Thursday 13 January 2011

Mamallapuram and Puducherry

The rest of our time in Hampi went well, Dave and I managed to get some volunteering done at a local children's centre, it was great fun playing with the kids and seeing how the centre helped them. For more info look at this web page http://hampichildrentrust.com/

Unfortunately on our last day in Hampi I fell ill with Indian flu - which by the way is like no other flu I have ever had and I've had swine flu! So Dave got us to the local hospital which at first looked like someone's garage! But in the back there was a doctor and a mountain of lose pill packets on his desk. We described my symptoms and he was very confident that it wasn't malaria but we insisted on a blood test to make sure (as advised by our doctor in England). When we arrived at the lab - which was just a small doorway of a grubby street. It was closed and the number given was unreachable. So we decided that if the doctor was so confident that it wasn't Malaria that we are to trust him and take the drugs that he gave us. I had a strong antibiotic and some kind of pain killer that made me uber drowsy.

Thanks to Dave though for looking after me. He was fab and it would have been horrible to go through that on my own :D.

After taking the drugs and having some sleep I felt entirely different the next day- I couldn't believe it. I had no chills, no achy back- a miracle!! I managed to go out and grab some food before departing Hampi on the bus to Hospet to then catch the train to Bangalore and then to Chennai.

One of our worries was that if our first train was late (as trains are normally late in India) then we would miss our connection to Chennai but brilliantly it all went smoothly and we got to Chennai. We then began to make our way to the bus station to grab a bus to Mamallapuram. On the map it looked like a twenty minute walk so we wouldn't have to barter with a auto driver who would then overcharge us.

All train stations in India are always on a busy roads with no name markings and so we thought we would ask a local the way to the bus station, he explained that the bus station we needed was a hours walk away and the best thing to do would be to take a auto for 30 rupees (47p) and we could get there hassle free! So we bartered with the auto driver down from 100 rupees to 40 rupees and got in- it turns out the bus statio0n he took us too was the one we wanted and would not have been an hours walk. But hey never mind we got to the bus station.

We eventually found the bus we wanted and got on, when we asked the driver if the bus was going to Mamallapuram he didn't seem to register and so we had to ask the locals and they said no it was going to Kovalam and so we though we best get of this bus. As we tried the conductor shouted at us to stay and blocked the door and so we stayed on and got dropped of in Kovalam and then someone just pointed at a corner of a street and gave us a bus number to look out for! I guess in India we need to get used to going with the flow.

While waiting for the bus we found a half full taxi and go that one to Mamallapuram and eventually, after following a man on a 20 minute " Its only a 5 minute walk" we were brought to a guest house where the room he showed us must of housed all of Mamallapuram's mosquitoes. So we declined and found next door a much cleaner guest house with a sharing shower and toilet, no worries this time though they were separate but did house a frog which I named Freddie!

Mamallapuram was a nice town with a small beach and some more temples for us to look at. The beach was not like Colva though it was a working beach and the sea looked so angry it was amazing.
The rock carvings were magical though and the dance festivals in the evening were amazing. The girls were all dressed up in beautiful saris and wore amazing jewels. Their makeup was incredible too with intense eyes. My favorite performance was from a Nepalese group who danced with poles on the floor and looked like they were having a great time.

Yesterday morning we caught a bus from Mamallapuram to Puducherry which was so much more bigger than I expected but it is beautiful too. When we found the french quarter of the town it was so bizarre to see large streets lined with trees but then it was full of street traders and crazy traffic. We found the ashram yesterday which was so peaceful and there were a few people meditating there. We also went to the train station to try and get a train to Kochi in Keralla but the station masters were not very helpful and did not even check the computer before telling us that there were no trains to our destination until next month. Luckily we know a great website where you can book train tickets so we booked a train ticket from Trichy to Kohi, so all we need to do is take a bus from Puducherry to Trichy.

So we will be leaving Puducherry on the 16th Jan to Trichy where on the 19th we will be heading to Keralla.

Moving around the state of Tamil Nadu is difficult with the local transport teams not being helpful at all but we have managed it and are enjoying our time on the east coast.

Emma and Dave

1 comment:

  1. Loving your updates guys - I am so jealous that I am old and have a mortgage!

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