Bikaner/Jaipur

karni mata rat temple in Bikaner

Here in Agra, leaving tonight on an all night train to Khajuraho for the day then another night train to Varanasi - was trying to avoid a day like this but the trains don't run that often and ti's too far for the bus.  Could not find decent internet nor computers in general in Jaipur or Agra so too frustrating to update lately.

Bikaner was a small town, a little noisier than Jaisalmer but still very nice (I do wish I had stayed in Jaisalmer another day or two).  The fort was red sandstone so very pretty.  Also visited the Karni Mata temple where all the rats are - it wasn't as creepy as I thought it would be.  Since it's a temple, you have to remove your shoes so I was expecting to step in poop, but it was surprisingly clean and only the odd smelly corner.  I went in the afternoon, I think it was nap time as the guy I was talking to said that there weren't to many rats around (maybe 250 - 300) but later in the evening, there would be thousands.  They didn't seem to care that people were there, the younger ones were playing around and kinda cute.  They were brown and not so big.

Also went to a camel research centre, saw some baby camels but otherwise not really worth the trip.

Several travellers I met in the south said that people in the north weren't as friendly which has not been the case (for me anyways).  Much fewer people speak English so it's a little harder to find your way or ask questions but that's to be expected. They do stare more here but I seem to be the only foreigner walking around so not surprising.  When I realized at 6 pm that I could not get on an non-AC bus to Jaipur (getting very hot, would have been torture) the next morning, I decided to take an overnight train that night and at this late time, would have to go down to the station to see if a ticket was available.  The hotel guy offered to come with me, which was so nice and then as we were leaving he said I looked tired, so he went alone and got my ticket.  The hotel people in Rajasthan have been more friendly and helpful than anywhere else.

Jaipur was very spread out which meant having to use a rickshaw driver to go almost anywhere.  The old city was laid out in straight rows and cross streets - a pleasant surprise - all all these streets were lined with stores - several kilometers!  However almost every store person came out to try drag me in, when they started blocking my way to walk by i stopped going there.  I was here for Holi and had a very nice rickshaw driver take me around, only a few drunks were really obnoxious and i had a good time.  Elephant festival was ok - a tourist attraction - really only a photo op with the elephants and a chance to be up close for while. 

I had one day where i didnt' have much to do and couldn't bear walking the streets so I did what i thought was best - went to a mall (not the same as ours but close enough) went for a sorely needed pedicure, McDonald's for fries and a shake and a Starbuck's type place for a frozen drink, came back and asked for a more expensive room with a TV.  There is no English news on any TV here so i only found out about the Tsuanami and reactor problems in Japan a few days ago in a newspaper. have othewise been cutoff from the world (which is not always a bad thing).

Love you Bubbba
xxxxooooo


In Jaipur, went to the monkey temple - was a bit nervous of them but 3 boys (about 12 years old) sold me some peanuts and said they would come with me so it turned out to be fun.



Once I gave them a peanut they would hang on to my pants or my hand, waiting patiently for another.

Tilt left - this is the back of the Hawa Mahal.

They really were cute and were peaking/coming out of these little cubby holes

Technical difficulties with the pics again so will add more later.

Jodhpur and Jaisalmer

Here in Bikaner.

So, somewhere awhile back I said that pol meant neighbourhood but realized the next day that pol means 'gate'  (but i'm sure that's what she said).  Just a reminder to everyone that I'm typing all this stuff from my best recollection (which we all know sucks at the best of times) so just wanted to say that please don't take everything I say as verbatim - there's always the internet to check . . . . . except the people stories, they are true. And of course, have left out a million details - will need something to bore you with when i'm back.

Jodhpur was a nice place, I loved the fort but otherwise, not that much to do.  Stayed with a Jain family in their home which was ok, I felt a bit weird walking through their living room and kitchen to get to my room, but they were very nice - they had just opened for business two months ago so were almost too anxious to please.  When I couldn't find anyone else to share a guide to the local villages (which meant paying twice as much) they said they'd never been on the tour and would come with me to share the cost; and when they showed me the rooms, they were a little pricy, so they told me to name my price which was nice.  When I was leaving, the guy took me to the bus stop on his motorcyle - my napsack on the gas tank and my suitcase between us - still much less than I've seen others with - and the streets are so narrow that there's no cars and you can't go very fast (cows and now pigs too).

On the bus, it was very full, I ended up sharing my seat with a woman and three little kids (the forth had to stand) which I didn't mind.  Then one of them vomited.  Not sure which one, I handed over my toilet paper to the mother- she looked at it as if she didn't know what it was, but got them all cleaned up as best she could, and used newspaper for the floor. I escaped relatively unsplashed and just kept my face out the window, but then the mother is motioning  for me to open the window more, I thought to throw the garbage out, nope, she's passing me a kid to hang out the window.  Fortunately, she wasn't sick again (the bus was going so fast, it would have come back in on us, so I was very relieved) and she went back to her mother.  She was probably 5 or 6 but the size of a very skinny 4 year old. After the second time out the window, she stayed on my lap which was fine and was soon asleep.  I had noticed earlier that she didn't have underwear on so was really hoping for no more surprises.  Then her little brother fell asleep on my arm so all was quiet.  Mother was feeding the baby. By the end of the trip (only another half hour), I won't say we were covered in flies, but lets just say there were a few.

I was in Jaisalmer for 4.5 days and now wish I had stayed just another day or two.  My favourite place so far, quiet, very few cars by the fort; really nice hotel owner; wonderful windowseat/sofas built into the rooftop restaurant. Really loving Rajasthan - took me 7 weeks in the south to fill my camera's memory card, took 2 weeks up here. Camels pulling the carts and on the road are the norm here.

The camel safari was great - just me and a young, chatty Brazlian guy Daniel and the two camel drivers. Daniel was our team photographer - he even brought his tripod along.  The two camel drivers have lived in the desert all their lives, no school, have been to Jaisalmer only a few times "the desert is the best".  While we were not in the middle of nowhere all the time - could see power lines and windmills off in the distance sometimes - we got a feel for what it wold be like.  It was warm but there was a breeze so at no time did I think 'can't take much more of this'.  The desert is mostly scrub and small trees with a few small sand dunes.  The stars at night were amazing, 5 shooting stars spotted altogether although they're so fast, i only saw two.  We had 3 more people join us at the dunes in the evening.

My camel was kind of slow, but much easier to ride and direct than a horse.  They always had to make a sound to get him to move a little faster. Late in the afternoon he started trotting all on his own, i thought, finally, some energy!  He had spotted some females off in distant, they told me to rein him in and that worked for about two minutes then he was off again.  The drivers took the reins as we entered an area with at least two dozen females.  My camel was a good boy and behaved well (on a foot of rope he had no choice).  Next morning, he had energy again, and not because of a good nights sleep - had to be a little more forceful but he behaved himself.

Have met lots of interesting people but again, not enough time to write about all of them.  Met a man from Dublin who retired to India 10 years ago (looked like an old rock star).  He said he tries not to pay more than 200-300 per night and has wandered all over india, leaving every 6 months to renew his visa.

From Bikaner my route will most likely be Jaipur, Agra, Kujaraho (sp?), Varanasi and Delhi.  I've changed my flight to leave on April 8 because I want two weeks to switch back to reality (Canadian time), get off caffeine and back to the gym, find a place to live, etc.   I love India , could definitely live here and am still having a great time and still have a whole month of places to see.


Love you Bubba XXXOOO

Jodhpur from the fort

Mehrangarh fort built in 1806 (i think India's youngest fort)

Village outside Jodhpur - potter is using a 100 year old wheel used by his father and grandfather.  Made lids that precisely fitted the pots just by eye

Tilt left - Bishnoi men have opium every morning for energy to do farm work and every evening (they didn't say what for, didn't ask).  he offered me some, i declined.

Opium guy's daughter was redoing their cow-dung floor.  Didn't smell at all, creates a seal on the dirt that's very easy to sweep clean.  Makes wonderful wallpaper too (have seem some with inlaid mirrors . . . .)

Their home.  Was spotless and cool inside.

Tilt left - visited the weavers and yes, got carried away and bought a carpet but not the one you see.  note their loom is made from wood logs - again, used by parents and grandparents.

When I first got on, the camel was showing his teeth.  I asked if he was angry, they said no, he doesn't like the sun.

Stopping for lunch.  They tie 3 of their legs together so they can't get too far.  Still, they had to use the one to round up the others.

Making lunch.  The farmer on the left came walking out of nowhere and joined us for lunch.

The dunes were very narrow, you can see the scrub on either side but still very neat.  Our footprints started to be swept away after only a few minutes.

Camels are very easy to get along with

Just walking, so no females in sight.

