Loading...
Start a new Travel Blog! Blogabond Home Maps People Photos My Stuff

phileasdogg

74 Blog Entries
1 Trip
26 Photos

Trips:

Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

Shorthand link:

http://www.blogabond.com/phileasdogg




Niceness

Madurai, India

Left Varkala with some disappointment this morning (not just caused by the Swedes) for another long drive. Headed for Cape Comorin, which is the most southerly point in India. Lonely Planet says it's the Blackpool of India, but there was no rollercoaster, no knotted hankies, no donkeys and no penny arcades. Most disappointing. Not even a big plaque saying "this is the most southerly point in India", so couldn't even take the obligatory photo. Well I did, and will just have to photoshop a sign in later.

Anyway, we had the option of overnighting there or rolling on to Madurai, and the group took about 5 minutes to agree that we'd rather spend a night in Basra than Cape Comorin, so on we went.

It's tempting in India to reckon that everyone just wants to extort rupees out of you, but actually there is an underlying friendliness to the people here. We got into Madurai at 7pm without having booked ahead, and the first couple of hotels were fully booked. I explained our predicament to a local guy who first offered directions to a couple of hotels, then offered to get in the truck and come with us. While on board he phoned a couple of his mates and got them on the case, calling and visiting various hotels to see if they had room. After a while he decided it was impractical to be driving the big truck around the narrow streets, so told us to park up while he went off scouting on a motorbike. 20 mins later he returned and led us to a perfectly acceptable hotel. And was there again in the morning to take a couple of our group round the local temple. And didn't want any payment. What a man. This one's for you Charles.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 18, 2008 from Madurai, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

Sun, sand and Swedes

Kovalam, India

Back to the beach. Hooray. After winding our way inland since Goa, we've returned to the Arabian Sea and Varkala, a rather pleasant, albeit tourist-heavy clifftop resort near the southern tip of India. But a nice place to spend a couple of days - had breakfast this morning watching dolphins frolicking in the surf, followed by a long stroll along the cliff and an afternoon swim. And just about to go and meet up with a 19 and 21-year-old pair of Swedish sisters courtesy of my smooth-talking Londoner roommate Gary. The ugly one looks like Helena Christensen. So all-in-all a pretty good day really.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 16, 2008 from Kovalam, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

On the water

Alleppey, India

Kerala feels a bit like another country from the rest of India - altogether a bit more relaxed. Which is very welcome. Still rubbish roads and driving, but a bit less chaos, litter, spitting, and the smell of sewers is not so prominent, or maybe my nose has just got used to it. Anyway, our still-crippled rig rolled into Alleppey today and we were deposited onto a houseboat for an overnight tour of the famous Keralan backwaters. I was kind of imagining an Indian version of a meandering canal boat ride along the Grand Union through central and northern England, but actually it was a bit dull. The waterways are very wide and quite busy with boat loads of other tourists and freight, and although the palm-fringed banks were quiet attractive, the scenery really didn't change at all. The Lonely Planet has it as one of their top 10 things to do before you die. All I can say is that if I shuffle off my mortal coil with that on my Top 10 list, I'll be asking St Peter for my money back. It was a perfectly pleasant trip, with a very impressive thunderstorm, but I just don't think I'll be waxing lyrical about it 6 months down the line.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 14, 2008 from Alleppey, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

Driving and stuff

Cochin, India

Hooray. Kerala. Another island of tranquility in a sea of chaos. And no need to get back on the truck for 4 days. By which time it will hopefully be fixed and we'll be reunited with our other driver.

In his absence I've been riding up front with Dan for the past few days and so have had a chance to observe Indian driving close up. And we've come to the conclusion that it's not reckless, or even suicidal. It's homicidal. Because when they crash (and it's surely just a matter of time) they're almost certainly going to take out plenty of others. The overtaking method (particularly popular among the decrepit state run buses) is to just pull out and move past the target vehicle (ignoring minor details like blind bends or brows of hills) and when something comes the other way just flash your lights and sound your horn and hope he stops or gets off the road. When you combine that technique with bloody awful road surfaces and drivers who only use full beams after dark, it makes for a fairly draining ride. Dan hasn't flipped yet but I sense that the camel's back can only take a few more straws!

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 10, 2008 from Cochin, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

The long and grinding road

Coimbatore, India

OK, so I was wrong about 250km being too much in a day. Yesterday we set off at 7am, and 16 hours and 540km later arrived in Coimbatore. Then spent the next hour wandering around the ghost town trying to find anywhere open to get food, or beer, or soft drinks, or even water. Finally managed to get some Sprite, so that was a tasty dinner! For those who were up for it, there was then a 4-hour round trip to a tea Plantation starting at 7am, but I just couldn't face it, especially as we've got another 220km to do in the truck this afternoon. So it's TV, book and food for me. Exciting times.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 9, 2008 from Coimbatore, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

Day of rest

Hassan, India

Plan was to go on to Mysore for some temple viewing today but apparently there's a 10-day festival on there and as we all remember from our nativity plays, if you don't book in advance, you don't get accommodation. And Mysore has no mangers. So we've driven to Hassan, about 40km from Mysore and the eager templephiles among us can do a day trip there. I'm not one of them. I'm templed out. So it's a day of rest for me and about half of the party. Hassan is a thoroughly unremarkable town of 120,000. I can't think of a single thing to say about it so I won't. All I will say is that 250km in a day is too much on Indian roads. Left at 10am and arrived at 8pm. Driver Dan is doing a top job - seems to have boundless energy for a man who exists on Sprite and Marlboro Lights.

