♦ 🐆 2 min, 🐌 5 min

Thiruvananthapuram

Time log of the trip. As events are unfolding. Mostly for us, but if you find it interesting dig in.

[09:30] Snoozing

[10:00] Shower

[10:15] Breakfast. Need to eat sth light so the stomach cools down from all spices from yesterday’s dinner.

[10:52] Getting the map of city from the reception and asking how much a taxi for the day would be. They charge per 1h/10km for around 1000 INR.

[11:10] Trying to get the Indian phone number to work without success. Trying to book a new train ticket to Madurai. Again without success. When things are not working, and you waste time it's pretty annoying. Especially on a trip.

[12:00] Planning the days trip.

[12:30] Nap. We need to reduce the sleep deficit we got at Greenwood Bethlehem. Sure it was cheaper but give our fast pace of travel it’s not worth it to save 30 bucks on hotels and then be tired, sleep-deprived and annoyed.

[14:00] Shower.

[14:15] Snack. As much as we’re not fans of processed food energy bars are a godsend for calming down the stomach a bit. Before the trip we're like nah, we'll do Indian food only and that's it. Guess not.

[14:25] Checking cash status. Yup we got enough rupees. Plus rupee is falling wrt dollar, quite drastically since 2000.

Change up to 7k rupees makes sense given how bad the price of exchange in Europe is, but holding more cash then this in INR after the trip doens't make sense. There's a reason why everyone wants to get rid of rupees for dollars for very good exchange rate.

[14:54] Cheaper hotels eat more energy and time. It’s that simple. With more time and if you’re a better rested you see more. Plus this is our vacation and not spend as little as you can trip.

[15:03] Got the water for tomorrow’s trip. The vendor was really sad that we didn't want to exchange any more dollars. Now off to sight see.

[15:35] At what we marked as a temple:

[15:42] Collage of fine arts Kerala:

[15:50] Bookshops. For 750 INR we got two books.

Brand new:

Viktor Frankl: Man's Search for Meaning for 150 INR, from Amazon to Slovenia it would cost 20 EUR's minimum.
Sai Deepak: India that is Bharat for 600 INR.

They had some books for 50 INR and I had no duffle bag 😭:

=> Makes sense though that book shops were next to the university.

[16:07] Nappier palace:

[16:15] Walking around:

When we were looking at this statue a random guy came by and expand to us that this man was important to Indian culture. I think with something of unifying the country. Our new friend was super nice, but we didn't understand the full story 😥

Especially the young are very friendly and curious. They come up to you and ask you where you're from and what you're doing here. They're not pushy, just curious, happy that you came and visited their country. Some older ones see you as a bank.

[16:39] Nice historical building and piles of trash. Kanakakunu palace:

[16:43] There are flowers everywhere and two guys are picking up some nice ones.

=> Aftermath of a party.

[16:48] Got a rickshaw in a minute.

[17:00] Interference to Kowdier palace. A place where their royal family lives. Closed for visitors. Ups 😂 off we go to next one.

=> We ended up looking like total un-educated forging jerks.

[17:15] Paid the driver 120 INR. Saw the Devi temple. Were able to get in. Really beautiful.

[17:25] Off we go to next temple. He reset the taxi meter, to get little more money out of us 😅 But was totally fair since we used the meter, and he was really nice and helpful.

[17:32] Stuck in Indian traffic:

[17:58] At temple for 140 INR from the previous one.

[18:04] 90 INR for 3 packs of Pudin Hara Perls, We'd take more but the pharmacy didn't have more.

[18:20] Didn't find Zam Zam on the market, so we turned around cause suddenly the alleyways were empty and dark. Off to main temple. One energy bar. It rained a bit.

[18:30] At main temple:

[18:55] 53 INR: Bill with a stamp, for some snacks.

[19:00] 80 INR: Water and chips.

[19:04] "No sir meter broken. 100 INR to university library." Aha, thx for the info.

Found another one in 2min. We paid 45 INR with taxi meter.

[19:15] Tried getting into Kerala university library and first they said yes. We dropped the bags and signed in. Then the “boss” was like no, no not for foreigners 🤨 need to chat with a prof from here.

[19:30] At Zam Zam. Sort of Indian McDonald's. 454 INR for dinner: