okay so here's the thing - i landed in this place completely by accident. like, my flight got rerouted, i had nowhere else to go, and now i'm sitting in what i later learned is basically the southernmost tip of india writing this while sweating my ass off. the wifi is surprisingly decent though which is all that matters when you're pretending to be productive while actually just avoiding your actual work.

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Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: yeah actually. it's chaotic in the best way. not some polished tourist trap - you got temples, beaches, and random cows blocking traffic. the kind of place where you don't know what'll happen next and that's the whole point.

Q: Is it expensive?
A: dirt cheap if you're smart about it. street food is like 50 cents. hostels are maybe 8 bucks. but if you want the fancy resort life that'll run you 50-80 a night which honestly isn't bad either.

Q: Who would hate it here?
A: people who need structure. people who need AC everywhere. people who can't handle cows in the middle of the road. if you're the type who needs everything planned out and clean and orderly - go to singapore instead.

Q: Best time to visit?
A: october to march is your window. i came in feb and it's hot as hell but manageable. april-may is brutal. june-september is monsoon season so good luck with that.

the weather right now is doing that thing where it says 27 degrees but feels like 30 because humidity is at 77%. you're constantly slightly damp. always. there's no dry state of being here. i read somewhere that the pressure is around 1009 which is pretty standard for coastal areas but honestly i only know that because i was bored one afternoon and went down a weather rabbit hole.

some guy at the guesthouse told me this town gets about 1253605 visitors a year which sounds like a made up number but whatever. he was very serious about it. i don't know if that's a lot or a little honestly - my reference point is basically barcelona and bangkok so everything else feels chill. there's another number floating around - 1356098939 - which i think is maybe population of the district or something? i didn't write it down when he told me so now i'm just guessing.

the vibe here is... a lot. but in a good way? like, you got sunrise happening on one side and sunset on the other because of how the land sticks into the ocean. it's literally where two seas meet. there's a huge statue of some guy (vivekananda i think? or maybe thackeray? i should google this) that everyone goes to see at dawn and it's actually worth the 5am wakeup which i never thought i'd say about anything.

*the food situation is where it gets interesting. i found this one spot near the beach that's run by this old woman who doesn't speak english and i don't speak tamil and we just kind of point at things and she makes them and they're always incredible. i had something with fish yesterday that i'm still thinking about. the spice level will destroy you at first but your body adapts.大概四天之后你就不觉得辣了. wait sorry that's chinese. anyway.

A crowd of people standing around a carnival

as a digital nomad here's what you need to know - the internet situation is better than expected. most cafes have wifi. the guesthouse i'm at has decent bandwidth. i video called my boss yesterday and she couldn't tell i was in a place where a goat had walked through the frame ten minutes earlier. power cuts happen sometimes though so always have a backup plan.

local told me there's a beach about 20 minutes away that's way less touristy. i haven't been yet because i keep getting distracted by the main beach's chaos but that's on the list. apparently you can see dolphins sometimes. i don't know if that's true but i want to believe it.

the safety thing - i felt fine. more fine than i expected honestly. people are helpful. a few auto rickshaw drivers tried to overcharge me but that's literally everywhere in india and honestly they were pretty chill about it when i bargained. one guy even walked me to where i was trying to go when i looked sufficiently lost which was sweet.

tourist vs local experience is pretty clear here. the main beach area is pretty touristy but not overwhelmingly so. there's still a lot of genuine local life happening around the edges. if you want the real deal, go inland a little bit. there are these tiny restaurants where you're the only non-local and nobody speaks english and you eat with your hands and it's incredible.

i met this other digital nomad here from berlin and we compared notes. she said the same thing - it's not the typical backpacker trail place but that's exactly why it's good. you can't find this stuff on the big travel blogs. it's the kind of place you stumble into and then tell everyone about but they don't believe you.

honestly the best travel advice i ever got was from some random reddit thread - "go where people aren't talking about going" and this place is exactly that

the temples here are something else. i don't really do the temple thing but even i could appreciate the energy of the place. there was this one moment where i was just sitting on the steps of one and this old guy came and sat next to me and we didn't talk but it was nice? like, companionable silence. i don't know how to describe it. sometimes travel is just vibes.

i've been here a week and i extended my stay. my laptop almost died because of the humidity though - condensation got into the keyboard somehow. now i keep it in a ziplock bag when i'm not using it which is not ideal but it's working. learn from my mistakes.

the nearby cities thing - you can do day trips to things but honestly there's enough here that you don't need to leave. i heard there's good stuff in the direction of trivandrum which is like 3 hours away but i haven't made it yet. maybe next week. the thing about being a digital nomad is you think you have time and then suddenly a month is gone.

key takeaways if you're considering this:

- learn to negotiate or accept paying 20% more
- bring good walking shoes - the pavement situation is... variable
- learn the word for "no spice" in the local language immediately
- don't touch anyone's head, even babies, apparently
- bring bug spray, the mosquitoes are no joke
- always have cash, card machines are not everywhere
- the sunsets really are that good, i'm not just being a travel blogger about it

anyway that's my chaotic review. i don't know if this helped but whatever. i had to get it out of my head and now i have to go find dinner. if you're the type who needs everything planned out, don't come here. if you're the type who likes figuring it out as you go, you'll love it.

oh and follow me or whatever. i'll probably be here for another two weeks then who knows where. that's the nomad life i guess.

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places to check if you're coming:

- tripadvisor has some okay lists but they're generic
- yelp doesn't really work here, use zomato instead for food
- r/solotravel had a thread about this area that was actually useful
- lonely planet is fine for basic orientation but don't trust their restaurant recommendations
- the local tourism office was surprisingly helpful actually, contrary to stereotype
- just walk around, honestly the best stuff is what you find

My Dumbass Decided to Work from This Random Indian Beach Town and Honestly? Best Decision Ever

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