Udaiper

Here in Jodhpur at the Hem Guest House, going to Jaisalemer on Sunday.  I loved Udaiper, everything centres around the lake and the streets are so narrow in the older part that they don't  have too many cars  (which means the motorcycles go faster).   Shared a taxi with a nice French couple up to Ranakpur  temple and Kumbalgarh  fort.  The 3 hours drive up a back road was a beautiful and at times a little scary with the one winding lane for two way traffic up the mountain.  Other than our constantly burping driver, it was a beautiful relaxing day.

Also went walking with an American woman and a guide about two hours outside of Udaiper.  We were hoping to hike the hills but soon realized that there are no paths and they're almost straight up.  Met lots of wonderful people  - in ox-drawn carts, carrying many  things on their heads, making bricks, washing in the river, coming out of their houses to greet us  - none spoke any English  and by the stares, had not  seen many foreigners either.   The guide told us that many have never been to Udaiper, just a bigger village in the other direction.  We had lunch by a river and visited a temple in a cave, then had to bus it back to our startiang point - after 5.5 hours we were beat.

Also met Claire Grove, a very interesting British woman, my age.  She owns a button and bead shop in Cardiff, Wales and comes to India to have buttons made. She gave me this fabulous round silver button with an elephant  in relief and then painted.  I wish I had met Claire sooner instead of the evening before I left Udaiper, we had lots to talk about and she knew the locals - I would have loved to hang out with her for a day.

The  City Palace is beautiful, my favourite so far; every restaurant is on a rooftop and it's quite pretty at night with the lights on the lake river.   Unfortunately, unless you are staying at the Lake Palace Hotel, you can't go there.  Went to a few museums and lazed around on the huge sofa  on the rooftop of my guesthouse having  chai and waiting for my cold to get better  and of course a little retail therapy. The guest house is a 130 year old haveli (mansion) and Raju, the owner, was born here and is the fourth generation.  Also some 'cafes'   where you can just sit for a tea (the first I've found in India) and  they're not Indian  (French and German). Food continues to be great, eating chicken dishes now and avoiding rice.



LOVE YOU BUBBA

XXXOOOOOOO

This elephant had a smile on his face, he seemed very happy.

Mosque on the walking tour.

At Lothal, 4,000 year old well

Ranakpur - with lighting and my camera, pics are not so good

Outside of Udaipur, walking

Villagers

Walking outside Udaiper - this is their dry season, they said much greener usually

This guy was breaking of huge chunks of rock by himself to sell to the local building company

Lake Palace  - water looks pretty good here - it's actually green

View from the restaurant/lounge area at the guest house.

Ahmedabad

I'm here in Udaipur staying at the Nukkad Guest House.

In Ahmedabad, I was spoiled rotten by Dinesh and Shruti (my friend Sudhi's husband and daughter - Sudhi was still in Canada) and had a nice rest - I spent 3 days (not all in a row) doing nothing but sitting on their balcony, reading, a little computer, and little TV.  I really appreciated the down time.  One day I went into work with Shruti, her driver dropped her off, took me to some stores for shopping and then to Gandhi's ashram.  It as a beautiful, peaceful quite place by the river with a great museum section telling the story of  his life.  His little house; his room with his mattress and spinning wheel.  He must have had spinning wheels all over India as this was the third one of 'his' that I've seen.

Shruti works for the biggest denim manufacturer in India (from the cotton ball to finished jeans for GAP, Banana Republic, Lee's, Wrangler, etc).  She took me to their warehouse store and picky me did find a pair of jeans for Rs 600 ($15), then we went for ice cream (I love Shruti) and then to a beautiful Step-Well. 

Dinesh worried about me alot (I'm sure he thought I was crazy staying home all day and doing nothing), saw that I was very well fed (at some very fine restaurants) and booked my bus ticket to Udaiper for me.  The bus was the nicest, newest in all of India, complete with AC and brand new curtains - a real treat. He also took me on an Old City walking tour and to Lothal - a 4,000 year old archeological site.

I told Dinesh and Shruti that I wll never let them forget the time when Shruti and I walked home from the laser light show (at times not sure where we were) and the time when Dinesh was driving on the wrong side of the road.  I said, 'aren't we on the wrong side of the road' and he replied,'yes.'  But then several motorcycles, also going the wrong way passed us, 'but see, we're not the only ones'.

The dancers

The beautiful Bride and dress!

