Fisherman's Cove 24.11.06

On Friday we went down to Fisherman’s Cove again for lunch and then we visited Mallamapuram. We went to the Shore Temple and Arujuna’s Penance and looked at all the carvings in the rocks. Again, there are people trying to sell you things everywhere you went. My dad bought some carvings (two sets) for 600 rupees. David (who is great at bartering) then bought two sets for 100 rupees. My dad was annoyed cause he thought he’d got a good deal. It’s amazing how much they try to rip you off here. There’s always room for negotiation – another example is I bought six moonstones for 200 rupees. David then bought five moonstones for 100 rupees. My dad then (trying to get one up on Dave because he’d bought the same as him with the carvings for six times the price) bought six moonstones for 100 rupees. They started off asking for 250 rupees for two moonstones (just to give you an idea of how much you can barter with them). The only problem is once you’ve bought something they continue to follow you and hassle you and try to get you to buy more! Here is a classic photo of my dad – trying to get rid of the three men (who knew he’d paid 600 rupees for two sets of carvings) trying to sell him postcards and paintings.

I've included some pictures of us at Temple Bay and a picture of a group of women cutting the grass. It's not like in England where they use a lawnmower - here they have tiny scissors (which look like nail scissors)!!