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.

Triplican High Road - Let me take you for a ride !

We spent our first few days recouping in a flash hotel in Chennai - flash means clean - not swat toilet referred to as the 'classic European' (you could be forgiven for thinking that it was a car they were showing you) spacious and of course that magic word in India which doubles the price A/C (air conditioning) which funnily enough we switched off the moment we entered and did not turn on again.

After this we moved to a less sheltered part of town called Triplicane to experience the 'real India'. We booked into much cheaper hotel with no a/c or running hot water but with a lot more charm and dingy travelers like us, called Broadlands.

Until we got to Triplicane my impressions of India was that it was fascinating, interesting, funny and a little bizarre - Triplicane however gave me my first taste of culture shock - I was taking it all in my stride and then I saw two chicken and a rooster I was deep in shock. Let me take you for a ride on Triplicane High Road.

Chennai is the fourth largest city in India if you haven't been to the others the rush of this road has you suddenly wondering what the hell the other cities like and how the hell you are going to survive them. The thing that is most striking about this road besides it chaotic activity, is the total lack of footpaths especially noticeable if you are walking everywhere. Triplicane High Road is actually a side street off the main road and as such they are no visible lanes, traffic weaves in an out of every conceivable space and the pedestrians walk along side the cars, trucks and auto's as best as they can. The space between your toes and the wheels of a bus are sometimes as close as 3-4cms.

Where there is some semblance of footpath whole families set up house and do everything from eat, sleep, shit, wash clothes, dry clothes, and groom themselves as if a hundred cars and people weren't passing them every minute. On the corner a family had a whole load of washing neatly laid out on the path drying it was quite something to see that everyone walked carefully around them.

Thrown into this already astonishing picture are a variety of animals from the standard cows who chew on the strewn rubbish as calm as if they were out on a pasture somewhere, to goats excitedly licking every surface (we are yet to figure this one out) to of course the afore mentioned poultry who proudly strut in on their corner.

After shakily navigating the non-footpaths my first truly terrifying moment came when I had to cross the road (something of an extreme sport in India) I believe there are refugees in some parts of the country who simply settled because they couldn't get to the other side of the road.

But seriously the roads here and their delicate navigation have me a little spooked -but then I walk along and see a little 6 month old baby naked, dusty and crawling frighteningly close to the road, with not a soul to claim her or protect her, and I remember at least I have Greg and a hundred other eyes watching me.

Arrival In Chennai

Hello all apologies the blog is a little behind - just trying to find suitable internet places, most have a good speed but you risk being eaten alive by mozzies !!!

These are my impressions just after we arrived in Chennai

One of the things that I was really bracing myself for when I thought about coming to India was the onslaught of confusion, haggling, harassing and general chaos that most people have described as the airport scene when you arrive. Amazingly when we arrived at the airport about 10pm we got through customs at the speed of light, went straight to the prepaid taxi stand, paid exactly what we were meant to for a taxi voucher, had our bags whisked away by the attendant packed into the back of a taxi, a short relatively death free ride, spotted with a few excited moments of seeing cows and funny tiny trucks and we were at our hotel, showered changed and off to bed.

Another thing that I was bracing myself for was the smell, I imagined a very pooey kind of smell, but maybe blanketed by the night air, the smell was more an industrial, chemical one, but overall not to bad - however now that I have been in India for a while the smell is decidedly of piss and shit just about everywhere we go.

And another thing that I was bracing myself for was the heat, and at a mild 25 degrees it was rather pleasant after the rigid chill of the plane.

But the ride in the dark was dazzling - crumbling buildings, rubbish, carts and cows lit by street lights under which florescent boxes showed adds for IT super parks while on large overhead billboards showed Nicole Kidman advertising Omega watches.
India really is like moving back and forward in time.