This is a very unique hotel, owned and run by a local Christian man. I have nothing but fond memories of the place.

It is unique in that it has a main building that includes reception, a restaurant and then some rooms upstairs. Then there are separate cottages all over the property, little 2 story townhouses. We once stayed in a townhouse and once in the main building.

Main building: the room was very modest, a bit small. It had a bed, bedside tables and maybe a dresser, too. There was a bathroom attached to the room. It was all right but not nearly as charming as the cottages were.

Cottages: downstairs there was a living area, a small kitchen, then a living room with a futon and a couple of chairs, coffee table and a TV. There was a bathroom downstairs, too. There were two bedrooms upstairs and a shared bathroom. Geoff and I were upstairs in one of the rooms, our friends in the next room and I think another friend was crashing downstairs for a few nights. The upstairs bedrooms weren’t very big but so charming; they had little balconies, a vanity in the corner, and bamboo shades. Again, I want to stress that it’s no “5 star fantasy” to quote Geoff. It is a cute local place.

In front of the little cottages there was green grass and a gazebo where there was a buffet every night. We were there in 2005, just a few weeks after the 2004 tsunami, so they were pretty short on food and there was no fish or other seafood, but the food was generally nice. Just thinking about finishing every day sitting in the gazebo talking our way into the night with our friends makes me feel so happy.

Here’s a short clip I found on YouTube that shows the Nagapattinam/Velankanni area:

Another thing worth mentioning about the place is this. I accidentally left my wedding ring there when we first visited. I called and they found it and they got it to me!! I think that says a lot.

We stayed in another hotel in Nagapattinam, but luckily for them, I can’t remember the hotel’s name. If I did remember, I could write a review about it and it wouldn’t be very good. They didn’t have any bed sheets, the mattresses were bare and extremely dirty. Don’t even get me started on the bathroom. Let’s just say a friend of mine fainted in there.  But on the good side, it only cost some $ 5 per night, and at 3 am, having been on rocky roads for a 12 hour day, we could crash there, trying not to think about what those large dark spots on the mattresses might have been from.

Agnes