Friday, 2/26/16 - Yoga at Marari Beach Resort, Return to Kochi

Today's yoga class was even better than yesterday's! Craig and I both walked to the cement slab in the center of the lawn and got settled onto our mats. We had a different instructor than I had had yesterday. His name was Dr. Krishna Kurup, and he had a light hearted demeanor. It was special to be instructed by an Indian yogi, here in the land where yoga was born. We had the best drishtis (focal points): the moon in front of us and the rising sun behind us.

We started off with seated breathing exercises and eye movements. Watching Krishna's abs ripple as he demonstrated breath control techniques was absolutely amazing. But today's class quickly became more vigorous, and featured more asanas than yesterday's had. We are now limbered up for our flight home early tomorrow morning.

We learned crocodile pose and also did many old favorites such as cobra, cat/cow, shoulder stand, plow, wheel, headstand, and fish. He announced pose names in both Sanskrit and English.

We thanked Krishna after class. He told us that he has been teaching here at the resort for 16 years. We discussed yoga a bit, and he mentioned that he had authored a yoga book which is available in the gift shop. We had really enjoyed his teaching technique, and we decided that we would purchase the book before leaving.

We went back to the room and showered. We met Mukul for breakfast at 9 o'clock. Once again, the buffet was excellent. We treated it as brunch and ate our fill.
  • grape juice
  • coffee
  • orange pineapple smoothie peg
  • dosa masala made to order
  • vanilla muffin
  • cinnamon sweet roll
  • pinwheel danish
  • egg roast curry
  • home fries
  • chicken sausage
After breakfast, we stopped in to the shop to purchase Krishna's book: "Yoga for Daily Practice." When I brought it to the register, the clerk said proudly, "That's our yoga master!" We said that we had just practiced with him and that is why we were buying the book.

At 10:30 we went back to the room to pack. Mukul had arranged a late checkout for us. He checked out of his room at 11, and the three of us waited in our room until it was time to leave. At noon, the door opened and a European tourist barged into the room, ready to check in. We apologized but said that we were not checking out yet. I don't blame him for wanting to get settled in his room; it was quite hot and humid and I'm sure he coveted the air conditioning.

Our driver arrived at 12:30 p.m., and we made our way to checkout. The manager (a colleague of Mukul's) came to see us off. We chatted with him about this morning's yoga class (he attends daily). We told him how much we had enjoyed our stay. It was the perfect place to unwind at the end of the trip. The manager gave us and Mukul each a Marari cookbook as a parting gift. As I said before, the hospitality at CGH properties has been amazing!

By 1 o'clock we were on our way back to Kochi. After 2 days in the backwaters and two days at the beach, the return to the hustle and buste of the city was jarring. We commented on how much more traffic there was than during the strike when we arrived. Our driver, in turn, said that today was an especially light traffic day. Being Friday, Muslims have the day off, which means fewer people commuting.

As we got closer to Kochi, we saw a sign which said "Salem: 357 km". Were we already closer to home than we thought?

We learned in the newspaper that the governemnt had visited the festival in Guruvayur yesterday, and that the inauguration of the new international terminal #3 in Cochin Airport would occur this evening at 5 p.m. Luckily, our flight wasn't until the morning.

At around 3 o'clock, we arrived at the Flora Airport Hotel in Kochi. It was right across the street from the airport, which is the first airport in the world to run completely on solar power. Our room (#310) was obviously a smoking room. It smelled of stale cigarette smoke. We always request non-smoking, but they were unable to accommodate the request.

After the luxury of the prior accommodations, this was less comfortable. In addition to the stale smoke, the air conditioning wasn't strong enough to get the room below 28 degrees C (82 degrees Fahrenheit). We tried to counteract the smoke by liberally applying jasmine essental oil around the room and on the linens. It helped the situation significantly.

Craig had several bottles of water in his bag. We always had plenty of bottled water available on the houseboat and at Marari Beach Resort. Craig now had a little stash, and felt confident that he had enough water to stay hydrated for the remainder of the trip. Especially in this warm room, he would drink quite a bit.

Craig took a nap and I worked on my computer.

We met Mukul at 7 o'clock for dinner. He wanted to have a farewell beer, but the hotel doesn't have a beer and wine license. So we walked down the street to Lotus 8 Hotel / Restaurant. They wouldn't sell beer to go, so we sat at a table. The guys got Kingfisher Strong, and I had Grover's red wine, which I enjoyed very much.

Mukul wasn't sure where to eat. He didn't know if we should go someplace else to have dinner, or whether we should eat here. Considering that it was still hot and humid even after sundown, we didn't really want to walk far. Because we were all tired, and it would be a short sleep tonight, we decided to save time and energy by eating here. It turned out to be a great decision. We had popadums, naan, and paneer koftas. It was delicious!

We all got some good entertainment out of watching the non-English speaking staff and their interactons with a Chinese businessman. He asked for "paper" napkins, and was brought a bowl of peppers. He was having a "Lost in Translation" moment, but he didn't have the patience to see the humor in it.

We enjoyed our last dinner with Mukul, and we reminisced about the trip and talked about plans to get together again in the future. We are so lucky to have Mukul and his family in our lives. They are wonderful people and we have such a bond. As much as we could have stayed up all night talking, we all had early flights tomorrow. At 9 o'clock, we walked back to the hotel and said goodnight to Mukul.

We went back to our room. We took cool showers and were in bed by 10:10 p.m. to try to catch a couple hours of sleep.




Yoga master Krishna Kurup prepares for class under the moon

Yoga master Krishna Kurup prepares for class under the moon

The sun rises behind our yoga class

The sun rises behind our yoga class

Yoga master Krishna Kurup with Craig

Yoga master Krishna Kurup with Craig

Leaving Marari Beach Resort

Leaving Marari Beach Resort

Dinner at Lotus 8

Dinner at Lotus 8

Dinner at Lotus 8

Dinner at Lotus 8

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