Another sad farewell....well maybe not sad

Back in Sivakasi now, packing up and getting ready to head out. But let me wrap up some last bits of my travels up north. The Taj Mahal was not really what I had expected. I thought of some big bustling city, crowded streets, beggars everywhere. After all, it is the marquee attraction in India. I thought I'd enter some big square and immediately be overun by small children grasping whatever part of me they could asking for money while I had to simultaneously fend off the venders trying to sell me miniatures of the Taj and constantly be asked which country I was from and what my name was... That wasn't it at all. The area around the Taj doesn't allow cars and for some entrances, you can only take a horsedrawn or bicycled rickshaw. The streets weren't too crowded, almost a little quieter and more peaceful than other places we'd been in northern India. The Taj is surrounded by four big gates, where people by their tickets and get in line... well, indians don't quite understand what a line is and the authorities shouted and shoved all the of the people that blatantly cut in front. After passing through the big gate, you came upon a large garden area and a stunning view of the Taj. Trees and grass and ponds littered area. There were many people, but I'd call it far from heaving with people. We eventually manuevered our way inside, which wasn't nearly as impressive as the outside. We then sat on the grass and watched the sun fully set, then set out for dinner.

The next day we got a taxi we had hired to drive us the 5 hours back to Dehli, where Adrienne and Hannah had to fly out of at 4:30. Sander and i then made our way to a hotel that said they had english movie channels, but didn't. The guy that carried sander's bags to the room also snatched his ipod in the process. This all occurred quite quickly and we fortunately hadn't checked in yet. We managed to get his ipod back which was "left on the bed" (yeah right" and grudgingly made our way to a hotel much closer to the airport and with much nicer staff. We then were scheduled to fly out at 9:15AM Dec.5. Of course, nothing is ever on time in India and our flight was delayed for 4 hours. We arrived late in Trivandrum and had to catch a late train back to Satur. We didn't arrive in Satur till 3AM and had to catch a one hour rickshaw ride back to Sivakasi because no buses ran that late. Not only was the rickshaw driver slow, but every time a truck approached, he would slow way down and stop in the middle of the road until the last minute when the truck was about to smash us he'd swirve out of the way.... Don't ask me, Indian logic.

Sander and I spent only a few days in Sivakasi before we left again for Varkala. It was our last weekend and our favorite place in Southern India. We wanted to get a nice tan and relax once more before going home. We unfortunately had to grab the late train back from Trivandrum again. Taking a train isn't always easy. You have to keep a sharp eye out to see your stop. It isn't announced, and no one tells you anything. When it's 2:30AM my observation levels aren't always 100%. Unfortunately, the platform was located on the side of the train where all the doors were locked in our carraige and all the windows had grates pulled over, so I needed to run halfway down the next carraige to see the stop. I realize it as Satur when the train started moving, ran back, awoke Sander who was slumbering away and ran back. The train had gathered a deceptive amount of speed, but that didn't stop us from jumping ship. The train was moving much faster than I thought so when I hit the ground I really 'hit' the ground. I tore a hole in my pants and gashed my right knee. I also accrued various cuts, scraps and bruises on my hands and feet. My body seared with pain.... why do we say the word seared? to associate pain with burning? That sounds too much like an STD, I think I'll use the word shot... Pain "shot" through my body (yeah, that sounds better). Fortunately I wasn't bleeding too profusely because we needed to grab a rickshaw to drive us the hour back to Sivakasi. All I could think about was infection, I wanted to clean my wounds. I had falled and got cut on the rocks beside the tracks, the tracks which are covered with human excrement flowing from the train toilets. Awesome.... I hadn't been worried this much about my health since the time I was bit by a dog riding my back through sivakasi. Should I get the rabies vaccine which involves certain blood products? In india blood products usually involve HIV, Hep C or other nasties. Or should I risk getting rabies which has a zero percent survival rate in the existence of the disease save one girl which happened very recently and most likely not in a developing nation? Well, I convinced myself that the dog wasn't rabid and the wound was very small and any saliva it had should have been soaked into my pants instead of my skin when it bit through. I still have no rabies and hopefully no serious infection of my wounds by the time I return home.

I leave tonight for Chennai, spend the day there, then fly out at 4AM the next morning to London where I spend 6 days visiting friends. I'm really looking forward to it. I wish you all well and can't wait to see everyone on my return home.