South India

On the road south, with Eastern Ghats in the background.

Slightly insane schoolkids, Mamallapuram.

Temples, rockcut from a single boulder. No separate parts what so ever! Mamallapuram.

The Ambassador, king of the Indian roads, Pondicherry.

Typical tree lined street. Pondicherry.

Well, after 3 1/2 months in North India, I'm finally here in the South. Everyone says there are two Indias, the North and the South. My impression is that theory is true. Its certainly ALOT hotter down here. Seems to average around 90deg, so my body is still getting use to the change to a tropical climate, and having to take siestas in the afternoon. Still, it beats freezing your arse off in a Himalayan hill station! Everyone is alot more laid back down here and the pace of life alot slower, the hawkers and the rickshaw drivers are much less aggressive, which makes a welcome change.

Well, I left Puri, up in the North on the 8th Feb, and basically nailed it down the coastal highway(which was actually a 2 lane highway, and not a potholed dirt track, for once the map didn't lie!) so I was averaging over 400km a day. A personal record. Unfortunately the weather all the way down to Chennai/Madras was 'changeable' so whilst riding I was going from sweating away to soaked to the skin, then back again. After spending a few days in Chennai, an old British East India Company fort and trading post, that has turned into an industrial city of about 6 million people. I went down to a small coastal village called Mamallapuram, a backpacker haven, so slightly touristy, and a about twice as expensive as elsewhere, but it did have some beautiful 7th century temples on the beach. Half the village is designated as a UNSCO World Heritage Site.
Now a bit further down the coast in the old French colonial outpost of Pondicherry. Its a weird infusion of Indian and French culture. The town is set out in wide boulevards, all the streets have French names like - rue Dumas, the cops wear kepis, French style hats. Also the coffee shops actually serve half decent coffee and pain au chocola.