6 June 2010 Sunday (Day 2)

6 June 2010 Sunday (Day 2) After breakfast at the hotel, we set off for a City Tour with our guide telling us the famous landmarks along the way. A visit to the Kankakunnu Palace (Horse Palace), a Travancore Heritage Site, was next on the itinerary. The rain didn't allow us to stay long at the Shangamugam Beach but stopped in time for our visit to the Sri Chitra Museum where paintings of famous Kerala artists were on display. Lunch was at Hotel Magic Days before we were treated to an eye-opening Kalarippayattu demonstration and practice, a Dravidian form of martial arts at the Indian School of Martial Arts. The practitioners of this martial arts consisted of the young and old of both genders. Dinner was at the hotel followed by a time of sharing of our experiences for the day before we all retired to our rooms for the day.

Some sharings from our students:
"I was captivated by the magnificent architecture of the Horse Palace and the many intricate details despite it being built at a time when technology was not so advanced" Suganya of 2N1

"Each painting in the Sri Chitra Museum told a different story. I remembered one painting which depicted a practice from the past which made it compulsory to bury the wife together with her dead husband." Esther of 2N2

"As I walked around the Horse Palace and listened to the guide, I was able to imagine its past splendour and how it was like to be in the past." Tan Eng Kuan of 2N3

"I was most captivated by the Kalarippayattu performance. The performers were very brave and passionate especially when they made some mistakes but kept on in their performance." Ros Hidayu of 2EA


5 June 2010 Saturday (Day 1)
We arrived at Thiruvananthanpuram (Trivandrum) via Silk Air MI498 at around 10pm (which was 1230am in Singapore). A air-con coach came to bring us all to South Park Hotel. After allocating the rooms and a short debrief on the activities for the next day, we were more than glad to check into our rooms. Some girls were fortunate enough to have an owl visiting them outside their window.