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Dan&LJ RTW
"Dan, I can't believe how smooth these trains are, it's almost as if we're not even moving"...... Dan glances out through the curtains, "we're not love, we're still in the station, try get some sleep dear."
And so onto the southern most tip of India......
KANNIYAKUMARI
Bit of a stroke of luck that we were not staying here overnight, not a lot to see or do to be honest. This is the place where 3 oceans (the Indian, Arabian Sea & Bay of Bengal) all meet & Indian pilgrims flock here to bathe, fully clothed in the 'spiritual' waters. There is a pretty impressive statue just off the shore line, that's reminiscent in size & grandure to the Statue of Liberty, but that's about it. Basically we just ate, got wet & got our train to our next port of call.
MADURAI
A very holy town, built around a huge (one of the biggest & best in India) Hindu temple. The town itself is as bustling as any Indian city, but seems less daunting & is very pleasant to stroll around the criss crossing stall lined streets. We can't really put our finger on it, but you kind of get a feel for a place & we really liked this one.
Saying that, we were stung by our first proper 'scam' here on our first day. Making our way leisurely to the temple for a look round we were approached by a man 'welcoming' us to India. The man claimed to be a tailor, but judging by his outfit, we really should of smelt a rat at this stage. He said we were "Very lucky to visit Madurai today, much much luck, Today is festival day, you go to 'Madurai emporium' & for no money you can see temple from roof, only today, 12 o clock, hurry, hurry. I go now to my tailor shop" What a nice chap, we thought. Just at that moment, the scam became evident as another man, with exactly the same script took us to the said emporium. We we both a bit confused but went
along with it & it's true, we did get good views of the temple from the roof, but there is no festival & the scam is that the only way down from the roof, is through the shop & in there, the shop assistant can really get his teeth in to you. We got away with only having to shell out Rs150 (about 1.70) for a silver pendant & did get a couple of drinks out of the guy, oh well, it's all part of the experience. During our 2.5 days in Madurai we were to be approached in total by a further 17 tailors, you've got to hand it to them, they're not lazy.
Once inside the temple, it was evident why this place is so special to Hindus, over 15,000 people visit this place every day & on the day we were there 500 weddings took place before noon! The hardest part of exploring the temple was the fact that shoes are not allowed & the floor was scorching on our delicate western bare feet. Locals would stare endlessly at us as we negotiated the outer temple by comically running between shaded areas. As magnificent & sacred as the temple is, it still seems as though the 2 white people walking round shouting "ow, my feet" is the main attraction for the pilgrims.
We are both also treated to the customary red dot painted on the forehead, by a priest, although this is wasted on Dan as his sweat problem just leaves him with a big red streak down his face.
The following day we planned to visit the Gandhi museum, & were subjected to our second 'screwing' in as many days.
For a laugh, we decided to take a 'cycle rickshaw' for the 3km journey. This is just as it sounds, a guy on a bike with a carriage style seat at the back. The guy we chose was aged around 307 & as we later found out was highly intoxicated with the local whisky. As he pulled out into the busy mid afternoon traffic, cars, buses, other bikes, cows & goats are overtaking us on either side beeping, mooing & bleeting profusely. We can do nothing but laugh until we cry & even end up waving at our agressors. To cut along story short, the guy wasn't really equipped for a 3km cycle ride carrying 2 passengers so we are forced to walk after only travelling 500 yards. To date, we have no knowledge as to the man's current whereabouts, but after making us stump up Rs40 for the pleasure, he probably headed straight for the nearest bar.
Our 2 days in Madurai were cracking, a higlight of the trip so far, but like the gypsies we have become, we were ready to move on again.
PONDICHERRY
Bonjour, bien venue, tout la monde.
"Why am I speaking French? Well, it's because today's update comes live from Pondicherry. City of French people, home of the croissant, the cappucino and where men in long coats meet in brasseries at dawn".
Yes it is official, we have been transported out of India in a magical train and have arrived in France.....great! Gone are the helpful hotel staff, the cheery locals with smiles and waves to be replaced by arrogance, rudeness, scowls and boules. Pondicherry is, as you may have guessed, a former French colony & boy can you tell.
Ah, the French, a perfect advert for not travelling around Europe!
On the plus side, this is one of the funniest (if not the weirdest) towns we have visited...... ever. Each morning the promenade is full of french/indian nutters wearing silky polyester sports shorts circa 1977 'sur' underpant lining, socks pulled upto mid calf and flip flops. These crazed locals then all perform Mr. Motivator style exercises really badly. Whilst sitting on the seafront on Wednesday morning a man in full tracksuit proceeded to perform a full on press up routine directly in front of us. How does said man expect us to not laugh in his face. Oh to have a sony digicam....this is the material comedy film makers dream of.
It took us hours of traipsing round yesterday morning trying to find a room. It seems that 80% of accomodation is owned and run by a really bizarre 'Ashram' cult/religion and nobody would give us a room. In fact a lot of them looked at us as if we had just asked to eat their children, something I imagine some of these nutters actually do. These 'Ashram' people have even formed their own town 10km north from here, which is totally self sufficient and the communes there are named things like, 'Fertile', 'Certitude', 'Sincerity', 'Revelation' and 'Transformation'. Absolute fruit cakes!!
Anyway, as we were saying we couldn't get a room, so we just ended up staying in a random blokes house (who also is a believer). He seemed alright though so don't worry too much and for God's sake don't let Dan's mum find out.
Unfortunately we had to endure 2 nights in 'Pondy' before our scheduled train to Chennai. We don't want to go on about it too much but basically from the moment we arrived to the moment we left we were made to feel totally unwelcome there.
Whether this was because of the French influence or the weird religion we dont know, but us being us, we made the most of it, but were very glad to leave this morning.
We have just arrived in Chennai (Madras), on our continuing journey north. Its getting hotter & hotter by the day, but 4 weeks in, we are still loving every minute.
Will update again & upload more photo's on our next entry.
Take care
Keep it real
Au Revoir
LJ & Dan xxx
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