First impressions of India (27th Nov - 1st Dec 07)

From Turkey we flew into the Indian city of Chennai, which is on the south-east coast. While it is still a big city, it was preferable to flew into than Delhi or Mumbai so we could spend a few days getting used to things on a smaller scale.

So far we are really enjoying our time in India. One of the first things we did was head into a full-vegetarian restaurant for a set lunch meal called Thali. This comes with a selections of curries, sauces, sweets, rice and chapati all for around 35 rupees (about $1nzd). Then once you have had all that, they come round and top up your curries to the point that you are bursting full. It was a fantastic way to start our dining experience in India. In the south most people are full vegetarian, which suits us just fine as we are happy to eat vege food and it is probably safer for our weak-western stomachs to handle.

A smaller version of a Thali
(the bigger ones have up to 14 different parts)


As arriving in any Asian city there is always the first hit when you arrive in the city. The things such as the smells, the pollution, the heat and the poverty all hit you. But then there is also the fantastic smiling people, the interesting history and the food that makes putting up with the former so much more worth it. And we also love the chaos. Sometimes things in Europe are so efficient, clean and organised that it is boring. But here there is never a dull moment with something new to observe.

We had our go at trying out the train network to get round the city. It was super efficient, and the carriages are open style so you have people hanging out the train as it goes along (Nick had his go at this). A few years ago you use to be able to ride on top of the train, but they have since decided that it is too dangerous. The Indian train network is one of the best in the world, with lines all over the country. Also they are the largest employer in India, and the second largest employer in the world!! Pretty impressive. So we tried to buy our overnight train tickets for later in the trip early as we heard that they often fill up. This was a bit of a process and we had to reaarange our plans a bit, but in the end we got our tickets and are looking forward to trying out the long distance trains. There is no better way to experience a country than on trains (after a bicyle of course).

A few things have been quite funny so far. One of these is the language. Most people we have spoken to so far (in restaurants, guesthouses, train stations, locals) all speak perfect English. Sometimes they have a pretty heavy accent which is hard to interpret, but it makes travelling for us pretty easy with an english-speaker always there to help. A term used to describe the India form of English is 'Hinglish' (ie. Hindu English). Sometimes they make new words that follow English grammer rules that arnt used in English language. In our train book they talk about 'preponing' your train ticket (ie. opposite of postpone). Also on some back alley ways you see 'please enter by the backside' (ie. please use the back door). And then there are new words that I dont know where they come from, but 'eve-teasing' is a word that means sexual harrassment. But it is all pretty entertaining, and these are all part of the fun quirks of a new country.

From Chennai, we caught a bus to a small town south called Mamallapuram. This town is famous for its stone carvings. We showed up to the bus station to catch a public bus there, and after tracking down the right bus, a vendor man said in a thick accent 'this isnt a very express bus'. We laughed him off and hoped on the bus, and over two hours later we had only gone 50km. Cycling would have been faster. But we are in no hurry so its a nice way to see the city and countryside.

Beautiful saris at Shore Temple


Mamallapuram has lots of amazingly carved temples. Two of the main ones are the Five Rathas and the Shore Temple. The Five Rathas was fasinating as the stone carving were done into rocks already in the ground, rather than ones moved there. Heading off to these temples we realised that we have to do a lot more reading about Hinduism and Indian religions to fully understand the significance of the carvings.

Natalie at the Five Rathas


Mamallapuram is said to be a bit of a travellers enclave. This is pretty much right, as we have seen more foreigners here in the first hour than we did in 3 days in Chennai. While its a bit of a pain with touts hassling you more than at other places, and more western restaurants than Indian, its understandable why a town is so popular with foreigners with all the amazing stone carvings - hence the reason we came. But it will also be nice heading to some less popular spots to see a different side to India.