Kovallam

I am being richly rewarded for all my hard work. I am now in the far south of India, close to the tip. There are coconut palms outside my window, a balcony that looks out on the waves crashing on the rocks below. The waves lull me to sleep.

I just went for a walk along the beach and got wet up to the knees in the Arabian Sea. There are lots of tourists here swimming and surfing, and I am looking forward to getting out in the water with them. The monsoons are over, the days are sunny and it is wonderful to be here.

I got to Trivandrum (the city closest to Kovallam) at 5 this morning and was met at the station by Vinod, a work colleague of Barry's who is doing a lot of his web work. This is interesting in itself .. Barry has been quite critical of globalization and yet he's hiring offshore workers. This is a good thing, though, and I am planning to do a story on how this kind of trend reduces the need for people in developing countries to become migrant workers. Ya, it's tough on us when we lose the jobs to other countries but I am starting to look at it differently. I am starting to believe that the West needs to equalize its income with the rest of the world. And this is a very productive way to do it which helps us all.

When I say I am being rewarded now, it doesn't mean that there haven't been rewards which came along with other parts of my travel. The whole trip has been rewarding but not necessarily in that kind of pleasant way that comes with being in a beautiful environment with nothing to do but bliss out. Getting to know a whole new culture is tough work. Documenting and organizing it into something that can be conveyed consistently, evocatively and factually is an even bigger job. So while I've been getting to know this culture, I have also had to figure out as I go along how to interpret what it is I am seeing and hearing. And that's not easy.

I am still planning to go to Sri Lanka next week ... I may end up coming home early depending on what the political situation is. I really want to do it but I am getting very tired of being in conflict zones. It takes a lot out of you. First Nepal, where there is peace right now but it's very fragile, and one of the main topics of conversation is the Maoists and whether or not the peace will hold. Then I went to Kashmir which was a wonderful experience but it is also a flashpoint in the world. then , just as I was thinking "oh good, I am now going to the peaceful south", riots broke out in Mangalore. I have been fine in every place, and I have the foundations for some great articles -- a travel article -- "How Much Risk is too Much?", and another on media reporting of violence and war. And lots of other things.

Today I am off to interview Vinod about how doing North American work in Trivandrum has affected him and his family. Then I am going to be doing an interview with an Ayurvedic doctor about herbal medicine, as part of a piece on how Western and Eastern medicine are becoming harmonized.

As you can tell, I'm in work mode. Took me a while to get here .. it took a lot of focussing that didn't come naturally in my first couple of weeks. I didn't really start relaxing until my weekend in the Holy City of Hardiwar. That is a whole other story in itself ... I ended up helping a young American woman who found herself in the wrong place in the wrong time. Made the mistake of saying "yes" when a young male friend she had met earlier in the day asked her if he could kiss her. He was jumped and beat up by three of his friends who saw the whole thing (might have been because she was white, or because he had a girlfriend already ... hard to say). Then the men started taunting her saying "kiss me too". I am glad that I was there when she came back to the hotel .. she was alright but badly shaken. Things could have turned out a lot worse.

Don't worry. I am not kissing any strangers when I am over here. My rule now is no romantic liaisons when you're travelling unless you've known him for more than five years.

Back to my tales of Kovallam ... there are lots and lots and lots of internet cafes here too (Question: why do they call them cafes when you can't get a coffee or anything here? Guess it must be the same reason why coffee houses are called coffee houses in Amsterdam even if they only serve pot). Lots of single women travelling here. So I'm not the only one being stared at (in my high school there was one black family. Everybody else was white. So now I know how it feels to be visibly different than everybody else.)

My hotel is absolutely lovely ... big windows overlooking the ocean, a balcony for having tea while watching the waves crash against the rocks and looking up at the coconuts hanging in the trees). And best of all, it's clean! (Clean is in rather short supply over here, not meaning to be critical but it's an objective fact at least by Canadian standards ...).

A note about my journey by train from Mangalore to Trivandrum .. Indian trains are great for sleeping in. And it's a good budget saver .. for the price of a hotel room alone, you can get to the next place you're going and also a place to sleep for the night.

More travel tips in later emails. I am back to my hotel room and then out to visit Vinod's office and do an interview.

I Wasn't Staying Here, but I appreciate the sentiment