Onwards towards Kerala tomorrow.

CORRECTION - there is something (vaguely) interesting about Hassan. The name of this hotel.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 7, 2008 from Hassan, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

Back on the road

Sagar, India

So after 6 days on this overland truck trip I finally get a ride on the truck. And in spite of it being 25 years old with dodgy suspension and the roads being like Swiss cheese (except it's tarmac instead of cheese and craters instead of holes) it was actually quite a comfortable 180km ride to Jog Falls, India's highest waterfall. Though that's a bit like saying Holland's highest mountain. No, that's a bit unfair, they were quite high and I imagine in monsoon season they'd be quite impressive. But there wasn't much water coming off it today. I've rinsed my toothbrush in more ferocious cascades. And the small community serving it seems to consist of 5 omelette shops and little else. The menu on the omelette shop that I went for was...

Plain omelette
Omelette with tomato
Omelette with onions
Omelette with tomato and onions

A limited menu, but boy they knew how to cook their omelettes. It was so good I had two. Indulgent I know, but I am on holiday.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 5, 2008 from Sagar, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

You're gonna need a bigger boat

Goa, India

There I was, just innocently frolicking in the surf at Goa, when I stepped down and something moved beneath my foot. And then bit it. Hard. It damn well hurt. Having got back to shore there was a reasonably steady flow of blood spouting forth from the wound, so after a splendid spot of bandaging administered by Nina, one of my fellow truck riders, we decided to sample the Indian healthcare system. Apart from waiting for a ridiculously long time at Casualty check-in desk (well, there was one other patient), it was a thoroughly impressive performance. A couple of nurses cleaned it up then in came a doctor in flip-flops, anaesthetized it, cleaned it up and put a stitch in, then the nurse bandaged it up and we were on our way. With a bill for 15 quid. Bargain. Although it was agony when the anaesthetic wore off – I was writhing around on my bed wimpering like a baby. Anyway, all well now.

The same can’t be said of the truck sadly. Needless to say the part being flown from the UK still hasn’t arrived and the Indian mechanics working on it in Goa made such a mess of putting the rear suspension back together that after 180 kms to Jog Falls a couple of bolts had popped out and one strut was hanging considerably lower than the other. According to driver Dan it was putting a lot of pressure on the rear axle and it could have snapped which would have caused the truck to roll. So that’s good!

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 4, 2008 from Goa, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

Peace at last

Goa, India

Ah, this is more like it. Empty beach, warm sea, cold beer and fresh seafood. After another snail ride on public transport (320 Miles in 14 hours) we docked in Goa, and managed to find a quiet resort away from the main tourist areas. It's right at the start of the season anyway so fairly quiet but this place is great - just have to share the beach with local fishermen and a herd of cows. There weren't enough rooms for us on the first night so me and Londoner Gary chivalrously offered to pitch a tent on the beach and kip there. The theory of beach camping is better than the reality but hey, those brownie points can be redeemed later.

Went into the nearest tourist town yesterday but very glad to not be staying there - full of Westerners with dreadlocks, Henna tattoos and beards (not the women) who are just, like, loving the way these Indian dudes are just like, so in touch with their inner spirituality man. I suspect what they really like is that they can get stoned every day for about 50 rupees.

Anyway, there's high excitement within the team today. Not only has the spare part for the truck arrived in Delhi, but we're having a pig roast on the beach tonight. Woohoo. Strangely the two vegetarians are less excited about this, but they can have the crackling - that's not meat.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on October 3, 2008 from Goa, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment

The old colony

Mumbai, India

Remind me NEVER to take a sleeper bus in India again. 16 hours from Udaipur to Mumbai on the top bunk of an aging Volvo bus on bumpy roads with the driver either sounding the horn or braking sharply (more often both) every 5 minutes.

Anyway, Mumbai is positively space age compared to most of Rajasthan. I've seen shops with glass fronts, a dog that's actually owned by someone, cars that look like they might pass an MOT, and I even experienced a hot shower. Crazy. There's certainly a strong colonial feel to it, with Victorian architecture all over the place, albeit in a slightly delapidated state. I was told I MUST see Victoria Terminus, the main train station (with 2.5 million people a day going through it), but frankly it looked like St Pancras after a battering with cannons and assorted light weapons.

So I'm joining up with an overland truck tour here that takes me round to Chennai over the course of the next 3 weeks. I'm about ready for someone else to take responsibility for travel and accommodation arrangements, and early signs are that it's a good group, although the truck is not in the greatest of health. It's a 25-year-old Mercedes that has done a few too many Miles and on the last leg from Delhi to Mumbai the transmission and one of the springs gave up. So the drivers are having a spare part flown in from England and limping the truck down to Goa to fit it while we all have to take the train. Great! Just when I thought I'd seen the last of Indian public transport. Ah well...

permalink written by  phileasdogg on September 30, 2008 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs
Send a Compliment
Viewing 51 - 60 of 74 Entries
first | previous | next | last



author feed
 author kml

Heading South?

Online Spanish lessons with a live personal tutor FairTutor can hook you up with Online Spanish lessons with a live personal tutor. It's pretty sweet! Online Spanish lessons with a live personal tutor www.fairtutor.com
Navigate
Home
Find Blogs
Find People
Find Places
Find Photos
Browse Tags
Make Maps
Write a Blog Entry
search
Login

go
create a new account



   

Blogabond v2.40.58.80 © 2024 Expat Software Consulting Services about : press : rss : privacy
View as Map View as Satellite Imagery View as Map with Satellite Imagery Show/Hide Info Labels Zoom Out Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom In
find city: