May 5, 2009 - Madurai, India
Yesterday I purchased a ticket at my hotel for a night bus to Madurai. This was a "chair" bus, not a sleeper with bunks, which was fine with me. The Hotel owner assured me he would give the motor rickshaw driver the correct address (I was remembering my last night bus experience). My bus left at 9, I was suppose to be there at 8:30, it took less than 30 minutes to get there, so I left at 7:45, with a fully instructed driver.........
You guessed it - when we got to where he thought I was to be - he pointed to a hotel and a bus and said that was my bus. Good, I paid $1.00, got out and crossed the BUSY street to the bus. The worker told me - no, this was not my bus - my bus was across the intersection (DOUBLY BUSY - at night) and for me to go to the office with the green sign.
I did ... and there they told me I was at the wrong location! (feelings of upsettiness setting in now) ..... But they were helpful ... they took me back to the busy street, and flagged an auto rickshaw, explained to him "exactly" where to take me, told me it was 3 kilometers, 15 minutes.
Well, 30 minutes later we're still trucking ... and I'm beginning to think this guy has no idea where we are going - then we come to some nice overnight buses - but we don't slow down. Then we come to some awful buses (I've been on them before) ...but we kept on going and going. FINALLY, he pulls up, and points to what looked like a freight office.
Oh man, I was disappointed. But I told myself I had done it before - I could do it again ... and that I had been "DONE" by people before, and probably would be again. So I told the driver to wait until I was sure this was my bus.
I went in the office - the man was nice - I tried to remove my snarl - and he told me to have a seat in the waiting room - the bus left at 9:45. The bus I was scheduled to leave 15 minutes earlier, but he assured me - no problem. I paid the driver, took a seat and waited. After awhile I went outside and my bus was there ......A NICE BUS! hallelujah - thank you Lord!!
I knew this was a high class outfit when I asked about the restroom, and they ACTUALLY had one - that was in pretty good shape.
We left only about 30 minutes late, and again - the bus was nice - I fell asleep almost at once. I awoke 4 hours later. We had stopped - restroom break. Well, it was a restroom break for the men. We were in a town - a bakery opened on one side of the street - the bus across from it. There was a dirt side walk and an open drainage ditch (sewer?) next to the bus.
Yep, you guessed it - the sidewalk/ditch served as the restroom facilities. Passers by never even flinched or noticed. We did this one other time about 3 hours later.
This system is easy, don't have to walk far from the bus , and you never have to stand in line waiting your turn. The world is your toilet!!!!
In Madurai, I got a $5.00 hotel with no air (could not find an open room with an AC), but it has a good fan, squat toilet, shower , and a towel, plus TV. - I'm only staying til about 1 a.m. - then I have a FIRST CLASS berth on the train down to Kanyakumari, at the southern most tip of India.
I had breakfast at a very nice hotel here this morning - looking for eggs and toast. The hotel, however, had a buffet - so to get 2 eggs I bought the buffet.. and I got the names of some of the things I had been eating. First - the grits are called steam Iddly. The ground nuts are Ragi Puti, and the rice pilau that I have had several times for breakfast is Glee Pongai. The pancakes are Dosa, and a new one for me was an orange sweet potato casserole looking thing. Well, it turned out to be orange grits with a nice sweet taste. I could almost believe they were sweet potatoes except they felt like grits. They were called Kesari. I will continue to check those out to find out what it is made of.
Then I went and got a shave - Anna would have been horrified to see how shaggy I was!
I haven't spoken to a westerner since I left Jodhur. Saw a few in Bombay near McDonalds but that's all. Apparently this "ain't" the tourist trail!
I had a few photos, but the USB ports in the computer do not work. I asked the guy in charge, and he said NO - none of them do - these are all copies - ( I guess he means the windows) but whatever - no pics - and I can't find another Internet place. But the pictures weren't that great either.
Thanks for coming along with me on OUR trip.
