Things missing from previous blogs

Friday 19th Chennai (formerly Madras).

Details missing from previous blogs.

1) Where in England we have white seagulls everywhere, in India graceful white eagrets stalk the fields, stream and ponds.

2) There is still a lot of water about following on from the Monsoon. Lakes are everywhere, mosquitoes must be rife.
    Many more water buffaloes, than up North.  

3) Soil is brick red.

Travel from Bhubeneshaw to Visakhapatnam, get off at the correct station, fellow traveller says no its the next one, I assume that he knows what he is talking about, bollocks , I now travel 50 miles further South, that's two hours by train further South than I want to be.
I think he was trying to help. I book a bus ticket to the primitive tribes people of Aruka Hills tour the next day, kick off 6.30am.

The wonderful hotel beach that I have been desperately trying to email and phone is fully booked, but also looks badly run. I book into a hotel called "The Legend", its wardrobe has no coat hangers, no soap, no towels, no LOO paper. This is a standard hotel for Hindus. The Air/con doesn't work either. How ever there don't seem to be any bed bugs, perhaps the quit in disgust. Ans the cockroaches are only small. The small window looks out onto a small window of the adjacent hotel. There is however a wonderful bakery just round the corner, it would take a couple of blogs to describe the charms of the I fall asleep at 10.00pm and wake up at 4.30am Thursday morning.

I lie in bed thinking, I seriously miss salads.   Constant curry is fine, but nor three times a day.

Get to the bus station, only to be pleasantly surprised and told that I am being upgraded to the train trip that last night was fuk\lly booked. We are rushed to the Train Station and board our own coach. The journey starts slow, past small villages with palm leaf huts, fields of rice, coconuts and banana plantations. Goats, buffaloes are herded. Up in the low hill there is a Shiva Temple, hidden in the jungle of trees. Its a blue sky morning, the sun shoos away the morning mists, fluffy white cumuli hide behind the mountains. Turquoise winged butterflies dance about, arranging themselves against the dark green foliage and the darker shadows, it looks like some glorious sari. We pass th\rough the first tunnel, there is a sudden scream. Its the children they all scream Aah as we enter each tunnel. The Aas turn to laughter as we approach another tunnel.

The mountains are verdant green, covered with all sorts of trees, turquoise birds fly everywhere, it is pleasantly warm. The carriage door is open as is the trend in India. I am leaning out taking photos, there is a 200ft drop below me. As the train winds slowly up the mountains it starts to wind almost back on itself, we will be up around 6oooft. This high up you can see saried women working in fields. There are giant leafed eddoes, (see Will Giles Exotic Garden). Butterflies of different hues, coffee and cream like giant slices of tiramasu battler above a sparkling mountain stream. There are outcrops of rock the colour of Swan Vestas matches, amid the brick red brown earth. Quartz outcrops glisten in the sun high above the track.

We are transported by bus from village shop to cafe. I sit next to a mature Bhutan student called Sonam, studying in India, he is on a trip with 10 other students. They are great fun, very relaxed, speak good English and well educated, they all work for the various Governmental Departments and are looking for 2nd careers. The Bhutan Posse is a big hit, we all swap email addresses. They tell me jokes that I heard when I was 13. They day is let down by my return to the Hotel Legend.

At 4.20 am I leave to catch the express to Chennai. It leaves bang on 4.40, I fall asleep.