Back view of the dress (must have weighed a ton) the dancers and band led the way

The band

Bride and Groom

Tilt left - where the wedding ceremony took place.  My pics don't do justice to any of this - all fresh flowers were incredible.

I have more pics but forgot my camera in my napsack - went hiking today, so will upload more laters.

Madurai/Aurangabad

Haven’t had good internet access for awhile. I’m here in Ahmedabad being spoiled by Dinesh and Shruti (my friend Sudhi’s husband and daughter).  They have a beautiful home and right now, am sitting on a balcony that overlooks many trees, using Dinesh’s laptop, there’s a nice, cool breeze, about 25 degrees C.

Leaving the ashram was a bit of a culture shock but it only lasted a day.  I liked Madurai more than Chennai and Mysore, probably just more used to the big cities now.  They have a very large temple here, as I approached a tout came up to me telling me he was an undercover cop (even I didn’t believe that one) should leave my shoes in this particular store where I can get a rooftop view of the temple afterwards.  I left my flip flops there knowing he would get a commission for bringing me in and knowing that I would never buy anything there (have bought a few little things along the way but have not hit shopping mode yet).

Temple was huge with beautiful artwork, as I was leaving I thought that a pigeon pooped on my head, but couldn’t feel anything, so continued on.  Talked to some young women who asked where my shoes were  - the area around the temple is interlocking brick, no vehicles so very pleasant to stroll, I was walking in a square and knew the tout would find me well before I found the store.   Continued going in stores, the tailors, looking around for about 2 hours then on to the Gandhi Museum which was some distance away. 
  

A bicycle rickshaw guy was following me, but he was much older than me so I didn’t want to use him to go that distance, he kept following  and pestering me.  I bent down and that’s when I saw a piece of dried poop in my hair.  He then conveyed to me that it was on the side of my head (guess I didn’t check there). Judging from how hard it was to get a comb through my hair, the bird got me good but I was glad that I was dealing with dry, and not wet poop.  In Toronto I would have run home screaming, to Javex my hair but I just continued on.   I was so grateful for him telling me (must have talked to at least 5 people who hadn’t said anything and had bought flowers for my hair that day so thought I was looking so prettyJ ) so off we went.  

I felt bad the whole way because it was hot, when we got to a little hill, he had to stop, I got out and helped him pull the rig up the hill (only a minute).  When we came to a bridge with an incline leading up to it I though oh no, but he went down under the bridge, past cows and what looked like water buffalo, their tails flicking us as we came slowly by.  I told him no need to wait for me at the museum. It was similar to riding the elephant in Sri Lanka – couldn’t wait to be finished.  This Gandhi Museum was better than the last but my timing was bad - they were closing for the afternoon break so I had to rush through some parts.

Another day, went to the post office to send a package off which took about 1.5 hours from arrival, waiting, packaging, paperwork.  the man helping me asked me to tip the man who had packaged up my stuff indicating that he was on commission, so I did.  He was so grateful he insisted that he buy me tea, so the three of us sat and had tea while the  others patiently waited their turn.

On my way back, a bus load of school children were all hanging out the window yelling and waving at me "Hello, hello".  I yelled and waved back.

Arrived in Mumbai around 5 pm, and asked where the prepaid taxi stand was.  These guys said "we are the prepaid stand".  they showed me a list of prices and I knew they weren't because when I phoned the hotel I was staying at the owner kindly told me not to pay  more than Rs 300 from the airport.  These guys wanted Rs. 900.  I told the no but they put my suitcase in their car, I asked them to take it out, they did, and we continue discussing the price.  I kept saying it was too much, they were so insistent and then they put my suitecase in the car again.  This time, in a very loud voice, 'get my suitcase out of the car!'  (ok, I might have been yelling by then) They did.  I walked up to a police officer or maybe airport security guard told him my story.  He pulled over a taxi, talked tot he driver and said 'don't pay anymore than Rs 300.  I thanked him and off we went.  Rs 300 is about $7.50 and the ride was almost an hour through Mumbai in rush hour.  Drove through the city to my hotel near the train station as I was leaving for Aurangabad the next day.  .Saw some of the slums (many with satellite dishes), smelled the smog and stench, happy to do Mumbai some other time. 

