Love in Times of Dysentry

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This beautiful town is a hill station where many South Indians go to for their honeymoon. It is temperate and has a stunning lake surrounded by gum trees. The lake is obviously the main attraction but there is a lot of amazing hiking to be done in the surrounding mountains. Luckily for us, most of my work is on the internet and I have been given permission to spend as much time as we want up here out of the heat.

This is a lovely place to visit and it is great to spend some time with my parents and little sister, but some measure of independance is to be desired on your honeymoon. The three hour drive to Madurai is an excellent distance to be from your parents in India: close if you need them, but sufficiently far away so as to feel like you are there on your own.

Unfortunately, despite our plan to only be up here a few days, Ana and I have come down with DYSENTERY! I am quite excited to have caught such an exotic and dangerous illness. Indian doctors are amazingly good at quickly diagnosing gastronomical illness (I wonder why?) and we had the results back from our stool specimens inside of 5 hours. Luckily we got tested so soon as the illness gets really bad really quickly.

For the squeamish: do not read the following paragraph. Simply skip to the next one as there is content of a scatalogical nature.

Re the stool specimen. Does anyone out there know how hard it is to capture a stool sample when you have diarrhoea and the sterile sample jar's opening is only about as large as a 50cent/penny piece? The obvious answer to that question is that lots of people do; they have all frequented India's hospitals with gut aches. Needless to say the whole operation was incredibly messy and among one of the worst experiences of my life. To cut off the clever medico people who right now are asking why we did not just do our business in a container and then scoop out the required specimen, ask yourselves how to get a sterile container that will not contaminate said specimen when you are legging it for the toilet. Hmmm? Answer that one. Now imagine putting the specimen in a plastic bag and giving to some poor watchman because you are too sick to take it to the clinic yourself.

For the squeamish: It is now safe to read on. Despite all my griping about my family, they are wonderful people to convalesce with and the location could no be any better. The town seems to run on tourism but also manages to house three schools, one of which my father is the principal of, Kodaikanal International School. It is a truly amazing school and if you are interested, check it out on KIS.

There are few better pleasures than sitting on their verandah at any time, having drinks and nibbles, and looking out over the lake. Paddle boats with honeymooning couples, street vendours and cows clamouring, watching the sunlight quickly turn to mist over the water... Amazing.

Well, I think that is enough from me for the moment as I have covered Kodai and dysentery in sufficient detail for all concerned. Keep watching for more exotic tales from the two travellers trying to make a difference while on their honeymoon (oh the fools!)

Lots of love
Ana and Chas

PS. Firstly: sorry about the mass emails with the last blog; I had a crappy connection that kept on telling me the publication had failed when it had actually been sent out. So sorry, won't happen again.

Secondly: if any of you desperately need to get in touch with us, we have borrowed a SIM card from the computer tech here. It was his personal number so I keep answering calls from random Indian people speaking in Tamil and asking for Anand. But we have it for the next two months and if there are any disasters we should know about (or if you just want to talk to us) call: ++ 91 999 459 4102.

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Photos

View from Benderlock
The view from Mum and Dad's verandah, where we have drinks every night. Nice huh?

What the...?!
A street vendor selling 2 minute noodles! And their were more than one around Kodi lake... they must be a popular snack food

Street Food on Kodi Lake
Fresh mango (painted with chilli of course) and a beautiful bean baji

Our new housemate
Jordon, our (not) long-suffering new housemate who knows all the best bars and resaurants in Madurai, as well as just being admitted to the NY Bar

Comments

[Sunita Hand]

Dysentry
Hopefully you both have recovered!!!! What a trip so far for your honeymoon! Photos are great I love seeing pics of where you have been .... as for the rubbish entry... I don't look down upon you...... as they say 'when in India do as the Indians do.... lol ;) love and hugs always

[Zac and Sof]

Stool samples
Just to let you know that we're with you all the way with the stool samples... remember Campylobactor???? We suggest a small plastic spoon. You could steal some from McDonalds.