the coastal road south

do you know where we are?

Fi can't say the place name yet alone spell it so bear with us please.....

mamalapuram > 50 km south of chennai, 2 hours by government bus

we got on a bus in chennai, almost ended up going north as i got confused with the pronounciation. yes, so it took about an hour leaving the city, never thought we would see the outside of a city again. then we saw the rolling waves and sand dunes of the sea of bengal.. monkeyrat!!

staying in a groovy beachside appartment with ensuite and swimming pool - hardlife.... we are actually starting to get a sun tan now and it feels great cleansing the skin with clean sea water!

more temples tomorrow, by foot, by bike.. but certainly not by rickshaw! sorry wallaa (name for young indian boy)

we are here til saturday, maybe

eating, beach, festival temple - and sunday night debrief

after a long soak in the spacious outdoor shower at broadlands lodge, we head to the new woodlands hotel for a late sunday lunch.

this hotel is located in the posh area of chennai, we look at the lovely clothes and eating manners of this middle class that the restaurant attracts. we use spoons today to eat.

south indian thali: 12 vege side dishes, unlimited rice and indian tea. this meal lasts me all day. fi has a masala dosa which is like a cross between a pancake and cornish pasty with curried potatoes in with chilli. our mouths are becoming absestos lined with the more of the little green guys we eat. on the beaches they deep fry them whole in batter.. better than a 99' with flake, eh?

we carry on after being carried out by security, on a rickshaw to elliot beach

we get to the beach expecting to be mobbed by locals, however crowds only gather when we both sit down on the shore. we are asked to be a young groups photo.. of course, we may be in the indian hello this time next week!

the groups get bigger as i look very white when i enter the ocean. a distinct taste of oil and sewage effluent.. i get out very quickly when i realise my shorts have dissolved..

after taking a few photos of the indian version of blackpool we head to a trendy rooftop cafe for a couple of juices.

our reliable rickshaw driver is waiting for us, we are quikly enroute to the largest temple in chennai, a funny name, cant remember.

>> amazing! we are given a tour around, and see a wedding being blessed, hindu style. then a childrens temple, where kids whisper all their problems into the ear of a cow.

we have to walk partly home as the rickshaw runs out of gas. this works in our favour as we buy a sarong. back in triplicane, chennai we head for a sunday night debrief **hello monkeyrats!! #%$@** lots of cheezy bollywood music videos with the audience learing at the actresses dancing.. some videos they even played twice!

fi was the only female in the bar, she was escorted to the downstairs toilet as the upstairs wc was male only. it was ok as the lift operator waited for her!

we walked three doors down, past a cow, to our city home

jim

dodging traffic

hi everyone,

woke up late again today after finally sleeping at 4am, went on a bit of a mad bar crawl last night with fi to a posh part of chennai.. we are here for some kind of festival that involves fireworks >> "festival of lightning" something like that, there are festivals everday for different gods and icons.

so we were dodging traffic, cows and fireworks whilst going in hunt of a recommended restaurant, by rickshaw. we got a video of us hanging onto a rickshaw today, which i hope to upload soon.

we've been to the beach for the last two days (the second longest on the planet, brazil is #1), so today we haggled a fare to the fort in downtown. formerly an english settlement, king george and queen victoria have been there.. so the monkeyrats had to follow in royal footsteps.

oh for you ciderheads >> found a link on google to indian cider and perry.. fantastic! not that the kingfisher lager isnt too bad :)

tonight a three course dinner in chennai, india's 4th biggest city cost 150 rupees, that just short of two punds including drinks!!

Fi's comment - Its veggie heaven, no worries about wot I eat here. The best bit is seeing loads of veggie goodies in a shop front then a little pack on its own with 'non-veg' written on it, yipeeeee

chennai rocks

we have arrived safe and sound..second day in chennai and we're becoming more like locals every minute!

>> just had a lovely lunch of curry dhal on banana leaves.. eating with ourfingers.. now off to the beach which is very long and wide.. may go andsee the fort later and check out a temple in town.we are having a great time discovering the indian way, we are living in ahotel lodge which has large inner patios and big trees..a double room costs 200 rupees which is about 2.20 pounds..we've done lots of sleeping and we were up to 4am today walking about theroom, we even made it up to the rooftop of the lodge where we saw somestars, huge fruitbats and then suddenly a rainstorm from the coast camein. mossies arent really a problem, although they like our english blood!

the eve of our travel day

Well its nearly time to depart. We have just been for our farewell debrief in the pub (whitehart of course!) Jim was doing monkeyrat impressions all the way down the high street to Rob and Hal as they cycled home.... Had a great curry at the local Nepalise restaurant - very yummy and giving us a taste of whats to come - thanks Stan and Ann...

Anyway next time I'm on it will be in India, yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Just doing our final packing, my bags seems to get smaller each time I go away. I'm now on a 30L rucsac to my 70L a couple of years back! Just check the temp in chennai and its 30'C, mmmm!

fiona

books & camera film

on this road trip so far we have read:

• andromeda strain - michael crichton
• timeline - michael crichton
• congo - michael crichton
• five patients - michael crichton
• google whack - dave gorman
• readers digest - monthly
• karma cola - gita medha
• kevin and i - frank kusy
• history of insects
• timbuktu
• god of small things
• runaway jury - john grisham
• ghost on the path - john mccarthy
• travels - micheal crichton
• the broker - john grisham
• the monk who sold his ferrari - robin s sharma
• amsterdam - ian mcewan
• mans search for his meaning - viktor e frankl

check on amazon for further details and synopsis. the books have been found, exchanged, swapped and bartered for.. any reccommendations on what is hot or not please email us

to date ive also taken 13 films of 36 exposure in 2 and a bit months.. and we havent even reached the colourfull part of india yet.. ouch!! ive limited myself (or rather fi has limited me) to taking pictures of people as they are more interesting, unfortunately this hasnt really worked as every market and train station offers a new glimpse of indian life..

jim

predeparture quotes

"unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow"

Ronald Osborn

"Now that I'm here, where am I?"

Janis Joplin

map of india