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Published: December 15th 2008
Touch down in India! We are having lots of fun, eating too much and drinking to much chai.
After a horrible flight from Bangkok in which I had a heart attack every time I someone on the plane stood up (thanks mum for warning me about possible plane hijackings occurring at Chennai airport the day I arrived) we arrived in dirty, polluted, hot and smelly Chennai. For our first 15 days we are doing a tour with intrepid just to get a feel for India before braving it on our own. Lucky for us, our tour group is lots of fun. There isn't really much to see in Chennai, in fact the lonely planet suggests you escape it immediately and make a beeline for the coast, which is what we did.
Aside from checking out a couple of temples and the beach, Chennai taught us many things about India, including:
- It is perfectly ok to scratch yourself in public.
- For men, a loin cloth is acceptable attire
- OHS does not exist
- It is normal to wait over an hour at a restaurant to be served a bottle of (warm) water.
- Road rules are merely
a suggestion.
- You must make as much noise as possible, at all hours of the day
- Expect to see at least 20 cows every day roaming the streets
- Use your bus/motorbike/rickshaw horn as much as possible
Quickly escaping from Chennai, we made our way by bus to Mammallapuram, further south in the state of Tamil Nadu. I'm not entirely sure why the government thought it suitable to place large barricades on the road, making it a kind of high speed obstacle course (I swear the bus only had the wheels on one side of the bus on the ground at time), probably the same reason why everyone drives all over the road including the wrong direction.
In Mammallapuram we checked out a couple of temples including the Shore Temple and the 5 Rathas, before being hit by monsoonal rains. It was at this time that we decided we wanted a beer, so we trekked though the town in search of a beverage in the pouring rain and arrived absolutely saturated and covered in mud and god knows what else. After 2 beers we were all feeling very, very light headed and it was only then
we discovered that the beers were super strong, containing 'over 7%' alcohol.
Leaving Mammallapuram, we took a day train to Madurai. After a 30 minute delay (very good for India) we jumped on the train. The scenery was amazing! We went through rice fields where we saw women in brightly coloured saris picking rice, kids playing cricket, families getting water from the local well, palm trees and mountains. 7 hours went extremely fast taking to locals (What’s your name? Where are you from? Australia... ahh Ricky Ponting. Are you married? How much do you earn?) and staring out the window.
That night we checked out the main temple in Madurai, the Sri Meenakshi temple. It's HUGE. We split a guide with our tour group and went inside. The temple was full of pilgrims which are mostly male, clad in black skirts and colours on their forehead. Very interesting.
On our second day Merric and I decided to check out the Ghandi museum, and then wander around the tailor market. After being caught in monsoonal rain we were once again soaked (this is becoming a recurring theme in Southern India, the rains come quickly and are extremely heavy
then disappear just as fast). So after a quick detour to wash the mud off ourselves we headed for what we thought would be a quiet afternoon in the vegetable market, before going for dinner.
However, this is India so nothing ever goes as planned. After being bought chai and being stopped to pose in a few photos with Indian families, we ended up at the markets. I somehow got to talking with one of the vendors and next thing I know I'm sitting down with her, she is bringing me coffee and I'm meeting the whole family. Then Merric and I are taken to a rickshaw and driven to their house just outside the city. As soon as we get to their house the whole street comes out of their one bedroom homes to stare at us and wave. We where whisked away into their house (with the whole street still peering through the windows and doors) and served dinner on banana leaves on the floor. The girls decided they also wanted to give me a makeover... Indian style. After eating (we really hope we don't get sick - we felt too bad to decline), we were taken
to a temple to pray with the family. We were the only white people there which was pretty cool. We were then dropped back to our hotel (6 people in a rickshaw) and all they asked for in return was for us to send a postcard and the photos when we get back to Australia. Awsome!
We are now in the state of Kerala, which is really nice. Hopefully I can update soon on the fun we have been having here.
Hope you are all well,
Kate
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Elissa
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kaaate! (lol) good to hear you're well. just making use of this "add comment" button! woo! lol. "are you married" haha did anyone ask you how much your kidney costs? ps bet your enjoying the loin cloths ;) pps when you get to SE asia watch out for ppl inviting you into their homes and serving you food and tea: they might charge you ludicrous amounts for their "special" tea...