Can't figure out what day it is....

It’s January 2^nd 2011 , I think it’s Tuesday but probably Monday. Feels like Tuesday.

Breakfast was more like dinner, this hot chilli sort of soup full of vegetables and various other foods, I have no idea what they were. I asked “what is this” to which he replied “mackablaghabanadhabu”, “sorry” I said to which he again replied  “mackablaghabanadhabu” a bit slower. So I left that alone and asked what the little puffy looking white things were, he said “lakhmasmakighakinalanda”. This time instead of asking again I simply said “oh !” Now I don’t ask anymore.

Today it’s to the beach for a swim, hope it’s not got pooh floating in the waves (which would remind me of Bondi !) but I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Sitting at reception writing this, unattractive man walks in with beautiful young wife. Arranged marriage ? I think so. They are on holiday, she looks miserable, walks behind him, he seems to think he is very important. Then there are all the guys walking around, they look relatively well off, they are here on vacation. They are around 30, their wives look to be no more than 15 or 16, maybe less. Either way, very very young.

One of the main reasons I booked this hotel was because it has a swimming pool. Unfortunately, from the “Only in India file” as you can see from the photo below, it has no water in it. Apparently been that way since forever, I understand it doesn’t hold water, which of course you need a pool to do.

 

Again, from the “Only in India file” (and there will be plenty of these) in order to get to the beach you have to walk down 125 steep steps, as per below. You can also notice that they go directly through a building site, OSH would have a field day wouldn’t they ? Just have to watch out for bits of concrete, bricks or steel reinforcing rods falling but other than that perfectly safe.

  The steps back up seem to number closer to 130 but this might be because in 600 plus degree heat, humidity somewhere close to 3000%, what‘s a few extra steps right ? You’ve heard of The Stairway to Heaven ? This is the same same, not so different, except it’s the stairway to air conditioning, and that’s heaven.

 

The beach was actually amazing, reminds me a bit of Noosa (in a couple of ways at least) They have life guards who do nothing but wave red flags and blow their whistles non-stop. I doubt they would be capable of actually saving anyone and would probably not want to get their feet wet. I think they have figured out that if they blow their whistles enough then people won’t go any deeper than about knee deep and it won’t be an issue. Funny to watch the Indians swimming, with their clothes on, mostly in groups…..

January 1st 2011, the new year.

It’s January 1^st, 2011 and I have just experienced that initial shock of arriving in India, that smell of raw sewerage as you walk out of the airport terminal in the pitch black of night, minimal lighting even at the airport pick-up area, getting into the arranged car and driving off hoping that some of those men who seem to be from rent-a-crowd don’t decide to follow your car into the night, stop your car, pull you and the driver out, give you a mild beating (hopefully mild) and rob you. Not imagined, happens, happened to a young English guy on my first visit to Pune some years ago. He spent the entire month organising a new passport and re-arranging his tickets home.

Down some very dark streets and alleys 15km toward…I wouldn’t have any idea, to Kovalam, the beach area near Thiruvananthapruranam (Trivandrum to most people) Late, tired, formalities over pretty quick, got rid of the guy who won’t go away because he wants a tip. Shows me everything, every light switch and plug, shows me how the taps work (maybe thinking I haven’t ever seen those before), shows me how to open and close doors etc. I asked about safety deposit boxes so they bring one to my room (Southpark face should be inserted here) It’s about 8kg I guess, means you can put everything in it and the baddies can simply steal the whole thing without having to search the room. There are certain things they just don’t get, quite a lot of things actually.

The noises during the night were unbelieveable,  100 different noises at any one time, 100 different noises during the day. It's kind of interesting sitting quietly trying to differentiate some of the noises, isolate them out from the cacophony of sound (I think that's a word !)

I am still locked in my room, not yet ready to venture out, need more mental preparation. Sounds strange I know but that’s what India does to you. Even though I've been here twice before and know what to expect there is still this shock, this massive assault on your senses from every possible angle. Time for pranayama, that will give me some extra much needed strength to begin facing this first barrage (which will come in the form of overly-keen hotel staff wanting to help me)

Later on....been down to the beach, wandered around, got annoyed by literally hundreds of men trying to sell me anything and everything, all utterly useless stuff as far as I am concerned, their sales skills are abysmal, surely it doesn't work for them but still they try.

Here's a couple of photos of the beach at Kovalam, one from each end of the beach. Interesting to see a beach in India, can't quite get my head around it all, a bit numb, seeing Indian people at the beach is a bit surreal to me, especially when they go into the water in groups with clothes on.

On the beach in Queensland

 This is my "Southpark face", the dead-pan-type face you give when someone says something really odd or maybe just really dumb, you know, the kind of thing a loopy person says to which there is really no reply, a blank sort of a stare that suggests that a nearby rock would be the best place to hide under right now.

So why have I put this on my first blog post ? Well that would be a very good question and deserving of an equally good answer, that being, that I wanted to practice uploading a photo onto the blog and this was the first one I saw whilst browsing. See, everything has it's own logic !

Could just have easily been this one, the "thumbs-up" photo, that's the one you use when you want to give someone the, well, thumbs-up I guess.

Starting my journey toward Arunachala in India with 6 nights on the Gold Coast in Australia, sets the scene for a major contrast between the tacky and soul-less nature of the Gold Coast with the utter sense assault I will get on arrival in India. 6 nights here, Xmas with my two brothers which means West Coast whitebait, Holy Smoke hot smoked salmon (which I bought over with me from NZ) and fresh Queensland prawns. I decided on this time here for two really good reasons, firstly the fantastic weather and secondly the beaches. Well it's been raining non-stop since I arrived, on a plane that was 4 hours late, and is expected to be raining until long after I leave. Still, I have the beach and when it's raining it just means that you get to be on the beach without being burnt to a crisp.

Then there will be four nights in Singapore where the forecast is suggesting wet season type rain for my entire visit there as well. So much for acclimatising. 

Well this is just my first post, something of a practice run and really just typical of the dribble that I will tend to write, often having very little to do with any sort or reality and completely lacking in intelligence.

So what is this place I am going to, this Arunachala ? Well maybe in the next post I will start writing about that.