Texas

I made it back Austin on the 12th and I have finally adjusted to the time. My last day in Pondicherry turned out to be quite the adventure. While sitting in a coffee shop I met two more travellers travelling alone. One was a girl named Mae from Shanghai and the other a guy named Todd from California.

Mae was originally on vacation from school with her friends and decided to extend her stay. Her friends could not handle the heat so they went back to China after 2 weeks and Mae is travelling for one month. Todd is in India for five months researching sustainable housing development. He is volunteering one year of his life to build stustainable buildings for ashrams in North India.

After to the coffee shop, Mae and I went for a bike ride through the town to visit the bazaar. This was a bit scary (especially since I was side saddle on the back of the bike) and we were force walk the bike a couple of times. From the bazaar, we went to a nearby Hindu temple which had a live elephant in front. The elephant had a name tag wich read Laksmi (I think that is the Hindu god the temple was devoted to). I don't know much about the Hindu religion. Someone had told me that the temples are a lot like museums if you don't practice the religion. They were correct! There was a lot of art work with the god's face representing different regions of the world, plus there were decorated idols through out and another small temple built within the larger temple. After leaving the temple, Mae and I met Todd for dinner at cute International restraunt, then we said our goodbyes.

I left Pondicherry the next morning. I went in front of the ashram to catch a rickshaw but the driver was no where to be found. The nearby beggar yelled loudly for the driver until he came running from across the street. For this, I tipped the beggar 10 rupees (equivalent of a nickel) and I had never seen anyone so happy! He kissed it and said thank you over and over again. I'm starting to wonder if I had given him 100 rupees instead, b/c 10 rupees really didn't buy much (or everything was really price gauged).

I told the driver where I needed to go and he knew for sure, exactly which bus I needed to take to get to the Chennai airport. So, here we are headed down a busy highway to the bus station, when he stops and flags a bus that is headed in the opposite direction. He tells me that is the bus I need to take and I should catch it before I miss it. I asked "Are you sure?". He said "Yes, hurry go catch it!" So I jump out, threw rs50 at him, jumped over the cement divide and run onto the bus and driver tells me it was the wrong bus and I needed to cross the street. I argued with them just a little bit (as if I would really know) before they convince me that it was indeed the wrong bus. I run back around and of course the rickshaw was gone. I then jump over the divide again and cross 3 lanes of busy traffic. On the other side I met some very helpful rickshaw drivers (as always), but of course it was a passenger that told me I needed to go a block and half to the bus station. At the bus station I finally found the correct bus, but the adventure still did not end! After a 3 hour ride I was unsure which stop was mine. I finally see the airport and I asked the guy where my stop is. He said to me"You missed it!" I screamed "What? Why didn't you let me know?" So the driver stopped the bus in the middle of another busy street and told me to get out here. I then had to cross more lanes of busy traffic and walk until a rickshaw driver had to pick me up and circle around to the airport!

Despite the arguing, negotiating (and even one time boycotting them) I did with all of the rickshaw drivers, I had to depend on them a lot! Really without them and some locals I don't think I would have made it very far (or in some cases too far).

I finally returned to The States via the O'Hare Airport in Chicago. I was starving and very tired of Indian food. The first thing I order on U.S. soil is an Ham and Swiss Panninni and it was the best thing I have ever tasted! I don't know if it was really that good or if my taste buds were just happy to have something besides curry. As I was sitting,(and devouring the sandwich) in the terminal to catch the flight back to Houston, I start to notice all of these ladies walking around with their big, blonde, bouffant hairstyles, carfully managed make up, rhine stone studded pants-I think "Yes! Texas women!!! I am almost home!"

So now the adventure is over and I am happily back at home. I have to say this trip has made me appreciate a lot! Things like drinkable water, toilet paper, set prices, and traffic rules will never be taken for granted. It's great to be home!