India!
Loud, dirty, dusty and colourful. That´s how one could describe my impressions I collected in the South.
But these few words aren´t enough to picture such a huge and manifold country, which I visited for almost 4 weeks in January this year.
I didn´t go as a backpacker neither was I looking for enlightment.
It was just making a dream come true for me.
Lidia and me reached Chennai airport (which reminded me of the former German Democratic Republic because of all the grey cement) at around 8:15 in the morning.
The stamping craziness at the entry checks took some time but when we finally left that behind us, we stepped out to the humid, suffocating heat. It felt like 35° c. The pilot blathered something about 22°... guess the poor guy was overtired.
My friends Shree and Raghu were already there to receive us, just like almost each and every taxi driver of Chennai as it seemed. "Madam, madam... auto???!!!" - The sentence which I shall hear dozens of times a day for the next couple of weeks.
Auto is the way they call their tuk tuk´s, this three wheelers. Always offering exorbitant prices to foreigners.. but I was a quick learner and soon I knew how to handle that topic.
In this case my friends arranged a taxi to the hotel.
On the way then the first cow´s at the roadside, chaotic traffic with horns, lot´s of emissions and people. So I finally arrived.....culture shock? No.
I have been interested and concerned with India since such a long time, that everything what I experienced was what I expected.
Dinner for 2 people costs around 250 to 300 Rupees (and even much cheaper is possible!!). That´s around 4 Euro or 5 USD.
What more can you ask for?
The following cities were on my list:
Chennai, Pondicherry, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad.
I hadn´t planned anything on to how or in which order.. and that was my luck. Because everything worked out superb with a little bit of spontaneity.
The first day trip has been to Pondicherry then. With a short stop in Auroville.
On the way I already saw many "white" people driving around on their motorbikes and scooties. Well.. it´s said that Pondicherry is the Goa of the east coast, so I didn´t wonder about it.
Auroville turned out to be like a kind of commune or a paradise for hippies. A town which belongs to no one.. or better to the whole human kind. Most of them were europeans or from the US which sell self made products very overpriced to the tourists.
That was a big no for me and I didn´t like the place at all because that´s not India for me.
It felt like Hippieville with lot´s of positive energie and vibes. Only the group hug was missing.. .
So Shree and me were happy when we left the place, without taking any pictures or buying souvenirs.
Pondicherry itself impresses with the french influence.
I haven´t felt like I´m in India. At least not in the french part of the city.
Everythings was very clean and neat.....perfectly done for the tourists. Life was missing on the blocked streets as you can see on the pictures....
The Pongal festival (harvest festival) was about to take place and so there were many Rangolis on the streets. The decorative and colourful designs are for decoration and is thought to bring good luck.
All the queues at the museums and at the little temple in the french quarter were quite long and we haven´t been in the mood for standing there. So we spent some more time at the beach, fending off the souvenir sellers and strolling through the streets before the bus left to Chennai again. That was a good decision because it led us to one of my first Gopurams. This monumental towers mark the entrance of a temple, especially in south-India.
We left with our super bus around 6 pm back to Chennai. Shock absorbers are a different thing on such bus rides. I guess they are not needed. Just like shoes maybe... most of the drivers were not wearing any shoes. Maybe they have a better feeling when they use the break. Though.. most of the times it were full breaking in India. But one gets used to everything, right?
Loud, dirty, dusty and colourful. That´s how one could describe my impressions I collected in the South.
But these few words aren´t enough to picture such a huge and manifold country, which I visited for almost 4 weeks in January this year.
I didn´t go as a backpacker neither was I looking for enlightment.
It was just making a dream come true for me.
Lidia and me reached Chennai airport (which reminded me of the former German Democratic Republic because of all the grey cement) at around 8:15 in the morning.
The stamping craziness at the entry checks took some time but when we finally left that behind us, we stepped out to the humid, suffocating heat. It felt like 35° c. The pilot blathered something about 22°... guess the poor guy was overtired.
My friends Shree and Raghu were already there to receive us, just like almost each and every taxi driver of Chennai as it seemed. "Madam, madam... auto???!!!" - The sentence which I shall hear dozens of times a day for the next couple of weeks.
Auto is the way they call their tuk tuk´s, this three wheelers. Always offering exorbitant prices to foreigners.. but I was a quick learner and soon I knew how to handle that topic.
In this case my friends arranged a taxi to the hotel.
On the way then the first cow´s at the roadside, chaotic traffic with horns, lot´s of emissions and people. So I finally arrived.....culture shock? No.
I have been interested and concerned with India since such a long time, that everything what I experienced was what I expected.
The rooms were clean, the food in the hotel restaurant super good and as almost everywhere, really cheap...
Dinner for 2 people costs around 250 to 300 Rupees (and even much cheaper is possible!!). That´s around 4 Euro or 5 USD.
What more can you ask for?
The following cities were on my list:
Chennai, Pondicherry, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad.
I hadn´t planned anything on to how or in which order.. and that was my luck. Because everything worked out superb with a little bit of spontaneity.
The first day trip has been to Pondicherry then. With a short stop in Auroville.
On the way I already saw many "white" people driving around on their motorbikes and scooties. Well.. it´s said that Pondicherry is the Goa of the east coast, so I didn´t wonder about it.
Auroville turned out to be like a kind of commune or a paradise for hippies. A town which belongs to no one.. or better to the whole human kind. Most of them were europeans or from the US which sell self made products very overpriced to the tourists.
That was a big no for me and I didn´t like the place at all because that´s not India for me.
It felt like Hippieville with lot´s of positive energie and vibes. Only the group hug was missing.. .
So Shree and me were happy when we left the place, without taking any pictures or buying souvenirs.
Pondicherry itself impresses with the french influence.
I haven´t felt like I´m in India. At least not in the french part of the city.
Everythings was very clean and neat.....perfectly done for the tourists. Life was missing on the blocked streets as you can see on the pictures....
The beach on the other hand was much more crowded. Indians love to walk at the beach, posing for pictures infront of it but seldom go into it. Well, that anyway wasn´t possible at the cliffy beach in Pondicherry.
The Pongal festival (harvest festival) was about to take place and so there were many Rangolis on the streets. The decorative and colourful designs are for decoration and is thought to bring good luck.
Sowly we entered the indian part of the city and lucky me... my first and unfortunately only meeting with a temple elephant took place. I even got blessed from Lakshmi (that was her name) and that´s something special, at least my indian friends told me so. I definitely felt special in that moment. And to top it, from that moment on nothing bad happened on my India trip.
Thanks to Lakshmi. :)
Thanks to Lakshmi. :)
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| driver paying road charge |
All the queues at the museums and at the little temple in the french quarter were quite long and we haven´t been in the mood for standing there. So we spent some more time at the beach, fending off the souvenir sellers and strolling through the streets before the bus left to Chennai again. That was a good decision because it led us to one of my first Gopurams. This monumental towers mark the entrance of a temple, especially in south-India.
We left with our super bus around 6 pm back to Chennai. Shock absorbers are a different thing on such bus rides. I guess they are not needed. Just like shoes maybe... most of the drivers were not wearing any shoes. Maybe they have a better feeling when they use the break. Though.. most of the times it were full breaking in India. But one gets used to everything, right?
 |
| roadhouse the indian way |
We reached Chennai late in the evening.. very exhausted and quite dirty because the busses always go with open windows (except of the A/C busses of course) and so all the dust and exhaust emissions sticked on us. That means we first had to take a good shower before we went for a delicious dinner to be fortified for the next day again.......
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| Chappati, fisch curry & butter chicken |
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