Chai chai

All throughout India there are tea stalls and you can here them singing "chai chai" as they brew and chat with their customers. I am not a big tea drinker but I luuuuuv Indian chai. It is always piping hot, very sweet and creamy - yum! This is the first time I have ever seen a woman working a stall - very exciting!



This little beauty was waiting patiently for her tea before heading off to school.

Ancient Wonders

'Mama' is a World Heritage site so I checked out what all the fuss is about! Being on Vancouver time I was awake at 2am so when I arrived at the Five Rathas for the opening time of 6am I had the place to myself (Indian standards of by myself :). The Five Rathas are carved from single pieces of rock and are low-laying monoliths. Each temple is dedicated to a Hindu god and named for one of the Pandavas, the five hero-brothers of the epic Mahabharata, plus their common wife - nothing like sharing the love! These shrines were hidden in sand until the British evacuated them 200 years ago.



Nakula-Sahadeva Ratha - dedicated to Indra



Dharmaraja Ratha



Bhima Ratha - Inside there is a shrine to Vishnu



Arjuna Ratha - dedicated to Shiva



Draupadi Ratha - dedicated to the goddess of Durga who represents femininity and fertility. There were lots of finger marks on her indicating many hands praying for a baby.

Tamil Nadu

Fast facts:

Population: 62.1 million
Area: 130,058 sq km
Capital: Chennai
Main language: Tamil
Main attraction: 5000 temples

A little history: The Tamils consider themselves the standard bearers of Dravidian - pre-Aryan Indian -civilization. Their culture, language and history are distinctive from Northern Indian and their ability to trace Tamil identity to classical antiquity is a huge source of pride for them. Ever since Indian Independence in 1947 (the Indians and the Newfies are not too far apart!) Tamil politicians have been against the caste system and Hindi. If only the rest of India would jump on board!

I am in a seaside town called Mamallapuram which was hit by the Tsunami in 2004. It is a World Heritage site with a population of 12,345. Even though it is full of ancient archaeological wonders it is also considered the Kingdom of Backpackistan... I am staying in the plush Hotel Daphne and looking forward to taking in these ancient wonders over the next few days! Across the road is an orphanage and here are a few of the gems that live there.




Ancient wonders up tomorrow!

Alive and well

I am finally here! Holy Hannah what a trip. I am at the 48 hour mark and almost ready to drop but wanted to let you know I am here safe and sound, well mostly sound! The flights were all good, Beijing airport was freezing, and I had my seat to myself mostly... The lady sitting next to me from Beijing to Delhi had 4 carry-on bags which she felt I needed to have in my seat. When I asked her (really nicely) if she could please move them she told me "no". Now what's a girl to do when you are promptly told no to your request and you know you have six hours left together?? I gently put them on the floor and woke up a few hours later with two of them on my lap!!! Dear lord...

More from Mamallapuram tomorrow.

Gate 66

I am here at Gate 66 and have discovered my flight is a shared flight with Air Canada. After scanning the crowd there is potential for trouble if AC has been up to their weight profiling tricks.. On another note, the smell of mothballs is almost unbearable. I know I can smell things long before others but really, mothballs are undeniably smelly.

Getting there

The travel to a destination is half the fun. I love the lead up to going on vacation. People watching in airports fascinates me and waiting at the departure gate is downright hilarious. I tend to board once the line up has dwindled, we all have assigned seats so there is no need to stand in line, and then I hold my breath to see whether weight profiling has taken place or not. I swear Air Canada weight profiles. RyanAir on the other hand has it figured out.

It will take 36 hours to get to my first destination of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu:

Vancouver-Beijing: Long flight, I pray they have not weight profiled.
Beijing-Delhi: Prepare for toilet nightmares.
Delhi-Chennai: All rules out the window!
Chennai-Maha: Seatbelts? Not in India!

Did I really say that?

I came back from India in January 2009 and told those nearest and dearest to me that I was done with India and was ready to see other parts of the world. Four months later I noticed myself yearning to go back. I panicked a little to be honest. How could India be creeping back into my psyche? To help rid of this obsession, I went to Europe for a couple of weeks last summer and had a great trip. Visiting Wade in London was fabulous and Italy was lovely. By November though, I was dreaming of India again... India has a hold on my heart, what more needs to be said?