Day 2 in Puvar (18)

Day two in Poovar. We woke up at a reasonable hour, ate a fantastic breakfast buffet, and headed off in the boat to meet Perumal who drove us into the city of Trivandrum. There we went to a temple and got a really terrible tour (we weren’t actually allowed into the temple), and still had to pay for it. However, the palace next door was much more interesting.
In the palace we saw portraits of all the kings who lived there, and we saw the artifacts from all over the world that they collected. We saw their ivory and crystal thrones, and swords and daggers they fought with. In addition, the wood carving details in every single room were exquisite, and all very unique. Many of the sculptures we have seen, especially on the temples, have been casts, but seeing all the little imperfections on every single lotus and horse and elephant on the walls and the ceilings proved that these were the real deal! Apparently it took only 4 years to finish the palace, so our question was how many people would it take to build such a place in only 4 years!!? (Answer 1000 people a day for 4 years) All the temples we have seen seem to average around half a century of building time.
Then, after a miscommunication about a visit to the zoo, we headed back to the hotel. That was fine though, because Mim and Alex went to the spa to get massages and Mim also got a lengthy facial (I’m very very very jealous). Sam and Dad grabbed a boat with another family over to the waves. The waves that day were huge, and we got some good body surfing in, along with a couple of scraped knees. The undertow was insane, so we were being very careful to keep our feet on the ground. Then we headed back to the hotel, and in the boat we observed an sand reclamation underway! Some of the local villagers were filling up their pole boats with sand from the dune we were on. Apparently sand here is very expensive, and there was ample clean sand where we were. So they dumped wet sand into their boat until it was juuuuuuust above the water, then one guy poled while the other guy bailed out the water from the wet sand.
After some swimming in the pool, we met back to the rooms to relax, then emerged for dinner, which was superb. The most awesome fried fish ever, and a great buffet (to make the cut as a great buffet, it must include great dessert). Then we made preparations to leave the hotel the next morning at 6:45! Onto the houseboat we go.
-SuperSam