We're here!

Hello all!

I say 'all'...more accurately i mean hello Mums. As the title of the blog suggests we are infact here in India, alive AND well (for the time being anyway, touch sandalwood) We arrived in Chennai in the early hours of tuesday morning and, well what can i say...you read about it for a year, imagine it for a year...but nothing can prepare you for the reality of it. Our first few hours in Chennai were pretty intense really. The cab ride to our hostel introduced us to the 'musky' aromas of the city(for musky read vile) and its traffic chaos. Its heart in mouth stuff driving in this country. All normal rules seem to fly out the window. people overtaking eachother when and wherever, dodging cows, (mum look away now) driving down the wrong side of dual carriage ways in between oncoming traffic. But its really rather fun once you resign yourself to it. Arriving at our hostel we had to step over street children sleeping on bags of rubbish...again nothing can prepare you for that sight. We got in and put our heads down for the night in a lovely (if a bit crumbling) room in the market district of the city. We were woken up at 5.30am by the sound of hundreds of crows and the morning call to prayer from a mosque about 50 yards away. It felt like we were on another planet, haunting but exciting.

Anyway we spent only a day in Chennai. I spent most of the time trying to get to grips with a couple of fears 1) amoebic dysentry 2) bed bugs 3) eating curry for breakfast with your hands and 4) amoebic dysentry...it doesnt sound much fun.

So we've made a sharp exit 50 km down the coast (again cow dodging etc) to an amazing stone carving village by the sea called Mamallapuram. Its great here. Quite touristy but a much more gentle entry into India. Most of the pictures at the top were taken here apart from the one of us in the back of an auto rickshaw wich is in Chennai. We ate the most amazing lobster and the biggest prawns i've ever seen in my life on the beach last night. again see pic of Holly holding the prawn above...we're here for another day then down the coast to Pondicherry.

Its taken a few days to get used to the Indian way...but i think its great. there is no real sense of personal space, people stare at you, ask you ooads of questions. Once you get used to it its really refreshing. If you want to talk you talk, if you want to stare you stare, if you want to sit down you sit down right next to someone...there's no polite reserve really.

ANYWAY...im blathering...heres Holly...

Sam's put it excellently so I'll keep it brief...

Smells: from the puke-makingly terrible to the yummiest amazing.

Sunsets: beath-taking

Prawns: Massive

Eating with hands: interesting

Pronounciation of Mamallapuram: impossible

Traffic laws: redundant

Seeing a three month old baby balanced in the arms of the 2nd passenger on a motorbike: terrifying

Street Children sleepling on the pavement: heartbreaking

Time running out on the internet. One last thing to report:

Bridger/sarong update: Not one yet, but it's only a matter of time. He bought insense yesterday.

peace and love, xx