A close shave

Trip Start Dec 05, 2004
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15
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Trip End Jan 17, 2005


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Flag of India  ,
Monday, December 27, 2004

By morning the reports of the death toll across Asia had tripled and we no longer felt in holiday mood. However, life must go on. In Tamil Nadu nearly 4,000 people had been killed (at the time of writing this a week later the figure is around 9,000). I won't go on anymore about the whole disaster as I'm sure you have felt the same emotions as I have watching the news reports. Watching the TV, I've been having a few little shiver moments when I think that if I'd been down South one day earlier, I could have been on one of those beaches (Mahalipuram, Pondicherry etc) and it could have been me and Debbie swept away - a close shave. We were lucky as were a few of the travellers we have met in the last few days who were eating breakfast in beach side huts and ran from the waves in time.

Air Deccan told me they were still flying into Chennai (as the main affected part of the city was on the beach - one of the largest in the world). As my friend from London, Debbie had already arrived in Chennai, I decided the best thing was to meet her there and then we'd change our plans to avoid the affected areas. Debbie had felt a slight tremor that morning within hours of checking into her hotel, but just thought it was the air-conditioning! I went with Michelle to Connaught Place to the Emirates office to see if she could change her routing on her round the world ticket. She managed to get a flight to Singapore via Dubai and will visit Cambodia instead of her planned fortnight in Sri Lanka. We had a delicious South Indian meal, a precursor to the second half of my trip in South India, before heading back to the hotel to check out.

So that was the end of my trip with Intrepid Travel. It was an excellent introduction to India, superbly planned and executed, with an excellent guide (Dale) and meeting some great people, especially on public transport! I was of course sad to be leaving Michelle behind but I'm sure we'll stay in touch once she's back in the UK in April.

My flight down to Chennai was uneventful, except for an interesting chat with a guy who joined the plane in Mysore, all about the differences between South and North India. The plane was of course delayed but I arrived at the hotel by midnight where Debbie was waiting up - delighted to see me as she'd spent 2 days holed up at the hotel - partly a bit intimidated by the whole India experience (as I had been) and partly wanting to avoid the flooded areas of Chennai.
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