India's Lands End

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2001………..6wks-2nd CYCLING TRIP-2,200kms IN SOUTHERN INDIA

10.9.01 Kodaikanal (65km)
The ride from Palani to Kodai was a long and exhausting ride that took me 10 hrs with very little rest. Of the 65km, 50km was uphill from 692m to over 2050m. It was a wonderful ride through tropical forest with spectacular views as I gained altitude. The side of the road was a splash of colour with yellows and oranges of lantana, blue minx, morning glory, orange buddleia, purple bougainvillea, and red flame trees.

The Greenlands Youth Hostel where I am staying is overwhelmingly memorable. For $11.50, I have a double room with own bathroom and veranda, overlooking what must be one of the world's best views as it looks across other mountains below & down to the Palani Plain. Mist comes and goes and even wafted like smoke into my room as I was adjusting my gears on my bike. Kodai is a hill station. The town itself is quite hilly and beautiful in parts with azaleas, pines, stone houses and churches- like an English village- in other parts it's typically Indian with lots of beeping, crowded markets etc. The large lake here has boats frequently used by its local tourists. There are still not large numbers of foreign tourists here.

11.9.01 Madurai (Distance 128km- Total 316.7km)
People generally have been quite delightful- friendly, cordial, calm, absolutely non-threatening, giving and open. They are constantly engaging in open communication and jovialness with each other, largely with people of the same sex. Men are completely at ease about touching each other as both friendship affection and as a way of an adjunct to their conversation. It is of course non-sexual. After being asked the necessary questions, an appropriate box found, often the final question is "And what is your good name Sir?” This is a form of politeness.


13.9.01 Madurai / Kanyakumari (train)
Well here I am doing something I've so often remembered and visualized doing again- riding on an Indian train as the sun rises to reclaim the day. Watching the land of the bizarre and the beautiful. comfortably nestled in dirt and decay, passing as we rumble along. The ride from the hotel at 4.25 am to the train was quite surreal- not threatening in any way at that time, with some activity, but mostly riding past people asleep- in rickshaws, propped up against walls, lying down on steps with no cover or pillow or apparent belongings. You get more of a feeling of what life would be like for these people.

I went to Gandhi’s Museum in Madurai which certainly made me more aware of Gandhi's position in the history of India's oppression. The dhoti that Gandhi was wearing at the time of his assassination, with visible blood staining it, was laid out in a glass case in a totally black walled room- quite dramatic and moving.

I am now at Kanyakamari. It is the 'Land's End' of the Indian Subcontinent. It is here that the Bay of Bengal meets the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.

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Comments

[Yathi]

Good one.
I've been to places you have listed but the trip was not half exciting as yours. Great panorama pics down there u have taken!!

[Pedallingpete]

India's Lands End
Thanks Yathi for your positive feedback. It's nice to know that people are still viewing the site even though my 'adventure' has finished.