Not Quite India

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My first bus journey ,from Pondicherry to Mamalpuram ,went off without a hitch. I was able to get on the bus a bit early and scored the single seat at the very front and had room to store my bags as well. Again I had an interesting time watching the world go by. This area of Tamil Nadu was quite severely struck by the tsunami. Over 10,000 people died. There are signs of reconstuction everywhere and evidence (plaques and posters ) of international involvement mostly by church groups. The highway itself is the coastal road and one must pay a toll to use it. It was a surprizingly quick journey for Indian travel .It only took 2 1/2 hours to go about 90 km!!!

Again I enjoyed watching the crops and the people working in the fields . Not only were there grains and flowers but this time there were also salt flats...which I had read about at the Gandhi Museum. It's nice to connect events and places.

Getting off the bus was a bit trickier! It was standing room only (in spite of the fact that there are 5 seats across and more than 30 buses on that route each day) and people sleeping with their feet in
the aisle . The conductor warned me that my stop was coming so I started manouvering me and my things to the doorway. Fortunately a standing passenger had no qualms about slapping a leg out of the way and lifting my suitcase to the step. A stop is just that...about 10 seconds...so you must move quickly.

Mamalapuram is a strange little place. There are 2 world heritage sites here. The Shore Temple and the 5 Rathas. They are Dravidian and date back to the 7th century. They had been buried in sand until 200 years ago when the Brits dug them out. I went out to the Rathas at 6:30 yesterday morning (it is best to do these things in the cool of the day) and I was impressed with the carving. Again it brought up memories of the Chola temples I had seen in Vietnam and Anchor Vat in Cambodia...my world is certainly getting smaller.

From there I walked back in to town through an area of Mandapams(pavillions of different kinds ) ,cave carvings and temples of various sorts. It was quite lovely.

Then being hot and sticky I returned to this little backpackers/travellers haven in the middle of the city and went for a SWIM at my hotel!!!I am splurging here . In Pondi we paid 300R for the double room and here I am paying 900R...Yikes!!I will even pay with a credit card. Not quite India...

I am also enjoying the Bay of Bengal and have walked on the beach morning and evening . There are fishermen around most of the time and many of the boats are replacements purchased by Caritas and other Christian groups . I will miss my beach walks when I return.

Tomorrow I am off to Chennai (Madras) for my last 2 days in India. People here generally stay here and do a 2 hour taxi ride to the airport rather than face that city...oh well I decided that I wanted to complete my India in an Indian city .Mind you I phoned ahead for a hotel reservation so I won't be floundering around looking for a place to stay . I'll keep you posted.

Thank you to those of you who have shared your thoughts as I wander...On HOT afternoons when I wonder what the heck I am doing here I appreciate the notes...

ps About 40 Rupees = $1 Canadian

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