Thursday 8 May 2008

Hot and sweaty in Pondicherry

We're hot, and sweaty! And our room doesn't have air-con.

Despite that, Pondicherry is a lovely little town, and since we couldn't decide where to go next, or face more travel, we decided to stay another day at the beautiful Ganga Guesthouse.

India's a bit confusing still. We're enjoying ourselves, but it seems to us that there isn't really much to do. Maybe this will change when we move on, but we're getting the feeling that India will be a new travelling experience that involves more being than doing.

Also, we're not sure how to talk to people yet. It seems silly, but people seem a bit stern, and although we've managed it a few times, we're not sure how to break out their smiles yet. I'm sure it's because we're unable to read situations, or because we're comitting some terrible faux pas' though (we were told off by a waiter last night for letting our naan hang off the plate and onto the table), and we'll soon get to grips with things. Finally, the head wobbles are very confusing. Everyone communicates in tiny head wobbles, but we don't understand them! To say yes, or agree, they wobble their head sideways a few times, which looks like a no and always catches us off-guard, no matter how many times we tell ourselves that 'no means yes'.

Luckily, we can eat, and it's cheap (an average meal costs about Rs 150, which is about 3 EUR). Most places here are veg restaurants, so we've been able to try almost anything, even the stuff we don't recognise (except I always ask what something is, Ben doesn't, 'cause he reckons he's "being adventurous", which is why he ends up eating fruit crepes for dinner...!) The only downside of veg restaurants seems to be an absence of alcohol. The food is so good though that we don't really miss it, and the fresh mango drinks make up for it, almost ;)

One more thing, it's boiling outside (about 35 degrees I think) and no-one sells cold water. Huh?! We've had to ask the shop over the road to put some in the fridge for us, and even then they only seem to want to put one in at a time.

We're off to Trichy tomorrow, on a 5 hour bus ride. Let the adventures begin!

Debs

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