I stayed at Hotel Outram on Marzaban Road, the rooms had no bathrooms but since I was staying less than 12 hours I figured I would try it (and it was only $17).  The communal washrooms were not too scary, very tiny rooms with showers and some with toilets.  I got a few odd looks from some men but ignored them.  The room was very clean and quiet. The hotel owner assured me that i would be quite safe walking to the train station 7 minutes away at 5:00 in the morning and offered to have someone walk me there.  I declined, but I did have to wake them up to let me out.  There were many people and dogs sleeping by the buildings but only a few heads raised to look at me, I guess I woke them up with the noise from my suitcase being pulled along the road.

On the train, I met a nice young man named DJ, he was a student on his way to visit his parents for the weekend.  He asked alot about Canadian culture and explained about Indian culture. At one point he was resting his arm on the shoulder of the man next to him and I asked, do you know that man. He said no, but it didn`t matter. He loved India because he could walk up to anyone and start a conversation `they are all my brothers`.

In Aurangabad went to the Ellora caves, decided to try a share-jeep – there were 18 of us (5 in the front, 5 in the back – both old kind of bench seating and 8 in the luggage area at the back, dropped me off at the caves – Rs. 20. On the way home, no jeeps, buses or rickshaws to be had so I approached 2 Buddhist monks who appeared to be in the same boat.  One spoke enough English, after much searching we found rickshaw driver who wanted Rs 400 to take us back.  Monks said too much, we got him to take us to the shared jeep loading stop for Rs 50 (on the way, twice there was a bus behind us so we stopped, all jumped out but the buses wouldn’t stop).  Got ourselves into the share jeep but the guy starts complaining that we are taking up the entire back seat (the monks are big guys) where there should be 5 people at Rs. 20 each.  After much back in forth between the monk and this guy, the monk offers to pay Rs 100 for the back seat and then says to me ‘these Indian people!’ (they were Tibetan, on a 5 day pilgrimage).  We sit and wait, the 7 kids in the front seat (one with his butt out the window) are laughing at us when another guy comes and starts yelling that we have to get out, opening the doors, asking us to exit– all along I’m pretending I don’t understand – the monks sit tight so I do too, this goes on for about 5 minutes, the jeep people give up and we leave.

From Aurangabad I took a tour bus with the locals to the Ajanta caves and was then hoping to catch a bus or a taxi to Jalgon where I take the train to Ahmedabad.  While standing waiting for the bus, some ladies are nearby and I can't help but feel like their talking about me/looking at me.  I strike up a conversation with them and they tell me they were talking about me, noticing that I'm wearing Indian clothes and wondering why I am alone. They tell me they admire me and wish me a good trip.

On the bus, we stop at what I call a Tea & Pee stop - it's a nice restaurant in the middle of nowhere, created for tour buses to stop for T & P. There are several buses there already. I'm standing there, looking around, deciding if I should eat and a guy comes up to me. Our conversation went like something like this:
'Are you Canadian'
'Yes'
'And you want to get to Jalgon today after the caves'
Look of wonderment on my face
'Your rickshaw driver yesterday was my cousin' (the rickshaw driver had asked me what my plans were for the next day)
'Ok, but how did you know it as me?'
'Canadian in a punjabi suit, look around'
I did.  Of the 200 or so people there weren't many foreigners and I was the only one in a punjabi suit (pants and a long tunic).
'Yes, I might need a ride'
He offered to take me the rest of the way to the caves but I declined.

When we got to the caves, he met my bus and offered to take my suitcase, I again declined, went to the caves. I had noticed on the way in that the way to get on a bus was to wait on the side of the road and flag one down (the caves are in the middle of nowhere).  I coluldn't picture myself doing this so thought I would take him up on his offer.  when I was done with the caves, the people who ran the souvenir stalls saw me coming and pointed the way to my driver.  He drove me so far, then another guy met us and I got his car.  This guy wasn't that talkative so it was a long drive (3 hours), i wasn't sure how much English he could understand, so I stared out the window alot, realizing that I wasn't in a licenced taxi, just some guy's old car and had no idea where I was.  Nevertheless, he dropped me at my hotel and waited to make sure I could get a room.

I stayed at the Hotel Plaza, a small pristine little place with a very friendly owner. The hot water wasn`t working but they offered a bucket of steamy water which you mix with a bucket of cold.  The owner very kindly told me how the train I want often comes in on a different track than what they say and many people miss it because of this.  He was right, I made my train and was grateful for his advice.

