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  Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India
Monday, February 4, 2008

It's been a while since the last blog entry, so it's hard to figure out where to start... although the logical place would be Pondicherry...

After a few days chilling in Mamallapuram, we moved on to Pondicherry, a French-Indian settlement on the coast in Tamil Nadu, quaint place by the sea, where you could almost forget you were in India due to the architecture, cafes and relaxed atmosphere down on the promenade. Head to the bus stand, however, and you soon remember that you're in the middle of a manically busy country, where noise, dust, and the fragrant smell of human and animal pooh constantly bombard your senses. After a hugely disappointing wander around the 'botanical gardens' (read couple of nice trees and a contraption in a big concrete hole that was supposed to be something along the lines of a fountain... with no water, and a brilliant rose garden... with not one single rose) we decided to head down to Thanjavur to see one of India's best temples.

After checking out of our hotel, and a quick ride to the bus stand and we found out there were two buses a day, either 4 in the afternoon or 4 in the morning... which didn't really fit in to our plan for moving on afterwards. On to the train station and things didn't get any better, no trains, but we could get a sleeper train down to Madurai which left at midnight from Villupuram, 40km to the west. As there's not a lot to do in Pondicherry, an extra day spent wandering from cafe to bar, reading our books dragged on somewhat as we whiled away the hours until our connecting train to Villupuram at 10pm. When 10pm finally came around and we waited at the train station. 10:15pm... 10:30pm... No train... We couldn't afford to miss the train down to Madurai as it would have cost us about 3 days budget holding up one more night in Pondi and our tickets were non-refundable, so we HAD to get to Villampuram. After a dicussion with the tuk tuk drivers outside, one said he could get us a taxi, even though it was about double what it should have cost, we had to agree. We bundled in to his tuk tuk, and sped off in to the night, at points I think we actually hit lightspeed, because it was all a bit of a blur, and I don't think I've ever seen Shell so scared (that is, up until then...) Luckily, we didn't have to hang on for dear life all the way, we were just being dropped off at the awaiting taxi (his mate's car) and then after setting off again, we stopped down the road to change drivers (his other mate who knew the way...) Thankfully we made it there with time to spare, and also in time to see the train we were waiting for in Pondi pull in to the platform opposite... After a sort of quick hobble/bounce down the platform (it's a bit difficult to run in flip flops with a 20kg rucksack on your back and a back back in your hand) we climbed aboard a train full of sleeping passengers, made it to our top bunks and then lay there for the next 5 hours, never really falling asleep.

We arrived at Madurai just before 6am, and headed for the first place in the book. Thankfully most places in the cities have 24 hour check in/out. We stayed at the Supreme Hotel, although unfortunately it didnt live up to it's name, unless Supreme is Tamil for 'theres another cockroach', or 'its a good job we always remember to lock the doors because the staff don't knock'. Not recommended. Madurai itself is a big bustling city, with another massive temple in the centre, with garishy ornate gateway towers about 60m tall. The temples are bizarre structures, like Disney meets Chucky meets Religion. After the psychadelia of the temple, we browsed the Ghandi museum, which was an interesting account of the British invasion and subsequent struggle for independence. Really worth the visit.

We spent pretty much all of Sunday in our room with a slight feeling of, 'we're not in South-East Asia any more, Dorethy...'. It was quite a culture shock coming from the cool climate of Vietnam, and the smiling faces of Sapa and Hanoi, to the heat, humidity, and general starey disposition of people in Madurai. It's a real attack on the senses and although it's been just over a week since we arrived, it's been amazingly tiring. Just a matter of acclimatisation though.

Next, on to the most southerly tip of India, Kanyakumari, which turned out to be a pretty painful 6 hour bus journey through the sweltering heat. Oh, and if you ever pass through Madurai bus station and a small Indian man who looks destinctively like Joe Pesci trys to help you, just tell him you can manage yourself. You'll save yourself a lot of bother arguing over the exorbitant rates they want you to pay for a 'super-deluxe' bus, which is actually one of the state buses, and the extra 40 rupees he wants for you to put your bags on board, which is free... And don't give his fat friend anything for showing you the way/following Joe Pesci. He's clearly not starving despite the hand to mouth food gestures. Thankfully the bus didn't have a TV, hooray, although it did have a CD player, boo, which managed to blear out music for pretty much all of the 6 hours. I could also have done without being almost man handled off the bus by the conductor while I was waiting for two pensoiners to carry their bags off the bus. One thingh I've found so far is I've met some of the friendliest people here in India when you get the feeling you've been mistaken for a film star, and also some of the most amazingly rude people who you're pretty sure want to rip off your head and spit down your neck - mainly found on buses and working in restaurants.

Kanyakumari is pretty much a destination if you're a devoute Hindu on pilgrimage, or just want to say you've been to the tip of India, although we also ended up there because the bus times seeme dto be a bit more palatable for heading up to Varkala, our beach stop off in Kerala...

More to come when time permits,.

Hope everyone is well, love to all.

Peeps and Shell

xxx