On the road less traveled
It had always annoyed me in Australia that travelers always stuck together and didn't mix with Australians, but being here I understand that you seek out other travelers because they may understand your isolation and confusion and chances are good that they don't have any other friends either.
Although everyone speaks English here it is a different kind of English, in Mylapore we asked for directions to the beach and were sent in the wrong directions we walked for about 1km before asking again only to be told that the 'seashore' was 2km's in the opposite direction, and the many signs that we see here for the 'exhibition cum sale' tell us that they are not speaking our language.
I don't know if it's the time of year, starting in the South or the recent terrorist scares but there aren't a lot of travelers around. In our lost confusion - we have been wandering largely aimlessly through Chennai -I saw some Israeli boys and wanted to ask for directions, their coldness on my approach could have frozen the water I was holding. We later saw them riding around town on a motorbikes looking very much the hip travelers.
Another whitey we saw sits on the corner of the road where our hotel is, talking with the auto drivers looking very much the part of at home among the locals traveler, I went up to him to ask if he knew where we could get Chai, his shocked response was to ask me why I had asked him, and whether I had a guide book it seemed that he didn't eat out much - I could have fallen over with embarrassment, but I thought about it and the equivalent would have been to hang with the cabbies at Central station and think that your really getting a feel for the local scene in Sydney.
Not to be mistaken we have met a few lovely travelers, but have found that we you have to careful in our approach, it would seem so far that most of the travelers that have come to India consider themselves to be on the road less traveled and are most dismayed when they see other travelers on the same path.
Although everyone speaks English here it is a different kind of English, in Mylapore we asked for directions to the beach and were sent in the wrong directions we walked for about 1km before asking again only to be told that the 'seashore' was 2km's in the opposite direction, and the many signs that we see here for the 'exhibition cum sale' tell us that they are not speaking our language.
I don't know if it's the time of year, starting in the South or the recent terrorist scares but there aren't a lot of travelers around. In our lost confusion - we have been wandering largely aimlessly through Chennai -I saw some Israeli boys and wanted to ask for directions, their coldness on my approach could have frozen the water I was holding. We later saw them riding around town on a motorbikes looking very much the hip travelers.
Another whitey we saw sits on the corner of the road where our hotel is, talking with the auto drivers looking very much the part of at home among the locals traveler, I went up to him to ask if he knew where we could get Chai, his shocked response was to ask me why I had asked him, and whether I had a guide book it seemed that he didn't eat out much - I could have fallen over with embarrassment, but I thought about it and the equivalent would have been to hang with the cabbies at Central station and think that your really getting a feel for the local scene in Sydney.
Not to be mistaken we have met a few lovely travelers, but have found that we you have to careful in our approach, it would seem so far that most of the travelers that have come to India consider themselves to be on the road less traveled and are most dismayed when they see other travelers on the same path.
posted by My Little Life at 6:30 AM
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