Dinesh met me at the train station in Ahmedabad.   Shruti took me to an amazing laser light show complete with water fountains and huge fireballs that projected Shiva onto a screen, telling a Hindu story.  Yesterday, Shruti took me to a wedding which I was so honoured to attend. Pics on next post.

Love you lots Bubba

XXXXOOOO

Detail of Gopuram at the temple in Madurai.  

Ellora Caves - between the sunlight and other issues, my pics won't aren't as good as what we've seen on the internet. I started at the far end so that I had some caves that were not crowded.

Ellora

Tilt your head left - it's hard to keep in mind that all these caves were once covered with 'plaster' and painted. Some still remains.  the white spots are remnants of plaster; white lines are lines of quartz.

Ellora - Buddhist caves

Girls in Aurangabad I was talking to

The Aurangabad caves are not very popular, which was great for me - they're high on a hill, I was the only one there except for hundreds of these green big-parakeet birds with dark red beaks.

  Aurangabad scultures had more of their 'parts' intact than Ellora and Ajanta.

Tilt to the left - Ajanta - the are over 2,000 years old.  Incredible detail considering what they had to work with. Not many pics due to lighting.  Made good use of my flashlight and head lamp (thanks Nick and Marie Noelle!)

Daulatabad Fort - 12th century

The castle had three concentric walls of defence, a dry moat, wet  moat and a bat invested stair well (the only way up).  Again, the lights came  in handy.  From the first gate to the top of the hill, about an hour to climb (only 5 minutes with the bats though, and I accepted from the start that I would be peed or pooped on but had good luck)

Amma's Ashram

The ashram was even more relaxing than Fort Cochi. I think at the time there were about 700 people there, mostly from all over the world.
- no pressure to become an Amma devotee or participate in anything other than seva.  I 'mediated' on the beach with my book alot; walked to the village; walked down the beach road
- food was great - several options - the chow line that was free with accommodation served rice (or rice soup) with two or three side things; combo indian/western chow line that you had to pay for but most I paid for a meal was Rs 40 - Rasputin's long lost relative was in this line - reminded me of the soup nazi - he would get upset if you didnt' have a bowl on a plate (just a bowl or just a plate was no good), slopped it in, then wish you a nice evening; Western Cafe - on my last day had the best ever grilled cheese and fries!

Meditating on the rocks (I was sitting outside ashram property).  Rocks were put here by the government; waves so strong were eroding the peninsula.  Although this is the east side, tsumani still left them 5 feet under water.

John and I went 6 km down the beach road to an old concrete and rocks boat jetty to see the dolphins at sunset; eagles snatching fish out of the water.

View from the 11th floor; ashram is on a peninsula (5 min walk from one side to the other). The boat cruise that brought us here was 4 hours along this causeway.

Beach road

Kanyakumari - walked through little pathways between the houses to get to this boat jetty.

- at sunset, several hundred cranes would come nest in 5-6 trees; always 4-5 eagles flying around that apparently will snatch your toast off your plate (not huge, wingspan maybe 2.5 - 3 feet)
- very basic (again, somewhat like prison) but we were here voluntary and for Rs 200 per day, no one complains - rooms with 2 bunk beds, fan, 4 metal lockers and a washroom; all metal dishes, everyone washed their own using really fine sand; ashramites (yes, that's what their called) where plain white, no shorts; I was on the 11th floor with an elevator so small and so slow I walked up and down most of the time
- for seva I was dishes (the ones used to prepare the food), helped move books - the human chain thing and cut up vegetables
- for the 'hug' from Amma it's  all very organized, remove glasses and hair pins, wipe your face, leave your bags. She presses your face into her breast at the same time she talking to her entourage of about 10 people who are always with her, no idea what she's talking about, puts her hands on your back under your neck.  I was there for what seemed like an eternity, wondering if she forgot I was there, there she said something in my ear, couldn't understand it (funny, they asked what language I spoke), they pulled me up and away I go. Didn't do anything for me but others were crying (perhaps they needed a hug).

 John (the guy I travelled here with) and I had some good laughs, it was really nice to have another person who didn't think Amma was a god.  On my last night we walked down the beach road to see the dolphins swimming by an old pier as the sun went down, it was very beautiful.  We then took a bus back - loud music, incense - it was a nice way to spend the last night there.

Went to Kanyakumari by train, nice little place, saw everything I needed to see and took the buse to Madurai.  Flying to Mumbai on Thurs 10 then train to Aurangabad on the 11th.

Love you
Bubba
\XXXXXXOOOOOOO