I woke up at 5.30 again under the sound of call for prayer and birds. The cacophony of birds in the early morning here is amazing, so bright, diverse, and unfamiliar. How can one one oversleep that?

Before 8 am. yoga class I decided to go explore the Black Beach mentioned by James from England the other day. So off I went northwards along the cliff.

The walking tour was wonderful. I discovered two new beaches and and saw lots of interesting things on the way. All it took is walk away a few minutes from the main Varkala beach.

First fishermen early in the morning

 A hammock with a view to the sea

 Fishermen out in the sea

Odayam beach at sunrise

Samsara Harmony resort

Cute garden at Samsara Harmony

Entrance to the resort

Abandoned technological miracle

Fishermen pulling out the net

Palms, stones, and the sea

A green mosque hidden in the palms

 Hey, Mr. Dog

Bulls grazing lazily under the palms

Nice elephant on the fence 

What a fantastic bridge across the canal. It actually leads right to a beach restaurant. The owner is really smart 🙂

Isn’t this cute?

Fishermen’s lodge after the Black Beach

On my way back the sun was already rising.

Sunrise

Black Beach – probably called so because of the stones.

Man practicing tai-chi.

I have seen many species this morning. This is is Mr. Bird.

Guardian of the sea.

I returned by 8 to our beach and had a swim. Afterwards took a cup of chai at a nearby cafe and wen for the yoga class.

Since our teacher at the lodge had a day off on Monday, I went for another yoga session nearby. It was different from ours, but just as great. The teacher was a middle-aged man, and from from his firm handshake and straight look in the eyes I made out immediately the class would be good.

This was classic Shivananda yoga. Unlike Ashtanga yoga, where there is a continuous flow, here asanas are combined with periods of relaxation in between. The teacher was also singing mantras. I felt this class had a different effect on me, but also a positive one.

After yoga we had a tea and talk with James, Ang-Hariete and Amy. Soon the time for free massage came again 🙂 This time it was legs, abdominals, and hands. How wonderful was that!

After lunch James, Amy and me went to the Odayam Beach that James talked about recently, the one he discovered four years ago. And indeed it was superb. I actually passed it during my morning walk, but now in daylight it was much more impressive – clean sand, literally no garbage, transparent water, nice waves, and deep enough.

So now our main Varkala beach is number 2, while Odayam some 15 minutes away is number 1. There was also a restaurant with a cool owner looking like a Santa Claus with his white beard. He called himself “Hatman”, apparently because he was wearing a hat 🙂

The others left earlier, while I walked a bit further, and stopped for a tea and chapatti at Hatman’s on the way back. I am definitely coming back to the beach tomorrow.

Odayam beach – simply beautiful

The sea is warm and clean.

View on the beach from the sea.

Cool swing

Hi, Mr. Little Crab.

Another mosque 15 minutes away from the Odayam beach. Nice combination of green colours.

Guys waving to me

Boat on the beach: simple and effective

Mr. Hatman. Besides making a bridge towards his restaurant, the entrepreneur took out some tables from the restaurant and set them right in front of the water for  customers to enjoy the sunset.

In the afternoon I did some taekwon-do on the terrace and physical exercises in the main yard, followed by a much-wanted shower and spicy fish curry for dinner. At the end of the day I was sitting with others in the main yard and chatting, mainly about India of course.

I was planning to leave the next day, but decided to stay here for one more day. My hear is still in Varkala.