Go East!

I had a final swim this morning before doing the last of my packing and then going out to change some money. The driver arrived sharp at noon to take me over to Tirunelveli. To my joy he spoke pretty good English.
The drive over is only 135km, but it took us over 4 hours with one quick stop for a tea and a Samosa.(screen shot in extras) They are building a new highway between Trivandrum and Kanyakumari on the Southern tip of India.
The way things are done here though is that the road is opened as soon as any of it is navigable so it is full of pot holes, diversions and vicious sleeping policeman. The old road is often replaced immediately by the new even though its not complete. At one point we were diverted off the road with no instruction where to go next so we followed the traffic. After going 20 km in entirely the wrong direction and at one point going in the opposite direction on a piece of road we'd already been on, I navigated with Google maps. We got back on the road we wanted to be on but it must have added a good 3/4 of an hour.
I had a wonderful welcome in Tirunelveli from the regular staff at the place I'm staying. The pastor is new, but the office and bakery staff are the same as when I was last here three years ago. The pastor's wife Annee and their 3 year old son made me very welcome she with a cup of tea he with a demonstration of his new bike! .
I'm in the same room as last time so I spent most of the afternoon and early evening arranging it to my liking.
I picked up the bag of sheets and towels which I had left with my friend Ida and made up the bed. I prefer European style cotton sheets as opposed to the traditional Indian ones which are a lower weave and can be quite rough. Both are available here, I've had this set for years and it's useful to be able to just leave it here. .
Raja, my auto driver friend, came and picked me up and took me to a local restaurant where I often used to go. I was greeted with warm smiles and my favourite meal was delivered almost before I'd sat down. Served of course on a banana leaf. I had chicken 65 with Parotta. Both freshly made, delicious! They came with two different types of gravy, some chicken pickle and raw onion raita, and a lot of smiles! .For the second time though I found food rather spicy so I'm clearly going to have to work on my chilli tolerance levels. £1.65 including a bottle of mineral water.
Early to bed now, Raja is coming for me in the morning to take me for my breakfast and then to school!
The main blip is some shots of the Western Ghats which are the reason the road takes the route it does. They are a high and very inhospitable mountain range running north south between Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Lots of birds on the way across, in particular
Greater and lesser Egrets
Grey Stork
Crane,
Black and white ibis,
Rollers (like a jay)
Grey heron
Pond heron

No Parrots as yet!