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The 2 hour bus ride down was fairly uneventful. We got a nice farewell from the guesrt room people and just by chance the husband picked us up and took us to the mainroad where we just caught the bus. It was half full and we were the only palangis on board. There was a drunk though and he sidled up nect to somebody up front and vomited out the window opening...(there was no glass) so a women back along the bus got a share causing an upset husband so the conductor gave the drunk a good slap in the face and held him down on the front steps before dropping him off.
We found reasonable accommodation here Julia is the expert at finding the right rooms and the first we found were a bit crusty but we were settled in by 2pm and started looking around the town. Still a big Erench influence here like grand houses and avenues , Notre dame church, even the police wear gendarme type uniforms. The cuisine is also heavily influenced so we have 2 french bakeries within 50m of Mothers Guesthouse. We walked to the foreshore and then lunched in a rooftop garden restaurant. Tika Chicken and pancakes for desert. Wandered into my first elephant experience outside a temple...give it a gift of money or food and it would pat you on the head with it's trunk. After our big lunch we wandered back into the town centre and Paul checked in for a haicut and shave while I had a shave...quite an experience. Then dinner at a french type cafw with just a light baguette and choc cake and coffee. The food as you may gather has been just superb. Theres a fresh juice bar across the road serving up all manner of juices for 18r ...that's about 55c! I can't get enough of it. Croissants for breakfast this morning and coffee and fruit juice.
Headed to train station and tried to book tickets for tomorrow to Madurai but nothing spare until early Feb so quickly to bus station and managed to get rear (bad) seats in an overnight train tomorrow night...8-10 hours..should be an experience.
Today is very busy because Pongal celebrations continue ...today with workersgetting a day off for their efforts so lots not open.
Am getting accustomed to lots ..like the smell and heat. It must be quite cold because some children are now wearing woollen hats at nights...that is 25-35 degrees day and night. Also the traffic like yesterday on the open road buses head on in the same lane and missing by the narrowest of margins. There are lots of beggars here and they must know Paul's a bit of a soft touch because they follow him around. More annoying are those trying to sell things...I've got to talking back to them in dutch which seems to confuse them and they leave.
I can't believe how lightly my fellow travellers are travelling. Paul's pack is smaller than my daypack and to further lighten his load he managed to leave his sleeping bag on a bus. He's replaced it with a lovely casmere rug now. During the day it's just shorts tshirt jandals and a pocket full of rupees.
Other than all that everythings fine. Most locals know about NZ through the cricket ..in fact the paper had a 3 quarter page foto of Dan Vettori the other day and half a page on Ed Hilary. Lots of locals want to shake hands esp the teenage boys or pose with them for fotos but I expect it's just a chance to get on a shot with Julia and I'm probably not even in the view.
So another day wandering around in the heat tomoro maybe a siesta then the bus tomorrow night about 9. Looking forward to the next stage ...can't believe I've only been here a few days.
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