Apologies for the very slight break in communication (I'm not dead Mum and Dad!) but I was away from Friday until Sunday and then feeling a bit dodgy the last couple of days; thanks to the marvels of over-the-counter purchasing of usually prescription-only drugs I am starting to feel better again (antibiotics not morphine or something...although I'm sure that it would be pretty easy to find).
So since I last posted:
Friday
Friday was another interesting day, not quite as hot as the others. Quite a few road traffic accidents came into the department including one who had pretty nasty looking 'road rash' - skin abrasions caused by coming off his two-wheeler after a bus hit him...and I thought motorbikes were dangerous in the UK, here it's only a matter of time before you have an accident and when you do most people have little or no protection and the outcome is usually a lot worse than it would be for a similar accident in the UK; That is, not mentioning other factors like the state of the roads or the cavalier attitude of the drivers towards sides of the road.
So after work we went out for dinner then met up at around 10pm to head down to the train. At this point I still didn't know if I was going to get onto the train, the board at the train station displayed whether I had moved up far enough on the waiting list to get a confirmed bunk in the sleeper carriage.. Alas despite my starting position of 30+ on the list changing some 20 places I didn't manage to be confirmed. Unperturbed by this I got on the train (some 20 minutes late - apparently this isn't a bad delay, at least the train turned up) with my colleagues; after a little wrangling with the train conductor 20 minutes after departure he said I could lie on the floor for the journey. Not ideal, but at least I was on my way.
Saturday
Arriving into Mettupalayam (the bottom of the hill) at about 6am we attempted to board the train that heads up the hill to Ooty...again I had the same problem, except I was now WL43. Ended up standing for 3.5/5 hour train journey (along with 3 others of the group), in a carriage where most of the locals made it fairly clear that the didn't want us to be there. Thankfully the scenery was fairly stunning with views out over the valley, with vegetation (somewhat reminiscent of parts of New Zealand) lining the track for most of the journey and fairly frequent breaks as the steam engine took on water and fuel (at one about 30 monkeys came converged on the train from all directions). Here's a picture of the train (not mine unfortunately but one I got off the net)
Upon reaching Ooty I felt a certain sense of elation, which was seemingly echoed by the train station announcer's words of "you are very priviledged to have taken this train today" - wasn't quite getting the same vibe but nevertheless pleased to stretch my legs again. The furore continued upon detraining with newspaper reporters and television cameras milling about on the platform - a couple of our group were interviewed and pictures taken. Apparently it turns out that the train had only that day been provisionally awarded special heritage status by UNESCO (see Chennai Online News) and that we were the first ones to arrive after this.)
After this excitement a couple of set off to find somewhere to stay and ended up with a chalet-type thing for about £3 for the night. It was pretty basic but clean and had hot water, so I could have my first hot shower since getting here - back in Vellore I was happy enough to have cool showers!
Lunch came and went (but could this have been the start of all the trouble?) and we stepped out into the street to the sight of Monsoon! everywhere. At that point I had never become so wet in such a short period of period time (the rain on Sunday was even worse) but in typical tropical fashion we expected it to be over within an hour or two and so took a leisurely trip out to the boathouse by the lake. Now at this point, being fairly wet I was getting pretty cold so I bought a fleecy hat (dual purpose, keep head warm and keep more rain from soaking head). I never once expected to be buying a winter hat in India, but such is life. When thoughts of taking a pedal boat were dashed after a good hour's wait for the rain to subside (it didn't) and with stubborness that only tourists can possess we went on a motorboat (with canopy around the lake). I'd like to say that this made the whole waiting around thing worthwhile and to a certain extent it was good but y'know, being in a boat in monsoon rain with the wind blowing water off the canopy and onto the only clean/dry clothes you have with you whilst you reminisce about the coat you left in your bag back at the hotel, sound good? Climbed out of the boat after these 20 minutes and sprinted through the rain, shivered whilst aboard the autorickshaw and sprinted through the rain again to the chalet before an alternately roasting/freezing shower. Spent the rest of the evening shivering through dinner, but slept ok afterwards.
Strangely although this day sounds like a nightmare, it was quite fun and I ate some pretty good chocolate (or was this the source of all the trouble?) along the way.
Sunday
Cold. But dry and warm in the sun, pleasant nap over breakfast! Today most of the group had arranged to hike up in the hills around the main town. Well when I say 'hike' it was more of a dander, through the tea plantations and fields. This was the best part of the weekend for me, not only was it not raining or too cold but it made it seem worthwhile making the difficult journey to the town. The sights were pretty fantastic (pity I forgot my camera...stupid stupid) and the silence was amazing, as the guide said 'this is not India'. Apparently the area to which we went was in a lot of the Bollywood films and Tamil films so there were big gatherings of India tourists in the distance. Also we were told that we weren't allowed to take pictures of one of the shepherds working in the fields or the sheep that she tended as she worked for the Government (apparently this rule extends beyond the military and police in India), before "enjoying" a bumpy journey downhill on a crowded bus at breakneck speed.
Back to Ooty, pick up bags, heavens open again, streets fill with water almost instantly, recently dry clothes saturate, shivering starts. Go for lunch, strangely not hungry. Visit toilet. Realise that niggly stomach pains were pointing to something rather more sinister. Worry about long train journey ahead. Take Immodium.
Left for the station immediately after lunch, find my *allocated* seat! Don't know what I would have done without one on the way back so that's good. Settle in for ride, doze off and on, look out through the windows, enjoying some of the views I had missed out on on the way up. Talked to a few of the people around me as well; seems like everyone in this area has heard of CMC, which is a good sign. Unfortunately despite my obvious annoyance at the fact, the father of the small child behind me wants to bow to said child's wishes and open the window fully. Now as I said it was not hugely warm and I wasn't feeling exactly well. A compromise of half open existed for about 20 minutes before somewhat rudely the father reaches over and opens the window fully again without even bothering to ask me (it probably isn't considered rude in India to do this, but I wasn't in the best of form). Cosequently I reached the bottom shivering like a leaf and despite pacing up and down the platform I remained this way pretty much until we got to Vellore. I tried to sleep on the longer train (I had a confirmed bunk this time) but was beginning to get more stomach pains and at one point had to rush to the toilet.
Monday
Arrived back at the Annexe at 3.30am. Didn't sleep too well for the rest of the night and wasn't well enough to go into the hospital on Monday at all. Drank some lovely oral rehydration solution and nibbled on some Milk Bikis, dry and plain. Thankfully I didn't really have any nausea as that would have been much worse. Felt a bit better by evening and able to go out for tea but didn't eat much then spent another fairly restless night.
Tuesday
Starting to feel a bit better, so I head into the department in the morning, but have to retire injured after the first couple of hours before making a triumphant return in the late afternoon. In between I made a dashing mid day expedition to retrieve money and purchase pharamaceutical items including much needed antibiotics, analgesia and some more sugary salty mix (definitely needed after the sun). Out for dinner again before a less restless but interrupted sleep (once to take dose 2 of cipro and secondly at 6.30 when Ravi my laundry man brought back the clothes I gave him on Monday).
And at last the write up is done. Sorry about that epic, hope it's not too much of a slog. Feel free to leave any comments and stuff if you're having a look, as the 2nd Immortal Phrase says, "Ask Any Questions and Take Ye Any Photographs You Like" (the 1st Immortal Phrase refers to different forms of cream).
No comments:
Post a Comment