paths with a herd of water snakes) the next logical step was obviously to go to the 'bar' for a bottle of whiskey, pour it into a 2ltr coke bottle and take it to the beach. The next few hours went quickly as we were marauded by locals and tat-sellers. Kids and adults alike smothered us asking for pictures with them and their families all afternoon, which although enjoyable at first, did become tiresome towards the end of the day.

The heat of the Keralan sun had clearly taken its toll on our senses as the tat-sellers pounced on our fragile states. When we returned to the hotel at around 6pm we had somehow acquired a bongo-drum, a red banana, 2 pairs of Alladin-style trousers, a polaroid of a local on a rock and another bottle of whiskey. Percussion enthusiasts we may be, percussionists we certainly are not.

These 'Alladin pants' are incredibly comfortable, so much so that they make underwear feel overwhelmingly restricting. The sensible thing was of course to remove them and go commando. This however, did create some issues, particularly when walking towards the sun in trousers that are fabricated with a very loose weave. My navy blue, looser fitting trousers seemed less affected but Toms black pair certainly left little to the imagination and those walking down Kovalam promenade that day will certainly not forget it in a hurry.

An incredible fish dinner and a few beers later and we were ushered into a bar where we met a couple of girls with whom we shared stories and played cards into the wee hours. With the bar closing we changed tact and headed back to the hotel balcony. In a bizarre chain of events that involved the forfeit for a defeat in cards requiring the loser to perform a dance routine for the rest of the group (obviously we hated that rule ;) ) After then getting chucked out the hotel for jumping in the pool at 2am and waking the entire complex we thought it was probably better to hit the hay before moving onto Kollam the next morning.