india odyssey

Hi All,

India is an awakening of the senses. It is filthy, crowed as hell, people have no regard for the “space” issue, its constantly loud , people are everywhere, as are cows, goats , dogs and monkeys and the ever present raven. The food can be so spicy you feel like you just got maced . You have no chance of understanding a lick of what the Indian people are saying and they stare.

These are the reasons I told myself I wouldn’t enjoy it but as it turns out these are the very reasons I did love it too. You can just step out and see things you just won’t see elsewhere , incredible! What is totally bizarre to us is just standard issue chaos for the Indians. I saw a cow in a store and people didn’t give it a second glance. The girls and I walked up to a big goat sleeping on a statue then a bird decided to land on the goat just to hang out. There is all manner of poo everywhere, (human, cow, Ox, horse, elephant, dogs, monkeys ) Now I think I know why Indian people tend to go barefoot,( they have ruined enough shoes) We gave away Laynes shoes for that reason , new flip flops coat $.20

I found the people just let you live as you please w/in their culture. They are so happy to please but can also be "persistant" trying to gain our attention for whatever they want you to buy.

Traci was still point man when it came to negotiating. We would do as much quick research as possible before heading into the fray to get an idea of the cost of things. 750,000,000 people live in poverty in India. $300 US a month is a kings ransom. So it would go something like this of course w/ a crowd of other hucksters chiming in and looking for an advantage :/

T- “how much to get to Mamallapuram?”

Indian- “how long are you staying?” come we go (grabs arm)

T “we just want to go and get dropped off, how much?” note : no meters price has to be settled up front or you will lose and get a migraine

Indian – How long are you staying 3 days? I will drive you for three days and take you back for $300 US )

T – how much to drive us down and drop us off?( Now getting irritated) I hear about 1800 rupees ($17 us)

Indian – no way

T – fine we walk

Indian – still attempting to make a tour out of the fare says 5000 and we see temples.

T- we walk

Indian says 2500

T -we walk

Indian – 2000 , come we go

T -we walk

JD – pulls out 2000 and we are on our way seeing how 200 rupees is $4 and the trip is almost a 2 hr drive!

We smile, calm the kids check our gear and jump in a hunk of metal they call a car for a sweaty ride and check out the sites and sounds of sweet India. Banging into a couple of motorcycles on our merry way with Indian music blasting the whole time.

It really is a cool place and I liked the people a lot. They almost want to help too much which connected w/Traci’s caring nature . I found if I didn’t want something or have a guy attached to my hip while I was walking along a stern “bite me” usually left us in peace and it didn’t cost me another 50 rupees which I was happy to dish out at times , a dollar isn’t much to us but it sure is a lot to a poor uneducated Indian living out doors.

I asked a local to take me fishing because the fishing and danger are also just par for the course. The car engines they strap to the transom w/ a long shaft and prop are downright scary. Pushing the boat into the surf was dicey to say the least. The first thing I thought was don’t get hit by the prop ( engaged- no clutch) then push like mad to get past the surf break. We did it then caught colorful fish and reef fish - think large aquarium.

We sail to Singapore through the Malaca strights

Latitude 09’ 57.5 N

Longitude 087’ 44.1 E

Course 115’

Sea’s calm

Signing off

jd