16/4/2011

Up early after an early night and straight for a scrummy buffet breakfast at a posh hotel for under 2.50 pounds! Watermelon or lime juice, hot drinks, cereal, french toast with syrup, exotic fruity jams on toast, boiled eggs, rice-cake-doughy bits in coconut or tomato chutney, curries and more!

Decent weather so decided to hit 'Baywatch'. A shade over 3 pound got us in to experience a pretty budget, yet fairly fun waterpark rammed with holidaying locals. Had plenty of laughs on slides, racing Mag' over some huge hill slides lay on foamy mats, going down tubes on small rafts, playing in the kids pool, injuring my leg trying to be a lad on the Bucking Bronco (there was a small kind of theme park going on there too) and experiencing a wave pool with over a hundred crazy Indians that acted like it was the best thing since naan bread! I was probably the only person there with just a pair of shorts on as all of them kept their clothes on in the water. Literally, shirts, trousers, skirts, they keep everything on! Experienced some old-fashioned 'Magic Room' where you walk through and become dizzy because of the rotating and surrounding stars and darkness. The locals were loving every bit of every ride but to us because we've been so lucky with Alton Towers and waterparks for years, it was just standard. Best moment though was all these women and kids dancing under the spraying showers fully clothed to some dodgy Bhangra beats!

Included in the price was some wax museum, and considering I've never been to Madame Tussaud's, I thought the replicas of MJ, Jackie Chan, Einstein and so on were impressive! I learnt that the day we were there, was Charlie Chaplin's birthday, and that he died at the age of 88 on Christmas Day! The figures were mostly Indian heroes and legends but a fair few Western icons were chucked in.

Back to our accommodation (which was one of the roughest I've stayed in so far with rank bed sheets and old and almost delapidated rooms), I said bye to Magdaleina after just a day of travelling as I had to make my way up country fast for my flight.

I later bumped into the couple (handicapped guy) who was really nice and understanding about us having to catch the bus without them! As we chatted, a bird shat all over me from above, so I walked straight in to my intended restaurant for a chicken and chips and several soft drinks (and obviously to remove the white turd from my arm and bag).

Purchased some bananas, mango juice and hopped on to my lengthy train ride at 5:20pm, scheduled to hit Chengalpattu about 12 hours later. It's quite nice on the trains. The locals are nice, often smiley and looking to speak to you, asking your name, your job and: "Where you are coming from?"(not where are you coming from).

Had some dodgy little local food for cheap off of one of the salesmen walking down the trains (some of which the other day - a hard, rice thing that looked like a cookie - I threw) on my last Indian train journey!

Was a right disaster, changing places four times as the ticket I purchased meant that I was on the 'waiting list' as the train was full in the sleeper class! I sat in the sleeper to begin and was then assigned a seat by the conductor. Then at a stop, a guy joined me and his friend (an older chap), was informing me that it was just a seat that I wasn't to sleep there! I was refusing to go as I needed a bed, and luckily a nice guy swapped a seat with me as he had a spare or something nine carriages away (of which I had already walked eight whilst the train was moving to get here!). It was looking so good as I sat with two or three normal, student/working-looking locals but then the guy returned and asked me to walk back another carriage to another seat!
So off I was with my bags again in the sweltering humidity, faced with a family with kids and a crying baby that had got food all over the floor where I was about to put my bags....

However, the family were nice, I got a top bunk, my bag didn't get too grubby and I managed a half-decent sleep.