1) Arrival in India

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Our departure was chaotic as usual, nothing new. Finally we managed, all our stuff was packed into boxes and send to a storeroom in Barcelona. We were short of time and in the end several loose items were stuffed into some miscellaneous boxes, probably we will never find the fitting parts again! However after ten months of travelling who would care about such small details.

We had got a cheap flight with Gulf Air with one stop in Bahrain where we changed planes, from Bahrain to Chennai (former Madras) via Oman's capital Muscat. Now you will probably understand why it was so cheap.

Having safely arrived in Chennai at 6:00 AM local time we lacked orientation since it was 1:30 AM in Europe. After finding an ATM where the Maestro card worked and with the first Rupees in our hands we decided to skip Chennai and to go directly to Mamallapuram. It would have been possible to hire a taxi, but we wanted it the rough way - by local buses. We had no clue where to catch those buses, but the local people were extremely helpful and finally we found our way.

The first bus was an inner-city one, and the white tourists were the sight of the day. We got out at a street junction and waited patiently for the overland bus. After about half an hour it arrived, without doors or windows and no places to sit. What an adventure in the early morning!

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