Out for a ride
India safety practices at Port Blair's Cellular Prison
Ramakrishna Mutt temple
St Thomas
Valluvar Kottam
Party time kingfisher style!!!
Namaste! or excuse me, I should say - Vanakkam as we are in Tamil Nadu (India's southwest state and not a big fan of the Hindi language)!
It was a shame to leave the islands and especially to Chennai (formerly Madras) which all travelers seem to avoid due to the guidebooks and people who say Chennai is boring. Well, let me tell you, yes, we hated leaving the beautiful Andaman islands, but Chennai has been a great surprise. Yes the rickshaw drivers are the scum of the earth, but besides that there are loads of great sites and fun nightlife!
Just a few tidbits on India before I tell you too much of what we have been doing;
If any of you want to fine tune your negotiation skills - come to India... if you are a sucker you will pay triple the price, which usually isn't that much, but they laugh at you after - which is a bit infuriating to say the least. And you can hear them say.. 150 rupees hahaha to their mates they past as you drive. So in India its all about negotiation - remember my comments about Nepal and they act as if you are taking food out of the mouths of their children; well it hasn't been quite that bad here, but I'm expecting it could be.
Next - Eating... So the Chinese use chopsticks, Europeans use knives and forks, what do Indians use; hmm, let me give you a hint, its neither of these; you normally get 10 utensils, but only use 5... still thinking... You can take them everywhere with you and have to take them.. ok, if you still don't know get on a plane to come see... You wouldn't believe it, in a nice hotel restaurant, knives, forks on the table, people sit and eat with their fingers... I don't mean tapas, I'm talking wet curry and rice - its dripping all over the place... seriously funny...
What is with the bobble heads... If your not north american you will not get the term - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSRnU8rV3ig&feature=fvst
When you ask an Indian something, his head just bobbles, so you will not know if it means yes or know; its very strange and very funny. I'm not sure if they know this....
Poverty... Its very sad to see and I mentioned it in my last post, but Chennai, like Kolkata has a serious issue of poverty, probably 1 million+ homeless. The really sad part is these people seem to work very hard and they just get paid so little. I know its been this way for decades and probably centuries, but if India is going to move to this world super power that it has aspirations to be, it really needs to improve the poverty problem.
On a more positive note.... Where have we been - Havelock Island > Neil Island > Port Blair > Chennai
Monday: Queasy two hour boat ride and Marina's first wreck dive - These two were our last dives of the Andamans and were pretty good ones. We took a narrow fishing boat out to the dive sites which putted along rocking side by side until most people were sick. We were the only ones who didn't take pills for this (part of my phobia of no putting unnecessary medicine into my body and we survived. Nice dives, we saw lobsters, crabs, baby shrimps, small squid, lionfish, and lots of other reef fish - unfortunately no sharks :D
Tuesday: Neil Island - We left Havelock Island on Tuesday for the small sleepy island of Neil where they barely have any vehicles on the road - not as quiet as La Digue in the Seychelles, but pretty nice nonetheless. However the island is very over-populated, not by people like in the mainland, but by crabs. Everywhere you look you will see hermit crabs and coconut crabs roaming around. So on Neil island if you hear something at night lurking in the bushes, BEWARE, they do have claws and it could case a nasty ouchie for a few seconds...
Wednesday: Biking Neil - Marina's second time on a bicycle was a success other than the patience needed due to the poor bikes they have on Neil Island - she managed to stay on without any serious incidents. The bikes are so bad (despite being almost brand new), my brakes fell off within 5 minutes... Yes, fell off! For the first time in India we saw rain - I thought it was a myth, but it did come and it did rain cats and dogs - luckily it was just one of these tropical showers that comes and quickly leaves. So by afternoon we were chilling on the deserted golden sand beaches!
Thursday: Port Blair - This is the main island of the Andamans and I can see why people quickly leave, there is not much to do. However, later that night, still rocking from the 2 hour ferry from Neil Island to Port Blair, we found a decent hotel bar which as it happens was decorated like the inside of a ship - so the rocking seemed to increase. Also, due to the fact that they were out of Kingfisher premium and we had to drink the 8% bottle. Yes, 8% - if your Chinese and used to the water beer of China, beware in India! :D
Friday: Cellular Jail and an Indian Hen (Bachlorette) party - Cellular Jail was quite an interesting experience, the Andaman islands during colonial days housed Indian Political prisoners, kind of like a Guantanamo bay. If you were Indian during the rule of the British and were outspoken with followers, you could be sent here. The inmates were forced to do hard labor and spent their time in solitary confinement. Very interesting to see. So after our flight to Chennai, we started to learn that this city certainly does have something to offer; partying. We hit a few places and then settled on 10 Downing Street - despite the name, it wasn't a haven for expats. Inside were about 100-200 Indian girls all dressed in modern western clothes having a good time. But as 10pm came, dozens of husbands also showed up to ensure their wives were not up to any mischief - and it just almost seemed like the west.. :D I'll tell you later about all the conservative stuff we have been seeing, its pretty amazing.
Saturday: St Thomas' Grave and the workman's restaurant - Its not every day you get to see the tomb of one of Jesus' 12 apostles! India is seemly a major stop for Catholics, with Mother Teresa's in Kolkata to St Thomas in Chennai. He was here until 72AD converting people until he was martyred. There are only two other places in the world a church contains the body of an apostle - St Peter's in Rome (obvious who) and St James in Valencia, Spain. All I can say is wow - it was VERY special! Later that day we went to a local basic workmen's restaurant or thats what they call it. There, you were given a banana leaf for a plate, served rice, and then some types of veggie curry on this. As mentioned above, we used our Indian utensils to eat... and it was ok, it kind of made me feel like being a kid and was looking over my shoulder for mom to say, stop playing with your food and eat it! Playing with the food is actually one of the reason people like using their fingers, so I'm told.. :D
Sunday: Rain - well the rain has followed us indeed and after a late night out at a club called Dublin - yeah I was surprised, should have been called Tantra or Pasha, we are taking it easy today. We have a night train that takes us to Kerala and luckily I was able to get some good AC sleeper seats. As there are over a billion people in India, tickets sell fast. So leaving Chennai, I am very happy we have come here, the sites are very impressive, not just the Christian ones, but the British East India Company fort, the Hindu temples, and the bars!
So our next week is really dedicated to Kerala's beaches, backwaters, and possibly national parks. Stay tuned for next week to find out all the scary details...
poyittu varukiren!
Dan and Marina
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