We slept pretty wonderfully last night. It was peaceful. Until about 4:30am when that darn repetitive music that we had heard in Kalpatta, started again. Thankfully it did stop after a while so we got a bit more sleep before our complimentary breakfast. And what a delicious breakfast it was. A Keralan mix of steam cakes, dosai, lentil curry, bananas, sweet tea, coffee and even a newspaper all ready and waiting for us in little thermoses and insulated dishes. We sat in our very own entertaining area of our very own house, while the room boy hung around, and soaked it all in. After a chat with the owner we were off. Or at least we thought we were. Big Red just did not want to leave this morning. It took a good half an hour before he woke up and was ready to roll. We think he must have known it would be a difficult ride and that perhaps that was why he was reluctant to leave. About 40km down we went to overtake a truck but Big Red's back end slid out a little. Chris pulled us over to the right hand side of the road and his suspicions were confirmed...flat tire.
Thankfully, we were but 100m from a 'tyre works.' Some Tuk Tuk drivers directed us over to a guy who spoke enough English for us to confirm we had a puncture. Not much was said...he simply got to work. He patched up the tyre tube and had Big Red back in one piece in about an hour. In that time he even managed to stop for chai and a snack. All up, Big Red's operation had cost us 60 INR. Yes, rupees. Not dollars. 60 INR. About a dollar. What a great guy! He could have charged us anything, knowing we had no other options, but he didn't and he restored our faith in the locals.
We tried to make up time as we headed North to Murudeshwara. With 80km to go we stopped for some snacks by a river under a bridge which looked strangely like the one between Kochi and Kalpatta. We attracted the same local attention before getting back on the road. Chris' horn beeping skills got a work out as oncoming buses and trucks persisted to crowd our side of the road. He even managed to grab the attention of a local lady as he zoomed past honking ferociously.
We arrived in Murdeshwara about 3pm and then were on the hunt for accommodation. After asking around at a bunch of places ranging in both price and quality we settled on, you guessed it, the first place we had tried. RNS Highway Hotel for 900 INR a night. After being told there was only hot water in the mornings we were pleased to jump in the shower and find, somehow, we had hot water in the afternoon too. We felt slightly better about paying our 900 INR.
Heading back into town we realised that Murudeshwara has more going on than we thought. The world's second largest statue of Lord Shiva and a huge Temple towered over the beach while crowds of locals galavanted on the sand. Beach stalls reminiscent of those in Chennai crowded the sand as overcrowded 4WDs bustled on the road.
We found a random place in town for dinner and enjoyed our first Malai Kofta as recommended by Kyle. We also tried a dahl palak which I enjoyed greatly. Chris however...well...I think he needs a good serve of steak. And his shorts, which barely stay up now without a belt, agree with me.
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