Tuesday, January 15th

How many holidays are there in India?

There must be tens of thousands! I'm sure of it... But yesterday's temple festival and today's 'Happy Pongal' (described as India's Thanksgiving) have been very tame here in front of the hotel! Smile. At least in terms of noise. I don't know about anything else. I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure. Actually, I'm glad because the only thing indicating the change this morning was that the outdoor stage, where the colorful man danced two days ago) and the restaurant were decorated. Oh, and the male restaurant staff were wearing gold-colored tops instead of the usual white. The women were wearing the same sari (white-red) as always... Actually a pity.

Now the musicians are walking past the reception towards the stage. According to the program, it's a cultural evening with flute players. And they need amplifiers! Gulp!!! Well, that's probably not for me. But, Daniela, just be surprised! Yeah... or something. And besides, Daniela's room is right next to the stage. So she doesn't have a choice anyway! That's right!!!

Well, you're probably (not) interested in how I slept. But it's part of my diary blog. Sorry... I slept well and had very bad dreams. But despite that, I started my morning program, which is the same as yesterday's. And poof, the morning was already over. The 500-page book didn't last as long as predicted. Poof and it was done! I have to find a way to spend the afternoon! So let's move on to the next one. Since I won't run out of books here (big library. Although most of them don't really inspire me to read: novels, crime novels, thrillers, heartaches), I don't really think about it.

Speaking of the afternoon, I reserved my two included excursions in the 4-week program today:
- Tomorrow afternoon, I'll go on a boat trip to the famous backwaters of Kerala. This is a very complex river system. Report to follow.
- Then there's the excursion to Trivandrum city. It's big, colorful, and nervous. This excursion will take place next week. Report to follow.
- And with some persuasive talking, I managed to book the third excursion. You usually get it after 28 nights. I'm here for 27 nights.... So, after a short phone call to 'who knows who', it worked out generously. It's a full-day excursion. It will take place on Monday. Report to follow.

Today, I wrote a few postcards. I'm curious when they will arrive in Switzerland and Germany (greetings to Larry!).