Our first weekend in India gave us a two-day break in Trivandrum after our workshop to recover from jet lag. It was recommended to us that we stay at a hotel on the beach. When we arrived we found the hotel was on the ocean, but not the one we thought we had booked. It was a health resort built into a steep hillside extending to the ocean. People come here from around the world for diet and full body massages. Our rooms were old houses (200 years or so old) that the people of this area used to live in. They are well preserved, beautifully carved and made of teak. There was no TV, radio, air conditioning or glass in the windows. The ocean breezes kept things cool and shutters and rattan screens provided privacy.

While there we took advantage of having a full body massage. We were hand rubbed with oil and then we would lie on a floor mat while the masseuse steadied himself with a rope suspended from the ceiling as he used the arch of his foot to massage our arms, body and legs. It was surprisingly refreshing and relaxing. It was a great place to get away from things and recover from jet lag.

Another interesting happening was having a police escort from the Trivandrum airport to our hotel in the city. Kerala was staging a one day bandh or strike against the national government's increasing of the cost of oil products. Only emergency vehicles are permitted on the streets during a bandh so our escort took us on back roads and side streets to avoid difficulties.