Leaving Gili Air was always going to be difficult but we were committed to make the wedding of a good friend. This was for the best as otherwise we may well just have stayed for far too long particularly after the offer of a few weeks free diving to help out with around 40 school kids coming to clean the local 'bio-rock' - a big metal cage with an electric current running through it which stimulates coral growth. This is there in the hope that the island can regenerate some of what was lost in the past when the locals used dynamite packed along with pebbles into hollowed out papaya to kill the fish before collecting them on the surface and sending off to market. That being irrelevant to this blog, it is now back to the clamour, colours and currys of India...

In making the decision to back track we had discovered a flight to somewhere in the south of India that no one has ever heard of let alone is able to pronounce...even all the Indians shorten the name to Trichy, so we'll stick with that. Having found this flight we booked up and ignored the remaining mechanics of actually getting to the wedding itself for a few weeks. Upon actually researching the rest of the trip we discovered that what had seemed a simple trip was, in actual fact, going to be quite a complicated one and to cut a very long and particularly boring story short we got on the long-boat leaving Gili Air facing not only the mainland but also 10 flights in the next 10 days.

Things started off with both a positive and negative.

Positive! The first flight of the sequence was cancelled...yes I did mean positive, less flights=less chances to plumet from the air in a crash (nervous flyer here)

Negative! We now had to get the exact same 12 hour boat journey we had vowed never to get again after the hassle we had on the way to the Gilis.

So, boat it was. Flight to Kuala Lumpur - night in Chinatown. Arrival in Trichy in the South of India - 1 night there. Flight to Chennai - night on the floor of the airport. Final step, flight to Visag - also in the south, also a shortened version of a too-long name but setting itself apart by being the wedding venue. Finally, 2 days to just relax and most importantly sleep before the wedding itself.

Visag is a seaside town running along a huge stretch of coastline, like much in India it sadly hasn't been and still isn't that well looked after so the beach is quite dirty as you get closer to the main town where we stayed before moving out to the nicer and cleaner Visag Bay for the wedding itself. The first thing we noticed in the South of India is that the way we were treated was quite different from in the North - just being out of Rajasthan means that as a tourist you get noticably less negative attention.

In the main town there are a number of lovely local canteens selling some of the best breakfasts we had in the whole of India. Very thin rice pancakes called Dosas are crispy and filled with cumin spiced potatoes if asked for as a 'Masala Dosa' or just plain with a thin curry sambhar and some ginger chutney. These get dolled out one after the other to a barging crowd who surge against a metal counter which blockades the hungry mouths from the open flames of the kitchen. The servings of dosa are broken up with steamed UFO shaped, fluffy, white rice dumplings called Idli's along with Uttapam - thicker rice pancakes fried with ghee and topped with all sorts although the best by far was a thick layer of fried shallots.

Moving away from food and onto the wedding, our list of things to pack for a year away did not include formal wedding gear (it just missed the cut being beaten by a pair of baywatch swimming shorts) so following our great breafast we went into town to 'just' do some clothes shopping. Shoes for me and of course a full blown outfit for Eleanor (to go with the 2 dresses already bought in Gili Trawangan for the occasion. Hindu wedding's are over 3 days after all)...

So, we went into town and after some searching found a big 4 floor clothes mall...

[many coffees, much boredom, a number of hours, lots of changing room trips and some very terrible colour combinations later]

...and Eleanor emerged from the air-conditioned cocoon of the shopping mall a glittering, purple, green and turquoise butterfly with lots and lots of bangles. You need bangles for a wedding in India, ones that go with your new clothes and you need nail varnish. A couple of bottles in case it looks different dry. You also need some more bangles and a scarf you see.

So, we got to the first of the 3 days of the ceremony, day 1 being the pre-wedding ceremony, ceremony and we met up in a hotel where the rest of the guests were to be staying, this meant we had a chance to catch up with lots of our friends from back home...unexpected at the start of the year so a good side benefit. This also made us realise quite how tanned we were having had no reference for the last few weeks. Moving on to the wedding itself, I spent some time thinking how to best describe this and realised that I would probably struggle to cover all the events accurately, mainly as I wasn't entirely sure what was actually happening most of the time...however my best attempt goes a little like this:

Day 1
Lots of pre-wedding religious preparations and re-enactments.
There was definitley lots of colour, food, an eye mask made of hanging beads which the groom wore to prevent him seeing his bride (I think) and a horse...
The groom had to ride said horse (wearing said eye curtain) to the top of a hill while being cheered on by a fan club surrounding the horse.
Towards the end of the day, around midnight, news from the bride's guru was that it would be auspicious for the wedding to take place as early as possible the next day and so the start time was set.

Day 2
This second day is the main day of the celebrations and where the wedding actually occurs. Prayers are said, tailored to each of the bride and groom.
Blessings are given by family and friends and various Hindu scenes are played out culminating where the groom (as Vishnu) is presented his bride who is carried in within a wicker basket.
The two can't see each other as there is a drape placed between them until the marriage actually takes place.
This happens, I think, when the two are tied together by their clothes (literally tying the knot).
Following this more blessings and prayers are given, including a number around an open fire which was outside of the main venue
Now, the couple are married and leave the venue to visit various religious sites while the western of the congregation leave to the local beach to have a swim, relax and a few photos requests from the locals who viewed us as a bit of a travelling circus.
After this, beers and more food.

Day 3 -The reception
Flight to Delhi (in the North) for the reception where the majority of the Groom's family are from (hence the split location).
A night in a hotel organised by the groom's uncle.
Lots of food, some smuggled jugs of beer and lots of bhangra dancing.

Finally, we collapsed weddinged out and ready for some sleep. Beautifully colourful, chaotic and somewhat baffling to our untrained eyes but all the same great to see and share with lots of our friends. Glad to have made it.

With the wedding over and Delhi pretty much explored already from our previous trip we took the chance to spend some time with friends (one of whom stayed with us for a few nights), visited the red fort, saw a sikh parade and finally I was dragged to the Taj Mahal having promised last time that if we ever came back we could go...without realising this would actually happen any time soon.

Why was I so begrudging in this? Mainly the 5 hour each way trip from Delhi, the touts I had been told about but of most relevance was the fact that everyone I spoke to just said that I 'had' to go without being able to give a good reason as to why. Having now been there, it is worth the trip, the touts are really not that bad as they are friendly and the place itself is quite amazing with its smooth, glistening white marble walls which loom over you as you get closer and closer although there are so many people there that it doesn't really manage to maintain any kind of peace which is a shame given that it is, after all, a large masoleum - a fact long forgotten it would seem by the constant line of people who trapse through the inside of the monument itself trying to sneak photos of the inside despite being asked not to.

Agra doesn't just have the Taj to keep you occupied for the day, there are plenty of other sites with our favorite probably being the Agra Fort which is another UNESCO protected site. This is more of a large walled city than a fort and is well kept, for India, and an atmospheric place that makes it easy to imagine life there hundreds of years ago.

And that's pretty much the end of India take 2, good fun but tiring, with Delhi finished we next have a flight to Chennai, an ovenight bus to Trichy, a flight to Kuala Lumpur, 4 hours sleep in the airport hotel and finally a flight to Laos for a bit more SE Asian Exploring...looking forward to doing some activities after the constant city walking and temple visiting of India.