Touch down!

We have arrived! I'm on my way back home now with my mum. I'll blog a
bit about the last few hours later. I'll upload my last pics later too.

Thanks india!.. It's been great!

Last night in India...

Well we have less than 24 hours left in india. We're pretty glad to be leaving, but sorry that we'll be leaving behind some amazing places and people. We've got some awesome memories though and we're looking forward to sharing them with people when we get home.

Today has been a bit of a time Easter. We had a whole day to kill, and not much to fill it with. We've been watching films and Reading books etc in the room (there's nothing to do in this part of chennai). I watched slumdog millionaire today for the first time. It's scarily accurate to what we've seen, but defs not to that extreme!

The hotel here has been a bit of a let down, the rooms are a bit rubbish, the ac doesn't really work and there is no option of a continental breakfast (and south Indian breakfast is quite honestly the worst idea in the world!). To it's credit, though, it has free airport drop off (which we'll be using at 0400 tomorrow) and wifi.

Some more about mahabalapuram that I didn't want to forget... We went out for a massage when we were there which was extremely relaxing! We were so rediculously oily afterwards though that we had to have showers again before we went back out. Also we went out to eat on one of the nights and alex ordered lobster. He got to pick the one he wanted to eat whilst it was still alive too. I tried some and it was pretty tastey, though I'm still very much not a fan of sea food!

So we're about to go to sleep now for the last time in india. It's about half 9 here though we've got to get up at 0330 tomorrow morn. We checked in this morning online so we know we have seats (though they're not next to each other... Hopefully we can swap!)

So to those in England.. I will be seeing you very soon! Thouch down is at 1420 at heathrow t5.

Ps, the picture is of alex watching lizzie mcguire in the hotel room! The big fairy!

Mahabalipuram

We now have only got 3 hours left in indian paradise. Mahabalipuram is literally amazing; the sand is sandy, the water is really wet and the sun is hot!

 

We've been staying in a lovely hotel. It's got air conditioning, a nice pool and a fridge in the room. Perfect for beer o'clock! I cant get any pictures of the hotel or the place its self up on the internet at the moment cos im just in an internet cafe, but i will when i get home.

 

When we got here, we met the french girls that we had met in madurai (500 km away). So we've been walking around, seeing the sights with them. There is a temple right on the seafront, and a load of statues that have been excavated from the sand. Other than that its pretty serene (by indian standards) the only noise is all the shop sellers telling you that they will give you 'good friend price', and that 'looking is free'. Helpful really!

 

So this afternoon we are heading to Chennai for our last stop before london. We will be there for just over a day, which could possibly drag quite a lot as there's nothing really to do. We will hopefully be meeting up with john (from CFH) at some point, maybe for dinner. That would be awesome, to have a farewell from an Indian friend that we've made!

 

London in t- 53hours! exciting!

'Hey everyone, come and see how good I look!'

'He had a voice that could make a wolverine purr and suits so fine they made Sinatra look like a hobo. In other words, Ron Burgundy was the balls'

Quote from alex taylor...

This snippit of his phone conversation typifies the quality of indian
call centres...

'Hi... Is this the WWO?.. Are you sure?.. Who am i speaking to?.. No
don't hang up!'

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Taj Garden Retreat

Well it turns out that madurai lived up to the fun we had in the first two parts of the weekend. We got there pretty early again, so had to sleep in another hotel reception before we could go for breakfast. It's quite funny really how no-one seems to want to let us pay for a room, but they're happy to let us sleep in their receptions?? Anyway, we had a nice continental breakfast again, and met some French and Spanish girls. They were traveling around madurai that day too so we decided to group up.

After breakfast, we did a bit of shopping and sight seeing. I bought a KKASIO watch for about 1pound :). A few of us also got some Aladdin trousers called 'alibaba' and I also got a crazy shirt made too. The doctors at the hospital are giving me some funny looks when I go for meals in my bright blue alibaba's, but I think they look pretty cool really!

So later that day, we went to the Taj Garden Retreat Hotel. This was absolutely amazing, the pool was lovely, the grounds were stunning, the peacocks were beautiful, the food was amazing (though pretty expensive), and we just had such a relaxing time before starting our last working week!

One of our classmates from Southampton has also arrived now. We booked our electives separately so its a coincidence that we're in the same place, but its pretty cool none the less. We've been giving him a tour around today too. It feels pretty strange that we'll be leaving in a lot less than a week now, but I'm pretty excited about going home, and about our last 4 days of travelling!

Got to go now, John is coming over in a bit so we can look over his personal statement. He's hoping to come to study in England next year, so we're going to help him apply! It would be really cool to show him around some places like he has done for us here. Oh and we gave him a present today as well... when we went trekking the other week, he really liked my camelbak (water reservoir bag), so we bought him one to say thank you. He said he'd had a dream about mine, so i think it made him happy.

So the rest of the week is theatre tomorrow, and probs ICU for the rest of the time.... Nearly done...

Scooter Gang

Once more i am blogging from a bus that is definitely too hot to sleep
in. This time, we are travelling from pondicherry to madurai for the
third leg of our mega-weekend. We made a spur of the moment decision
whilst booking our bus tickets not to go back to the hospital, but to
go to a nice hotel complex in madurai instead. Apparently there will
be comfort in abundance, with a swimming pool, bar and other delights.
The other elective students havn't been there yet either so they can
have a look around the temples and things too while alex and i chill
out.

Pondicherry has been such an amazing weekend! I've definitely had the
most fun here. We arrived at about 4 in the morning on saturday, but
had booked a hotel in advance this time so had a decent sleep before
going into town. We did the ‭'heritage walk' that the lonely planet
recommended and had some brunch on the way at a place that actually
had bacon, eggs and english coffee! The rest of the walk was cool
too.. The place is very unlike the rest of india. Its a lot quieter
and cleaner, with a very european feel from its colonial roots.

Then the fun really got going! Bene found a place that rented mopeds,
so 4 of us picked our toasters-on-wheels and went smashing up malls
and robbing grannies. In truth, we probably had a much more crazy time
even than that trying to navigate the streets and trying not to die.
After a while it got pretty easy... You just say 'beech' to passers by
and follow their pointing and babble, and beep your horn at anything
that moves (even at cows that decide to cross main roads every now and
then). And if there's nothing better to do, just beep your horn to
exercise your thumb.

So we went to the beach on saturday night for some night swimming, and
then again this morning to a different beach. This one, rightly named
'paradise beach' was an island that you had to get to by boat. The
waves were pretty punishing and made you do somersaults if they got
you square!

The football and grand prix was a bonus too!

Next stop madurai...

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