July 07 Onwards

As a quick update for you on my travels, I left the eastern coastal route in Tamil Nadu recently as it goes, and I ended up travelling in a westerly direction towards the city of Madurai (this being so that I could get myself nicely lined up for the final part of my journey to India's Land's End).

Unfortunately though, as excited as I was when I finally hit the "Big Smoke of the South" late last week, I came down with a strange mystery bug within 24 hours of getting there, and so as a result of this it has all gone a bit pear-shaped on the tour front for a while I'm afraid!

Ha ha!

Despite this however, and on the geek side of things(!), this has meant that I have been able to get stuck into reading a few things about the country I am in at the moment, which has been pretty cool...

Oh and speaking of which actually, if there is one important thing I am going to highlight on this blog of mine whilst I am here I suppose, it's the fact that I'm finding the history between India and England nothing short of amazing you know.

But anyway... it's not my place to go on about it here of course, so for the moment here is the latest gossip on the old Merc-o-meter front for you to read:

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Number of towns I have visited since leaving Chennai so far: 8
Number of kilometres I have cycled so far: 630ish
Heat Rating: Still on the "Very" side (up to and over 41 Celcius apparently).
Number of times I have had to get off the road pronto because of double/triple overtaking manoeuvres: More than 10, less than 20.
Anything else important that needs to be thrown in there too:
1) I held my first ever real-life cannon-ball the other day.
2) I got chased by 2 very athletic dogs recently as well.

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And back to blogging about the stuff that relates to when I was out and about on the road up until late last week... and hmmm... well... I must start off by saying that my experience of the usuage of horns on the subcontinent so far has been something else!

In fact when I look at it right, the beepers seem to be that loud and used that much out here, that if the truth be known, I am seriously thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to buy a massive car battery, strap it to the back of my bicycle, and rig up a special honk-honk device of my own really!

I mean, I was even walking down this busy narrow street the other day, and I'm sure that when this fella tooted me I felt a rush of air between my ears!...

Ha ha!

I don't think I'd ever heard such a disgustingly loud sound in an enclosed space like it at the time before! (Or felt one for that matter!)

Actually, as a quick insight for those of you who haven't been to this part of the world yet, here is my own interpretation of the sounds of the beeping culture in Tamil Nadu for you if you like (and this is to be taken quite literally by the way!):

Motorbike Horn = Car Horn
Car Horn = Lorry Horn
Lorry Horn = Train Horn
Bus Horn = Ferry Horn

And when I look at it ok, the thing is I can deal with all of the above of course (especially when I am pedalling away now, as instead of the beeps intimidating me like they used to, they just reassure me that the driver behind me has actually seen me)... but even so, come on though... don't be sounding those ferry horns when everybody is trying to sleep at 2am in the morning, please!

Well anyway... change of subject now, and yes, this is a cheesy thing to say I know... but I must admit that it has kind of felt like I've been watching a live tv documentary whilst I've been travelling through the sticks at times recently...

Women whose vibrant clothes have been splashing bright colours across the otherwise bland fields they've been working in... the poor old man at the roadside who looked as though he needed a pulse-check 5 days ago... the big animal who had an argument with a bus that nobody had done anything about... the strange fella who stopped me in the middle of nowhere because he wanted to either 1) eat my camera or 2) eat the profits from selling my camera as well...

In fact, it's fair to say that by the time it did actually come to me getting to the big sprawling city of Madurai last week, I was in very good need of the Kingfisher that the waiter had just frothed-up all over my table really!

Actually, whilst I am on the subject of drinking in this part of the world quickly, have you ever been to the bars out here before??

Because if you haven't, and I don't know if this is to do with the forbidden aspect of drinking alcohol in this particular state I'm in, but I must say that the alcohol venues they have dotted about the place are very shady and secretive you know!

I mean, I was that shocked at the mist of darkness that surrounded me as I entered the first one I visited a few towns back, that I ended up starting to walk out of it because I thought it was closed!

Ha ha!

Despite this though, I am pleased to say that the restaurants out here (and the dishes they serve up) are a bit more colourful... but even so... and this next bit reflects badly on me I guess... I will be the first to admit that I am finding the vegetarian nosh that's being dished up for me in the smaller towns a tad hard to deal with at times...

This being even more the case when I consider the fact that I'm only meant to be using my right hand to eat it with as well I suppose, as this makes scooping it up well difficult for me! I end up in a right old mess at the dinner table, as you could probably well imagine!

Anyway... bring into the equation the godsend of the posh looking hotel I was staying in last week however (for the price of a UK fiver may I add), and I was well happy on the old food front wasn't I?!...

I'd arrived there at around 10 in the morning after cycling 85ish km you see, and the guy on reception told me that if I was quick enough, I would be able to tuck into the complimentary continental style (yes continental style!) breakfast that they had on offer at the place...

Get in there!

In fact looking back on it, I don’t know what the local businessmen eating there knew what to make of me as I pushed my way through the door of the elaborate, gold-trimmed buffet bar at first!...

Because there I was in the thick of it right, with my white shirts that had turned brown from 3 days worth of dust, the dozens of handkerchiefs I had wrapped around my head, oh and me being in need of a good shower to say the least, and I was going for it wasn’t I?!

Scrambled eggs, cereal, fruit juice, cups of tea, the lot...

I couldn't get enough of it!

The wonders of comfort food, eh?!

Ha ha!

Putting the wonders of this hotel buffet aside now though, and I tell you what, I wish you could see what these other Western food places here are serving me up on occasions you know...

I mean I've even had cereal that's been given to me with boiling milk to pour on it a few times since I've been here (and I don't think I could torture the poor cornflakes like that first thing in the morning really, bless them!)...

Then when I was feeling a little ill yesterday, the cream of tomato soup that was brought to me ended up coming out with none other than bread and jam too of course!...

Oh and speaking of which actually, that last one almost beats the time I was in China last year and my English mates ordered themselves a hot dog each in order to remind themselves of home as it goes...

Because when what they asked for did finally come out to the table we were sat at, they too found that the squirt of tomato sauce on top of them had been replaced by strawberry jam!

Ha ha!

Well looking at it, I suppose their red nature must have made them both look a little bit similarish to the poor Chinese chef who was responsible for designing the dish(!)... especially if he was trying to copy a picture of a hot dog out of a Western cuisine magazine or something at the time maybe?!

Anyway... jokes aside, and it's back to me being a big wet girl's blouse for now I'm afraid, as I try and get over whatever it is I have come across out here!...

Rock on and speak soon ;o)