Hanging out in Madurai til my FIRST CLASS coach shows up!!
Johnny
You guessed it - when we got to where he thought I was to be - he pointed to a hotel and a bus and said that was my bus. Good, I paid $1.00, got out and crossed the BUSY street to the bus. The worker told me - no, this was not my bus - my bus was across the intersection (DOUBLY BUSY - at night) and for me to go to the office with the green sign.
I did ... and there they told me I was at the wrong location! (feelings of upsettiness setting in now) ..... But they were helpful ... they took me back to the busy street, and flagged an auto rickshaw, explained to him "exactly" where to take me, told me it was 3 kilometers, 15 minutes.
Well, 30 minutes later we're still trucking ... and I'm beginning to think this guy has no idea where we are going - then we come to some nice overnight buses - but we don't slow down. Then we come to some awful buses (I've been on them before) ...but we kept on going and going. FINALLY, he pulls up, and points to what looked like a freight office.
Oh man, I was disappointed. But I told myself I had done it before - I could do it again ... and that I had been "DONE" by people before, and probably would be again. So I told the driver to wait until I was sure this was my bus.
I went in the office - the man was nice - I tried to remove my snarl - and he told me to have a seat in the waiting room - the bus left at 9:45. The bus I was scheduled to leave 15 minutes earlier, but he assured me - no problem. I paid the driver, took a seat and waited. After awhile I went outside and my bus was there ......A NICE BUS! hallelujah - thank you Lord!!
I knew this was a high class outfit when I asked about the restroom, and they ACTUALLY had one - that was in pretty good shape.
We left only about 30 minutes late, and again - the bus was nice - I fell asleep almost at once. I awoke 4 hours later. We had stopped - restroom break. Well, it was a restroom break for the men. We were in a town - a bakery opened on one side of the street - the bus across from it. There was a dirt side walk and an open drainage ditch (sewer?) next to the bus.
Yep, you guessed it - the sidewalk/ditch served as the restroom facilities. Passers by never even flinched or noticed. We did this one other time about 3 hours later.
This system is easy, don't have to walk far from the bus , and you never have to stand in line waiting your turn. The world is your toilet!!!!
In Madurai, I got a $5.00 hotel with no air (could not find an open room with an AC), but it has a good fan, squat toilet, shower , and a towel, plus TV. - I'm only staying til about 1 a.m. - then I have a FIRST CLASS berth on the train down to Kanyakumari, at the southern most tip of India.
I had breakfast at a very nice hotel here this morning - looking for eggs and toast. The hotel, however, had a buffet - so to get 2 eggs I bought the buffet.. and I got the names of some of the things I had been eating. First - the grits are called steam Iddly. The ground nuts are Ragi Puti, and the rice pilau that I have had several times for breakfast is Glee Pongai. The pancakes are Dosa, and a new one for me was an orange sweet potato casserole looking thing. Well, it turned out to be orange grits with a nice sweet taste. I could almost believe they were sweet potatoes except they felt like grits. They were called Kesari. I will continue to check those out to find out what it is made of.
Then I went and got a shave - Anna would have been horrified to see how shaggy I was!
I haven't spoken to a westerner since I left Jodhur. Saw a few in Bombay near McDonalds but that's all. Apparently this "ain't" the tourist trail!
I had a few photos, but the USB ports in the computer do not work. I asked the guy in charge, and he said NO - none of them do - these are all copies - ( I guess he means the windows) but whatever - no pics - and I can't find another Internet place. But the pictures weren't that great either.
Thanks for coming along with me on OUR trip.
Hanging out in Madurai til my FIRST CLASS coach shows up!!
Johnny
posted by Johnny at
12:54 AM
1 Comments:
Ah the ocean-supposed to be beautiful with tourist in for the Chithra Pournami Festival.So now you've seen India from top to bottom-are you heading north on the eastern side of the penisula next?
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