Goodbye India Hello Thailand...

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Dear All,

The time has come as near the end of my India journey. That journey ends at midnight this evening as I board the plane to Bangkok.

I will as ever start where I left off. Mammallapuram was a pretty average tourist spot of Tamil Nadu. It's a sweet little beach side town with an abundance of restaurants, cafes and niknack shops selling the usual hippy attire at an inflated price. As the temperature measures are soaring up at the moment this means the low season for places like Mammallapuram as people leave to escape the heat and don't really visit either. This meant the town was likened to a ghost town and it felt like we were the only ones in it as we saw the shops slowly start to close down for the season. It was pleasant just to chill out for a while, have a meander around the town and get any last minute bits before the hectic city of Chennai. One day we rented bicycles (its becoming one of our favorite activities) and took a look around the town. I'm not sure of the history behind it but there is a sort of rock city a bit like the flintstones 'bedrock'. There were large round boulders placed around a leafy park where people picnicked and generally lounged in the cooling shade of the rocks. There was the occasional little enclave of rocks where elephant carvings adorned the walls along with other mystic images. You were able to walk the steps up and down these gigantic structures which gavce beautiful views of the town all the way out to sea. We would regularly stumble across small temple like formations which made for nice days sightseeing.

I have now decided over not much consideration that monkeys are not longer cute. As we walked the paths of the stonetown monkeys played in the trees and occupied the side paths. On more than one occasion they tried to attack us for seemingly no reason aside from looking them in the eye. On another less fortunate confrontation the monkey stole my water bottle the brute and therfore my decision rests.

After our morning of gawping at rocks we cycled to a sea side temple but didn't go in as the entrance charge for foreigners was kaleidoscopic and it didn't seem too much worth it so we walked along the bars beside the temple to try and get the best view and visiting the never ending trinket shops.

The next couple of days didn't amount to much excitement as you couldn't really swim in the sea without being stared at or seriously injured by the large crashing waves. Al wasn't feeling too well at this point either so we generally relaxed and waiting for the oncoming hustle and bustle of busy Chennai.

I am now of course in Chennai. When talking to another traveller in Mammallapuram (and many others who dispensed the same advice) we mentioned of our going there for three days and he was taken back with shock. "No no no," he exclaimed, "don't go there for three days, three hours is enough. It's dirty, crowded and smelling!" It turns out it is dirty, crowded and smelling like many other Indian cities but it's not half as bad as we expected. On our first day of arrival we spent a while looking for a cheap lodge so ended up just crashing after that. We attempted to spend the next day sight-seeing which we achieved with relative success. We first went to the government museum which we heard was worth seeing which it was in a way. It was much like the natural history museum in London as it had a gigantic skeleton of a blue whale and an elephant. It had many different chambers including an art gallery and bronze museum. This was interesting for a while but there is only so many bronze-cast vishnu's one can see without getting rigidly bored. The art gallery was good although downstairs wasn't an art gallery at all with random pieces of labelled stones cast about the place. The upper floor exhibited massive paintings of different British men who had once ruled the St.George Fort in Chennai. They also had a Van Gough painting just hanging there with no one really guarding it with any level of security it demands. We then decided to hop on the train to St. George Fort to have a look around. The trains here are much like Mumbai with the doors constantly open for you to hurl yourself through when the train pauses for half a moment for what seems like half of the cities population to squash themselves onto. When we arrived at the station the heat was unbearbale so we decided the jump into the nearest Tutut available. When asking him to take us to the fort he looked at us with an expression of total confusion as he had no idea where we were talking about. Considering we were in the area accurately named 'Fort St. George' we could not find one person who could tell us where the entrance was. We had a few who thought they knew and sent us in conflicting directions and after an hour or so in the blistering heat we gave up the search and headed back to camp.

These last two days have been spent running round like a headless chicken trying to purchase any things we deemed necessary when having been to India and preparing for our onward journey to Thailand. In regards the this city of Chennai, there is nothing really defining to it. It is much like the other cities with its hectic paths, crazy traffic and tall grey crumbling buildings without much for the tourists to see or do. Its been fine however for the purpose of housing us untill our flight.

Looking back over these last few months in my favorite country I feel that i've done everything I set out to do and have seen the south thoroughly with the many many places I've been to and I couldn't possibly choose a favorite place. I've been thinking about all the little things I will miss and have decided on this list to name but a few:

The small tokens of aching generosity one comes across when least expected.

The genuine wide-mouthed smiles of people you meet and the excitement of people rushing the shake your hand in the street.

The ruthlessly merciless sun.

The hungry mosquitoes.

The smell of sandalwood oiled hair.

The people's complete lack of ability to queue or form order.

The indeterminate head wiggle.

The vile sound of the hocking and spitting of phlegm and blood read paan onto the streets/out of windows.

Little boys smoking with their pants down, squatting on their haunches waiting for the onslaught of their oncoming bowel movements.

The sunrises and sunsets.

Th smell of the belching gas from cars, tututs, vans combined with its natural hot-sweet air. This along with the frequent and haphazard stench of urine or other such bodily articles one would rather not contemplate.

The completely unphased cows that wonder the streets stopping the rhythm of the ever moving cities.

The feral and most probably rabid dogs with swollen maternal teets flapping wildly in their directionless swagger.

"Look my shop"

Sari-clad women in rainbows of colour and texture strutting shoulder to shoulder, whispering and gossiping in their own version of 'sex in the city'.

The thin layer of dirt pasted upon your skin within seconds of walking out the door.

The rich and vibrant culture of the city and the relaxed (but still hectic) atmosphere of the beach side town and the crisp and pleasant chill of the mountain air.


All of these things and way way more amount to India's charm and exceedingly diverse culture which is poles apart from our own. And I'm sad to leave. It's been a great two and a half months and i'm eager and energized at the beginning of my new adventure in South East Asia.





Meg

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