We said goodbye to Jemimah -'Bye cat, enjoy Ballarat', (thanks Jill and Alan for having us to stay). With our bags and the tirfor winch which should have sailed with the landcruiser..."don't mention the winch, I did once but I think I got away with it"...we were chaufferred in a pimped-up pathfinder to the airport. 32 hours later (a 9 hr stop over in KL) we arrived in Chennai where we got a taxi to Paradise Hotel. The Indian's take hand luggage allowances to the extreme, and they were up and ready to disembark as soon as we hit the tarmac, literally. We couldn't find anywhere that sold beer (Andrew was devistated)so we headed to our room to go to sleep. Chennai is manic. We thought we'd seen it all in West Africa, but the driving, the horns, the yelling, the smells and the way people go about life is amazing. It can actually be described as graceful, the way people cross major intersections calmly. With an auto rickshaw or massive bus seating (and standing) 70 people with a blaring horn approaching, we laugh as we are nearly run over. I (Amelia) feel very vulnerable however Andrew is confident that we wont get run over. It is true that the locals have mastered the roads. Our air-horn upgrade is going to be invaluable. The louder and more annoying, the better.
We have been to the shipping agent and got some clearing agent details and walked a long way for a beer - seeing the filming of a Bollywood film en-route. No maps we have are accurate and involve some guess work. It may take a few days to get used to, but eating curry 3 meals a day should be interesting. We are still learning to roll sticky wet rice, curry and coconut sauces and bread into balls to eat with our hand without looking like idiots. We have not seen any supermarkets as such, just hundreds of stalls selling fried rices, mobile phones, buckets and clothing. If we need toilet paper, toothpaste or suncream, we are stuffed. There are more and more taxi drivers congregating around our street, but we've made friends with one guy who doesn't hassel us. He's lovely and will take us to the clearing agent near George Town tomorrow. We've seen a few very beautiful buildings and hope to properly explore once we have all the car documentation worked out. The new carnet should arrive at the DHL office here by Friday... a very stressful waiting game. Without it, we cannot get the car.
We have been to the shipping agent and got some clearing agent details and walked a long way for a beer - seeing the filming of a Bollywood film en-route. No maps we have are accurate and involve some guess work. It may take a few days to get used to, but eating curry 3 meals a day should be interesting. We are still learning to roll sticky wet rice, curry and coconut sauces and bread into balls to eat with our hand without looking like idiots. We have not seen any supermarkets as such, just hundreds of stalls selling fried rices, mobile phones, buckets and clothing. If we need toilet paper, toothpaste or suncream, we are stuffed. There are more and more taxi drivers congregating around our street, but we've made friends with one guy who doesn't hassel us. He's lovely and will take us to the clearing agent near George Town tomorrow. We've seen a few very beautiful buildings and hope to properly explore once we have all the car documentation worked out. The new carnet should arrive at the DHL office here by Friday... a very stressful waiting game. Without it, we cannot get the car.
Hey guys how ya going... I can already see Jones chomping at the bit to get out there on the roads with everyone else and Meals thinking that it is not the best idea. I read this everyday thinking that I will get mentioned or something but nothing… can’t wait until you guys use “the shovel” for the first time. All the best guys, I am having fun reading this blog well done Meals your way with the English language paints the perfect picture.
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Bradles