Trivandrum

The train didn't actually go all the way to Trivandrum, for reasons I could not fathom out it terminated at a small station about 8km outside the City and a large posse of autos were waiting to take people into the town. The driver I got started at Rs250 but I got him down to 100 and he sort of agreed to it, the fact I had to direct him by following my map in the Rough Guide once we were in the town proper meant he wasn't getting no more either! The hotel here is very basic – well what do you expect for Rs330/ £4.70 a night! Signing in was a mammoth job with 3 huge registration books to be completed all with virtually the same info then I had to sign the 'rules of the house' about what I can and cannot do in the hotel; which ran to 2 pages! Finally I got the room key – it was the 3rd floor and I was shattered and still feeling fairly ill. I was that bad that I had to stop at each floor get get my breath back and collapsed on the bed when I got to the room.
Monday afternoon I managed to walk out for some cash and a bit to eat but I felt even worse now on the way back to the hotel, extremely weak and very stiff, the same happened on
Tuesday I managed to get out to the restaurant next door, had half a dosa and some lime tea and then came back to bed. In the evening I thought it about time I go and see a chemist. I asked around and got directed up a side road to one where when I explained my symptoms to the guy on the counter he told me I should see the 'doctor' and took me into a kiosk at the back of the shop where another man listened again and then wrote down a list of things I needed to get. It turned out that this was an Ayurvedic chemist and he 'proscribed' 2 different types of tablets and an oil to apply externally; this was the hardest stuff to deal with , and I haven't used it yet as his instructions were to 'gently warm it over a candle on a teaspoon or some tinfoil'; now I'm not sure if he is as worldly wise as the rest of us, but I'm sure certain other 'products' get heated over candles and they are not legal! So not wanting to give the hotel any reason to kick me out I have refrained from used the oil. One lot of the tablets is for muscle ache and that seems to work and I have no Idea what the others do apart from they taste awful and won't come out of the blister pack without breaking up.
Today I managed to get up and get breakfast and then walked up into the heart of the town, I'm glad I brought my brolly as the heat is intense down here, and many people use them to shelter from the sun so you don't look a twit walking round with a brolly up in the sun!
Just up from where I had breakfast I spotted a barbers and had a full hair cut and beard trim for about 50p, I feel better for that but my bowels are still not good so I returned to the hotel for the safety of my 'own' loo!