Mammalapuram - The Crocodile Bank, First swim, and the rain...

As it turned out, this guest house was a great place for meeting people, with it's open and shared balconies. I had befriended a Swiss couple and decided to do an outing with them to the crocodile bank, a place where they breed crocs from all over the world. It isn't located very far, and a simple bus ride got us there in less than an hour. It was interesting to see all the crocs, but some of the cages had wayy too many crocs. Overcrowded, something you get used to seeing and being a part of here.



I also had my first swim in the Bay of Bengal. Further down on the beach, away from all the fisher boats, the water was better. At least it was possible to swim in it. The waves proved to be real rough, nothing like what you see in Scandinavia. I was thoroughly punished by them, especially one which just took me and threw me to the floor, hurting my right shoulder a bit. I would have to learn how to handle the big strong waves, something I picked up later on my journey in Sri-lanka.

As it turned out, rain had started to fall, and kept falling. Being on the beach while it's raining is not fun, as it really leaves nothing to do. You kill time by talking to people, reading a good book or just enjoying the rain. Afterall, it's part of nature too :P

Mammalapuram

November 22
Mammalapuram - a beach town on the eastern coast of India. A small population and sandy streets. I didn't know really what to expect, and a change of scenary is welcomed. As we rode the local bus from Chennai central bus station to Mammalapuram, only about 60 km south of Chennai, we started to see palm trees and soon, the ocean. Oh, what a sight, seeing and feeling the sea. India is such a vast country, with soo many different parts to it, each with it's own culture, smell, and beauties.

First I found a place to stay, as I wanted to spend a few days by the beach. Found a place that was a little off my budget at 400rs a night. Not the best deal, but I decided to stay there a few nights, three, as it was close to the beach. But the beach, as it proved was quite dirty, with loads of garbage washed ashore, and a lot of other dirt elsewhere. So not the best place to swim. This town is known for the stone temples, and we did a day tour of it. As which seems to be a growing trend, tourist are charged ten to twenty times more for visiting touristic sites - they say it's for maintanence - sure it is. Having paid 250 rs to see all the stone temples in this area, we set off to see what they had to show. After observing them, we found the rock carvings in the park (which is free for anyone) had the best things to see, and it had the greatest value for the money - free haha. The blanced huge rock boulder "the butterball" was a sight to see. As dawn approached, my friend headed back to Chennai and I stayed, gearing up for a few days on the beach.

From North to South

November 18th, 2008

After spending much time in McLeod Gang and feeling the temperatures drop day by day, I wanted to continue my journey and so decided to head south, far south. I could've easily spent another week here, or even a month, but I felt it was time to move on. I have learned and experienced what I needed to in the far north. I found what I sought for in the north.

The last few days, I've been preparing for my departure. I decided I wanted to visit Sri-lanka, a place I have not visited for 22 years. I felt it was time to re-discover my roots, and seek my other half. After asking almost all of the travel agencies around McLeod ganj, I bought a plane ticket for a very reasonable price, 6500 rs, ~1100kr, for a two way ticket from Chennai (south), as the tickets from the north, Delhi, costs at least double that, and I would have to return to the north. I would have about a week to explore the regions of Tamil Nadu before departing to Sri-lanka.

So the plan, depart to Delhi from McLeod Gang, go directly to the airport and wait for the flight to Chennai and chill in Tamil Nadu for about a week before I depart to Sri-lanka.

I left for Delhi on a night bus, this time I paid a little more for the tourist version of the bus and got some comfortable seats. Departure time was set for 1800, but it didn't depart until 1900, and the driver had the engine on the whole time while the door was open - so you can imagine all the pollution coming into the bus. I felt as if I was being poisened by carbon monoxide. I finally told the guy to close the door, and it helped a little. The ride lasted 13 hours, but the first 3 were gruesome, even in a better bus. It has to do with the roads, the never ending winding roads, which eventually even hits the veteran riders with nausea. Even the tibetan dude sitting next to me who slept most of the way felt the twirling of the roads. The ride after that was fine, as it was early in the morning, traffic had not really hit home yet. I arrived in Delhi at around 7, way ahead of my flight, which was departing at 1600. So I decided to depart for the airport directly instead of stoping into town. I took a taxi to the departure hall, and thought I could at least get in...but apparently, I wasn't allowed in until two hours prior to departure. They pointed me toward the waiting area. I asked them real nice and still just got the pointing finger :( So I headed to the waiting hall, a place where I would spend even more time than expected. I ended up staying there unitl 1500, that's seven hours of sitting and just waiting in a boring hall, with some indian tv channel playing on a tiny tv and some food stands. I thought i could catch some Z'zz, but it didn't really happen. The toilets were unfortunately located accros the street in an outer house. So going there with all my bags proved to be a task, so I tried to avoid it. At one point, I went back to the departure hall, trying once again to get in early, this time emphazing the fact that on the ticket, it states, "to check in at least two hours before departure" - but that didn't really work either, they just nodded their heads and I got the pointing finger :( So, I created my own little fortress in the corner of the waiting hall, got a chair in front of me and put my feet up, put my luggage on the chair next to me and got comfortable until time passed. As it eventually did haha.

The flight was ok, short enough not to complain hehe. 2.5 hours. I arrived in Chennai, in the heat and it was a welcomed change from the north. I was already sweating in my shirt and legs. Now I found out that you can take the train from the airport to Egmore, where the cheap guest houses are supposed to be. I avoided the usual crowds of people asking if I wanted a taxi or "auto, auto" as they call the auto-rikshaws. I managed to find my way to the metro station, some 500m from the airport by asking the local people for directions. They were very friendly, and I could even ask the taxi drivers for instructions. I was very surprised of this, as the north did not even seem to be this way. People down here seem to be more helpful and kinder. I wonder if it's the weather hehe. But really, there is a noticable difference between the north and south. Another thing I noticed was how clean the city is, compared to what i have seen up north. They acutally have garbage cans here and there, something unusual up North - sorry for the comparisons, but it's just natural to do so :P They have peoople cleaning the streets, and they try to keep the place clean. I wouldn't say uber clean as to some western countries, but it's very noticable.

So, I catch the train to Egmore, costing me 8 rs, compared to a auto's 400rs perhaps. I get off the train and start searching for the salvation army youth hostel as I heard the dormitories there are the cheapest at 100rs compared to other rooms taking 300-400rs. I finally make my way to the hostel, drenched in sweat, and thirsty to the bone. I check in and go to the dorm, this is my first real dormitory I have stayed in India since my arrival. It was nice because inside, I found a bunch of backpackers (there are only foreigners in this dorm). Among them, a sri-lanken, a finnish, spanish and a japanese guy. So after a quick chat with everyone, it turned out that the Japanese guy was heading out to Mammalapuram, a place I had heard about from a friend up north and wanted to see to kill a few days there. He was heading out early the next day for a day trip before he would depart to another part of India. So what the heck, I decided to tag along, at least I'll have nice company for a bit. Next stop - Mammalapuram.