After a journey that required 3 flights and about 23-hours total in transit, we checked into the Uday Garden Suites at around 4 AM. We got a little sleep and awoke with the plan to not try to do too much other than simply get our feet under us. We went out to change money, buy an Indian sim card for my travel phone and visit our first textile shop.
We stayed at Uday Suites located near the airport and Shanghumumugham Beach. It’s a moderately sized resort style hotel that seems to have had its day in the 1970s. In those days it was very exclusive and in fact there is a room on the first floor with a plaque on the door proclaiming the Prime Minster of India stayed there but now seemed more a business class hotel.
The hotel swimming pool is the size of a small lake and is the hotel’s crowning glory with rooms fanning out along one side in a big arch. There is a giant gray painted elephant peeking out from a garden of palm trees and ferns on one corner, an enormous cabana bar with an oversized sound system in the center and a dining room facing the water on the other corner.
The pool was the center of activity with birthday, office, wedding and anniversary parties joyfully celebrated each of the four evenings and two afternoons while we were there. These were mainly family events with lots of grandmothers and little kids and with the exception of the karaoke & talent segment of the office party, remarkedly minimal noise. With our body clocks still on East Coast USA time we were up before most hotel guests awakened and enjoyed a candid view of the pool from our balcony as an older gentleman fished out party balloons and floats left over from the party the night before.
The hotel staff were mainly young, sweet-faced 20-somethings who were kind and eager. The Kerala accent is curious and different from our prior Indian experiences so the first few days we had them repeating everything three to four times but eventually we adjusted and got on just fine.
We got reacquainted with the “Indian Wobble” in conversations. The Wobble is a side-to-side bobbing head shake that seems to translate to “yes that’s correct”.
One example of their willingness to please and their great tolerance of tourists: After I ordered a club sandwich, I was served something that curiously featured layers of chicken salad, macaroni salad, cheese and onions. The staff noticed I was picking out the macaroni and asked if I would prefer a chicken breast instead and they brought out a delicious chicken curry dish to replace the original rather odd sandwich.
Other than that, our stay at the Uday Suites was pretty uneventful with one exception: an Ayurveda Massage. You can read about that in greater detail by clicking on the link.