Room with a view

Today we were brave and took the two hour bus ride to Pondicherry. Travelling with our rucksacks on our knees, I guess we were lucky we had seats!
We are staying at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram guesthouse, which is right on the sea front.
The guesthouse has strict rules, no alcohol, smoking, and gates lock at 10.30pm , but that should suit us fine, most nights we've been tucked up in bed by 9.30pm, unless Charlie has found English football on the hotel TVs!
Pondicherry is a weird place! It was a French enclave, so half of the town almost feels as if you are in Europe, and vehicles are not allowed to sound their horns in the same way as everywhere else! It is a moment of respite from the madness that is India! And the cafes have lovely coffee and crepes!

Gangakondacholapuram

Today we travelled through lush countryside in an old ambassador car to Chimbaram. On the way the driver detoured so we could visit this temple in the middle of nowhere.I think this has been the highlight of our trip so far. 8.30am, walking on wet grass and nobody else around.

Contrasts

Contrasts, originally uploaded by Hilary Holt.

India is such a country of contrasts. The streets are dirty and full of rubbish, the buildings are decaying, even so called smart hotels are dirty and have cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. But every one is dressed immaculately, every shirt freshly pressed, every salwar kameez colour co ordinated, every school child in neat and tidy school uniforms.
While we were sitting on the platform at Trichy we watched people throw rubbish on to the track, and then watched two guys pick it all up again. OK,so this is the system, and it gives them a job but it seemed so pointless for them to have to collect it all out of a putrid gully to put in a big bin. Again on the platform, a beautiful girl with a rose in her hair, sweeping and mopping, dressed beautifully for a thankless task.
Every town we have been to is manic , day and night, so many people, bikes, rickshaws, cars, cows...but yesterday as we drove through the lush green countryside from Madurai to Tanjore we saw hardly anone, hardly a car on the road.

Madurai Monsoon

Madurai Monsoon, originally uploaded by Hilary Holt.

Madurai is as mad as you will get! The famous Sri Meenakshi Temple is the biggest we have seen so far, stretching for miles in the city centre, and bustling with pilgrims, beggars,  and underemployed rickshaw drivers.
We arrived a hour before the temple opened, and therefore were easy prey for all the touts looking to get you in their emporiums!
Charlie then got caught short, and rushed off to try and find a hotel withh a loo, leaving me with a smooth talking tailor. Then the heavens opend and Charlie got a free shower, even though our upmarket hotel advertised hot water between 5-9am!!!
I found the temple complex  too crowded and garish, people streaming in from 4 entrances north south east west, and we were in jostling crowds within 5 minutes of opening, very different to some odf the peaceful temples we have already visited.
Later we went to the Gandhi museum. Here in 1921, Gandhi decided to wear nothing but a khadi and tailors’ shops are everywhere in the town.
It was very thought provoking to read the history of the English involvement in India from the Indian point of view. The museum didn't pull any punches when describing some of the exploits of the British while they had taken power.

Encounter with an elephant

Every time I try and upload this video it disappears, so you will have to wait in suspense till I can find a computer that actually has all it's parts intact! Yesterday I spent two or three hours in a computer centre, trying to upload some photos, and ended up with the guy wiping them all from the memory card. He then did the normal Indian head wobble and said sorry no chance ( ie 250 pics lost in the ether) and sent me off to a local photography studio as a last ditch attempt to retrieve them. Given the excellence of Indian techno whizz kids, the guy found them and put them on a CD, but when I got back to the hotel I found that this machine has been gutted and there is no cd drive...ah well...

437 steps x 2

437 steps x 2, originally uploaded by Hilary Holt.

Rickshaw to Rock temple @ 7am, climbed halfway to the Rock temple, and unusually as non hindus were allowed inside.. It felt really weird climbing right inside the mountain, bats flapping about everywhere!There are fantastic views over the river to Srirengam, where we stayed the night before, and eagles soaring in the breeze, and hoards of dragonflies.
On the descent we poked our heads round a door way thinking it was a shrine, only to find a cowshed full of holy cows! They were just milking, and offered us a coffee. Charlie asked who was in charge...the reply..he's number 2...no1 was God.
While I was waiting on the last steps down for Charlie ( who had got collared by a temple priest) I was reflecting how much a part of everyday life religion is for Hindus, Muslims etc here. Later I got into a conversation with a Christian tailor in a wholesale trinket shop ( guess what Charlie was doing) and when I told him many people in England did not go to church he looked visibly shocked.

En route

En route, originally uploaded by Hilary Holt.

I woke with a feeling of slight angst, our first day of DIY travelling, wondering about the new railway timetables, and would our once week train arrive!
Instead of heading to meet out street kid friends @ the internet cafe, we went into the little temple opposite the hotel. More nightmares for me even crossing over the road, Charlie just dodges across without batting an eyelid, but I got tangled up in amongst a bunch of bikes, punctured by the odd pedestrian and oncoming buses!
In the tiny temple a puja was in process, for a family just about to set off on a pilgrimage ( by 4x4) to Kerala.
A coconut was filled with holy water, sealed with oil, cloth and various coloured powders, then put in a black sack with the kids adding a sprinkling of rice, and a few coins. The father walked round the temple three times with the sack on his head, then smashed a cocnut on the threshold and the family set off.
We piled our rucksacks into a rickshaw and headed for the station.

Kanchipuram 2

Kanchi 4, originally uploaded by Hilary Holt.

We drove into Kanchipuram to see two huge temples catching the early morning light.
Our driver managed to take us round 5 temples before lunchtime! Some are ancient and not used for worship, and others are packed with pilgrims.
At Ekambareshara there is a huge mango tree that the women walk round to find marriage and fertility, hanging little bright pink cribs in the tree. There were hundreds of young women walking round at speed, dressed in saris of all colours of the rainbow.

Kanchipuram

Kanchi
Originally uploaded by charlie holt

5am call did not get through...no phone on the end of phone line in room! Checked out @5.30, so saved paying for 1st night, this is Holt's cheapskate tours remember!
Drove to Kanchipuram at speed, driver on mobile phone avoiding cars in middle of road, normal I guess

Chennai

After what seemed like an endless journey from the airport we arrived at YWCA @ 5am.,fully intending to get up 2 hours later for breakfast. At mid day we were woken by a knock on the door! Luckily lunch ( Thail) was just being served!
We took a drive round some local sites, but the driver mistook 'Ice House' for ' Light House' and we stumbled across Marine Beach.
Thunderstorm was about to break but the fishermen were untangling their catch from the nets, while the women laid them out neatly on display.
The village is a mix of huts and semi derelict buildings, a remnant from the Tsunami. We wanted to take photos, but somehow held back.
Needless to say the storm broke and we had a free drenching running back to our car!

We're off

We're off...5am Manchester airport...thanks for the lift Byron! We arrived in Chennai at 5am the next morning. Flying over the middle east, and stopping over in Doha made me feel the world is a very big place and that I have become very eurocentric.

Off we go

Off we go, originally uploaded by Hilary Holt.

Packing!

Just checking out my birthday present from Sam... a mini video camera, and trying to e-mail straight to the blog!