Cold, cold water surrounds me now

Just what are we going to do for four days on a beach we wondered? Neither of us have the patience for sun worship or lounging on a towel for hours on end. This was going through our minds as we paced the beach in the pitch black of night. The next morning however with the sun displaying just how gorgeous Om Beach is, we quickly changed our tune. The time sped by reading, swimming in the warmest water I have ever experienced, taking a short hike to the beach next door, a trip into the village, more swimming, some dining, and lots and lots of gazing at the palm tree defined strand. It was quite simply perfect! It almost didn’t feel like India as the atmosphere was so laid back and relaxed. Our only decision was where we would go for our next lassi. We also had to keep half an eye open to make sure that a cow wasn’t about to make a sneak attack. Curiously enough the Indian cows eat anything, literally. Inexplicably a favourite of theirs is cardboard and paper and your novel is far from exempt. I saw two tourists who had pages gobbled up before they had a chance to object.

Only every now and then did it become clear where you were. Like the time I was swimming on my own, floating on the water and gazing at the blue sky when all of a sudden I was surrounded by a group of about 15 Indian men standing around me with the water almost up to their necks. It was a flash flood of Indians! Half of them simply wanted to shake my hand while the rest quizzed me on the usual details, name, nationality etc. Just another bizarre experience to add to my growing list.

For our last evening at the beach we decided to swap our ‘deluxe room’ for a beach hut further down. We had quickly learned that their idea of deluxe and ours were worlds apart. When I heard the term I had visions of a champagne bar and a Jacuzzi en suite. Their definition was much more sombre I’m afraid; a door that closed and a cold shower en suite. Yep no hot water to be had. As this was our second experience of a hotel/guesthouse without warm water we didn’t moan quite as much and my yelps as I washed myself were slightly less high pitched and 8 year old girl like. Slightly.

The beach hut we found was five times cheaper than our room. Five times! That is even more extraordinary when you realise the room had cost us about €12 a night. So for our final evening on this glorious beach we fell asleep in our cozy bamboo and palm leaf hut to the sound of waves crashing against the shore. I half expected the big bad wolf to come huffing and puffing but he respectfully kept away and we had a fine sleep. At 7am we had to be up and about to begin our long trek to the next destination, Hampi.