Mini World Adventure Part 10

We eventually caught the boat to Madras India; it was more like a ferry and must have carried 1000 or so passengers. There were several classes of travel, as westerners we were only permitted in first class but we were able to go anywhere on the ship and the conditions in the lowest class were cramped to say the least. No canteen for them, they either had prepared or cooked for themselves and some of the smells were enough to make your mouth water. 5 Days on the boat allowed us to clean all our clothes, repair any and generally catch up with ‘housework’.

Arriving in Madras was a culture shock. 

The first problem we encountered was with the dockers, they would not unload the cars with a Baksheesh (Bribe), we refused to pay and at one point, Peter the cameraman, climbed the ladder to the crane and tried to persuade the operator to unload the cars. In the end sense prevailed, We paid!  

The other thing that struck me was the locals understanding of personal space, they see nothing wrong in crowding in so close you are almost touching, it may be a British trait but I found it alarming. As you can see from the picture below, the exhaust came loose and we found a quiet spot to repair it and within minutes I thought it gone dark only to find a large crowd around me.

As a matter of interest the further north we travelled the less it happened. 

It took us a couple of days to get organised and as it was a 'dry state' we had to get permission to buy beer, as this was India a lengthy process was involved. Firstly we had to take our passports to the correct person prove we were tourists, there were three officials alone to check this,after moving our way through a very busy office collecting signatures for different pieces of paper that moved us to the next level we eventually got our 'chit' signed which allowed us 8 units of alcohol, we must have kept at least 50 people employed that morning just to get the correct form and certainly needed a drink after it all!! It did make the beer taste extra special.

We were invited by one of our sponsors to the India Club for a drink. It was a typical colonial style country house with pillars outside and all the staff in white.I had a coke and made the cardinal sin of having ice thinking it was a posh place it would be fine. Within a couple of hours I was feeling unwell and for 3 days very poorly, I lost a stone in weight and learnt a hard lesson.
We were staying in a beachside bungalow just south of Madras, whilst we waited for permission to enter Pakistan, the beach's were totally deserted golden sand absolutely beautiful.
Driving in India is an experience, there appears to be no rules and in the towns and cities it requires full attention, with sacred cows, rickshaws (motorised, human and horse powered), tractors, horse and carts, taxi’s,buses with passengers hanging off all corners, trucks and pedestrians.

The road north west from Madras took us across some of the poorest, driest and hottest countryside we had experienced. Eating here was difficult and we had to resort to what we had been carrying, I can remember one memorable night having baked beans and fried kidney mixed together, not sure if was because we were so hungry but it was awesome! We occasionally ate at local establishments but had to be so careful that no salad or food that had been washed in water and not fully cooked.

On route we stopped at Agra and saw the Taj Mahal and continued towards Delhi. What an amazing city Delhi is, the Red Fort, white painted kerb stones, tree lined parks next to the road; the British influence is everywhere, just a bit faded. To begin with we stayed in a campsite right in the centre of the city with lots of backpackers but after a couple of days Save the Children fund allowed us to stay at the house of the Director and rather than stay in the stuffy rooms, we hung our hammocks on the roof which gave us a cooler night’s sleep and great views of the city. The house had a cook from Nepal so the quality of food was much improved.

Opposite the house was a large walled garden with a very large residence, lots of coming and going was happening on one particular day; a large marquee was erected for a wedding with several very large Air Conditioning units, these were to cool the air outside!! Outside of the house there were beggars, people sleeping under cardboard, holy cows the difference between the rich and the poor was incredible and difficult to take in. 

We filmed some Save the Children Projects on the building sites,

working with families who were enticed to the city with a promise of work, they had borrowed the money to pay for the journey and were then at the mercy of loan sharks,living in hovels literally 3 metre square built from broken bricks.The hovel below had a white mark around the yard to signify a death, they had lost a child 

and the little girl below had the same symptoms.

The woman carried the bricks to men building the houses meaning the children were left running around the building sites.Save the Children fund were ensuring these children had an education, had one good meal a day and were kept safe and we filmed this fantastic project. 

The next part of our planned route wa pretty volatile,Pakistan and India were 'sabre' rattling and further on Iran was at war with Iraq. This meant we needed special permission to drive through the region and this being India was taking quite some time. I must admit I found the locals from Delhi comparatively more relaxed than their southern countrymen,maybe they were used to seeing westerners or the milder climate had something to do with it. 

In the end we decided to leave with partial permission, I think Tony and I just wanted to get back home, we had been away a year at this point and living together for that length of time was beginning to tell! So we packed and headed North West for the border. We stopped off at the Golden Temple Amritsar, the Sikh holy place built in the 16th century, on route to Pakistan and a country at war Iran.