Tirunelveli and around!

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The train from Thrissur to Chennai, via Tirunelveli is one of the busiest in India as there aren't many that go in a day. To get a bed in sleeper you need to book a month in advance, so i'm back to facing the reality of sitting in general class for 12 hours! Fuck sake, not again!

I get on the train in sleeper as usual hoping I can upgrade when the Titi (conductor) comes, there's nothing available in sleeper, not even with a bribe! So I end up in A/C 2, which essentially 1^st class, 700rs later and i'm in a compartment closed off with a curtain with an Indian family who're all staring at me....brilliant. Being in 1^st class you'd expect top quality comfort etc, you do get a bed sheet and blanket, but the blanket is made from that fucking horrible itchy material! And the A/C is actually way too cold, and as such I end up catching the flu! Nothing a magic pill from Raja's uncle can't sort out though.



When I arrive in Tirunelveli it's raining, or drenching as Raja refers to it! The platform is really slippy, and with the combination of my flip-flops, haste and heavy bag I manage to spectacularly fall over, one bag goes flying, I do a few rolls...There wasn't any wet floor signs, this is India, you're meant to have common sense! I think back home I'd definitely be in for a huge compo claim!



The roads have all flooded, so the bike ride to Raja's was quite fun, his familiar expression of “what the fuck”, which i'm sure he didn't pick up from last year.....



When I arrive at his house i'm greeted by his family, his brother (who he didn't mention once last year, apparently I didn't ask!) mother and father! His parents speak no English, and his brother can't understand my Northern accent haha. His parents do a whole lot of smiling though, and I exhaust all my Tamil within 5 minutes of arriving. His Mum is literally the best cook I've ever come across in my life, save from maybe my Grandma, everything she cooked was top notch!



The first day I just met Raja's friends, and went to the temple in Tirunelveli. The best thing about Tirunelveli, no white people in sight, back to being a totally cool fucking hipster traveller. We went to the cinema to watch one of the latest movies, Forest. It was fucking dreadful and i'm glad I couldn't understand what was happening properly, it was confirmed to be shite by Raja and his friends. Basically the whole movie was about some guys stealing wood or something...



We went down to Kanyakumari, the tip of the ice berg, so to speak. It's the very bottom point of India, where the Arabian sea, Indian Ocean, and Bay of Bengal all meet, it's really fucking strange to see the tide coming in from three different angles. There's two massive rocks 500M out to see from the coast, ones got a memorial for a Hindu reformer Vivekanada, who swam out to the rocks (fuck knows how! The current was so strong!) in 1892 to meditate on the teachings of his guru who'd recently died. On the other rock's got a 40M statue of an acient Tamil saint Thiruvalluar. There was a tsunami there in 2010, and the wave reached the top of the statue's head, the rock the statue is on is probably 20M high, I can't even imagine the fear of seeing a fucking wave that big! 60 fucking Metres plus high!



Monday, Raja took me to a local temple in Tiruchendur. This is a Murugan temple, Hindu men have to be abstinent for a period of time before they go, bathe every morning at a certain time, and walk to the temple bear foot and bear chested. They wear only a Lungi and chains around their neck (necklace), this is as a sign of respect to the god. Thankfully they only do this once a year, and Raja goes in January, so we can get the train there.



On Tuesday, it's a road trip on the bikes with Raja's friends to some water falls around 60km away, a local Indian tourist attraction, and again no white people! Get in! The place is full of hordes of Indians all clamouring the get under the falls. So of course we go under, the water hits you so hard! But the best shower I've had for weeks and I was probably due a wash anyway!

When we get back from the temple, we meet up with Raja's friends and go to watch the new hit movie, Knife, with the biggest hero in Tamil movies. In Tamil Nadu the heros in movies will be in loads of movies, and they'll be the sole star, unlike in Hollywood. The guys love these guys, they're their heros, and they're looked up to much like a kid would look upto Ronaldo or Messi etc. Despite not being able to understand the language, Raja helps me out with the plot, and the movie isn't that bad, unlike fucking forest the other day.



On Wednesday, me and Raja got the train to Kodaikanal, a hill station close to the boarder with Kerela, you can trek from here to Munnar in Kerela, so next trip that's the plan! Really beautiful place, probably on par with Ooty, which I visited last year. Not much to really say other than that, although it was really expensive, 600rs a night! And there transport to and from is few and far between, we had to get a public bus which took 5 hours, from Madurai, which is only 50km away!





Thursday we go back to Madurai and it's time to leave Raja and head off for the final leg of the journey, Chennai and meeting up with Anoop! Better make the most of my final week before reality! Fuck sake.

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