I was taught as a little boy by my Christian nurse (in my house we had a nurse to look after the kids) "cleanliness is next to godliness". If so, then India, despite its myriads of gods and temples, is the most godforsaken place I have ever visited.
I am now in Pondicherry, a little piece of France left behind when the French moved out some 50 years ago (I think). It is unbelievable: wide streets, a beautiful waterside boardwalk (tayelet) but with no cafes restaurants along it, which I can't understand, well preserved buildings, policemen with 'kepis' and French and other European restaurants - and you all know what that means! Last night I had a real hamburger. Thank the gods that I have decided to service my bike here and to rest up a bit, the last leg to here was 430 kms in one day and I could not think of a better place to rest up. The only problem here is that it seems to be the worst smelling town I have visited so far - you smell shit half the time! However the town is full of French tourists and even a number who live here permanently - there is some sort of international community - - that leads a special lifestyle, I hope to visit the area and check it out tomorrow.
If you remember I left Varkala and the delicious fish on the 2nd of Feb setting happilly off for Kodaikenal - well no zen, no nothing - got completely lost, I must have driven an extra 150 - 200 kms and most of that in the mountains on real scary roads. I bought a map in Varkala, the best map of India available here - I think I will use it for toilet paper. Half the roads marked on it don't exist or don't go where they show they are going or end suddenly at some ashram in the middle of nowhere. And roads that do exist and lead somewhere are oftimes absent from my Eicher Map Book - Aaaaaaagh! But the drive was magnificent and the road filled with animals, squirrels, monkeys, birds of a gazillion varieties, cows dogs, donkeys, horses, pigs and of course at least one elephant and the views were breathtaking etc.....
I finally in Kodaikanal in the late afternoon after 2 hard days of travel and checked into a fairly decent guesthouse. And then it got cold, and then it got colder and then it froze. I spent about 3 nights there and never left my room after 6pm, what kind of a holiday is that? Mind you, it is very beautiful up there and I did do a couple of walks and was impressed by the scenery. of course the Israelis have taken over Vattakanal, a little village about 4 kms from Kodai and a bit higher in the hills - they can have it. On my second day there I met a guy who knew me from Om Beach and he invited me to visit him and his girlfriend in Vatta and so I walked about 30 minutes downhill to their little hovel on the mountainside. I then crawled up the hill for about 60 minutes - fortunately I was alone and nobody saw what a wreck I really was. I found a place that made really good chicken pies and I think that because of the food I stayed in Kodai an extra day. But it was too cold and I wasn't enjoying it and so I left.
From Kodai I drove to Madurai where I spent 2 days visiting the local temple and the Ghandi Memorial Museum. In Madurai I found a great supermarket (there are a couple like that here in Pondi too) sold all sorts of western foods and stuff, Scottish butter biscuits, decaffe coffee, impoted cigarettes but most important of all - tinned meatloaf (luf!, the Israeli equivalent of spam --J.B.) and I bought a couple of tins and had a gastronomic orgasm. (okay, I admit that luf is not a reason for an orgasm but after my experience with meat in Varkala it was the best meal I had eaten in days)
From Madurai I drove to Rameswaram which is as close as you can get to Sri Lanka in India - the town is about 40 kms from Sri Lanka and if you drive east for about 18 kms you reach Adams Bridge (after a 4 km walk along the beach) which is only about 18 kms from Sri Lanka - unfortunately it is 18 kms across water and there are no ferries so you can only almost see S.L. as it is beyond the horizon - in Rameswaran I ate luf because even the dhabas were bad there.On my second night there I went for a walk around town, well there is no real around town so I walked to the temple which is the center of town and came across a ceremony with guys carrying statues of gods and of course in front a beautifully decorated elephant.
So as long as I am enjoying the food I will spend a couple more days here and then start making my way slowly north.
I am now in Pondicherry, a little piece of France left behind when the French moved out some 50 years ago (I think). It is unbelievable: wide streets, a beautiful waterside boardwalk (tayelet) but with no cafes restaurants along it, which I can't understand, well preserved buildings, policemen with 'kepis' and French and other European restaurants - and you all know what that means! Last night I had a real hamburger. Thank the gods that I have decided to service my bike here and to rest up a bit, the last leg to here was 430 kms in one day and I could not think of a better place to rest up. The only problem here is that it seems to be the worst smelling town I have visited so far - you smell shit half the time! However the town is full of French tourists and even a number who live here permanently - there is some sort of international community - - that leads a special lifestyle, I hope to visit the area and check it out tomorrow.
If you remember I left Varkala and the delicious fish on the 2nd of Feb setting happilly off for Kodaikenal - well no zen, no nothing - got completely lost, I must have driven an extra 150 - 200 kms and most of that in the mountains on real scary roads. I bought a map in Varkala, the best map of India available here - I think I will use it for toilet paper. Half the roads marked on it don't exist or don't go where they show they are going or end suddenly at some ashram in the middle of nowhere. And roads that do exist and lead somewhere are oftimes absent from my Eicher Map Book - Aaaaaaagh! But the drive was magnificent and the road filled with animals, squirrels, monkeys, birds of a gazillion varieties, cows dogs, donkeys, horses, pigs and of course at least one elephant and the views were breathtaking etc.....
I finally in Kodaikanal in the late afternoon after 2 hard days of travel and checked into a fairly decent guesthouse. And then it got cold, and then it got colder and then it froze. I spent about 3 nights there and never left my room after 6pm, what kind of a holiday is that? Mind you, it is very beautiful up there and I did do a couple of walks and was impressed by the scenery. of course the Israelis have taken over Vattakanal, a little village about 4 kms from Kodai and a bit higher in the hills - they can have it. On my second day there I met a guy who knew me from Om Beach and he invited me to visit him and his girlfriend in Vatta and so I walked about 30 minutes downhill to their little hovel on the mountainside. I then crawled up the hill for about 60 minutes - fortunately I was alone and nobody saw what a wreck I really was. I found a place that made really good chicken pies and I think that because of the food I stayed in Kodai an extra day. But it was too cold and I wasn't enjoying it and so I left.
From Kodai I drove to Madurai where I spent 2 days visiting the local temple and the Ghandi Memorial Museum. In Madurai I found a great supermarket (there are a couple like that here in Pondi too) sold all sorts of western foods and stuff, Scottish butter biscuits, decaffe coffee, impoted cigarettes but most important of all - tinned meatloaf (luf!, the Israeli equivalent of spam --J.B.) and I bought a couple of tins and had a gastronomic orgasm. (okay, I admit that luf is not a reason for an orgasm but after my experience with meat in Varkala it was the best meal I had eaten in days)
From Madurai I drove to Rameswaram which is as close as you can get to Sri Lanka in India - the town is about 40 kms from Sri Lanka and if you drive east for about 18 kms you reach Adams Bridge (after a 4 km walk along the beach) which is only about 18 kms from Sri Lanka - unfortunately it is 18 kms across water and there are no ferries so you can only almost see S.L. as it is beyond the horizon - in Rameswaran I ate luf because even the dhabas were bad there.On my second night there I went for a walk around town, well there is no real around town so I walked to the temple which is the center of town and came across a ceremony with guys carrying statues of gods and of course in front a beautifully decorated elephant.
So as long as I am enjoying the food I will spend a couple more days here and then start making my way slowly north.
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