Despite standard bus station shenanigans - every (official) person giving completely different information about bus timings, which bus stop, journey length etc - I somehow managed to get on the right bus to Karaikal, which took 2 hours longer than the longest estimate!
On arriving, I 'phoned the tsunami-relief organistion (as arranged), but their 'phone wasn't working. No biggie, its late, find a hotel, go to a canteen, chat with some locals, get a lift home on the back of a motorbike, crash, lose a load of skin, and put manual labour (was going to help build a school) completely out of the question. So. Didn't do my bit for mankind. A picture (totally out of sequence):
I decided to make my way to a city with a major train station, as long distance buses were sapping my will to travel. Of course, I had to take one last bus to reach Trichy (aforementioned city), which was absurdly over-crowded and involved having my freshly-skinned toes trodden on repeatedly for 5 hours by a very large lady. I really liked Trichy though: a fairly typical Tamil Nadu city, meaning lots of culture, very few (western) tourists (so no scams/hassles, but enough that I wasn't constantly an object of curiosity... except for my bandaging), good value, mahousive mosquitos etc. Here's a temple on a big rock:
But, of course, whilst physically impaired I couldn't miss the opportunity to get ill. It never rains... Still, no bad thing to be forced to stay in my room & recover my sense of reason, not to mention my body, whilst the Ashes were on TV. Oh yes, and when you're in such a state, the middle of the night is a great time to be visited by the mother of all flying cockroaches who, with her lazer-beam eyes I'm sure, managed to collapse my mosquito net on me. An epic, and possibly somewhat comical battle ensued... and eventually I won!
I left Trichy, & Tamil Nadu, after a few days & made my way to Mysore in Karnataka. The train was very interesting, and showed me a side of India that I hadn't seen so far. It was the fastest sunday night train from the south to Bangalore and, as such, lots of city workers who've been home for the weekend catch it (Bangalore is the centre of India's silicone valley). Everyone speaking in English, most of it technical, over-my-head, but standard office-type stuff, all wearing western clothes, playing with snazzy gadgets etc. The people I spoke to were interesting, articulate, intelligent etc, but I couldn't help feeling that if this is the future of India (from a global perspective), and these are the people who are turning the country into an economic super-power, its sad that it seems to be happening at the expense of Indian culture. I'm going to Bangalore tomorrow, so may be in a better position to comment, but first impressions are intriguing...
Mysore is a firm fixture on the tourist trail, & made me appreciate Tamil Nadu even more! The maharajah's palace here is pretty special, and the place does have a nice feel, but its hard to keep perspective when suddenly thrust back into a world where every other person earns their living from tourism, & more than a handful have no qualms about ripping you off. I have been angry. But its all good.
Feeling slightly worn out. I guess I've been moving quite fast for a while, and I am nearing the end of this part of my trip, so its not surprising. Its not that travelling in India, at least the parts I've visited so far, is very challenging, its just... never mind.
