The next morning we woke up and proceeded to our ‘complimentary’ breakfast. It wasn’t clear where to go or whether the breakfast was actually complimentary. We decided that as we had a full day of driving we should eat regardless (yes, we can be very stingy at times). So we proceeded to sit down and order some breakfast, there was a clear preference for Indian breakfasts so we decided we would give it a try. I ordered a Dosa (similar to a pancake or crepe) with vegetable filling while Izaskun had a Vada (pretty much an Indian styled donut). Of course, they were spicy but not too bad, fortunately we request the waiter to have mercy on us which I think he did.

After the breakfast we proceeded to the taxi who was waiting for us already. With that we go in the car and for the next 6 hours we sat in a relatively comfortable car that dodged traffic and cows along the way.

It was interesting to see how the country looked and especially the small communities and the various types of traffic. Overall the roads were pretty good, the only thing, in my opinion, would help a lot would be increase the number of lanes. Most of the roads across the country are single lanes which means any delays affect everyone along the road.

 

So after a bit of long term driving without much conversation we had arrived to the outskirts of the nature reserve of where we were to stay for the next two days. It didn’t seem very well known as the driver had to ask for directions but it did seemed that there wasn’t really any other way except for straight. Regardless, we arrived to Singara Check Post which was the meeting point for where the hotel / guest lodge was to pick us up. We waited for a couple of minutes for an old fashioned jeep to arrive. We paid our driver and proceeded to load our bags into the Jeep.

 

The next 30 minutes or so was a very bumpy road to the guest lodge where at times it looked like the Jeep was going to topple over. It was pretty fun but I can imagine that doing this everyday would get pretty boring. Anyways, we arrived and met the manager who showed us to our room. We had requested the Treehouse but started having second thoughts when we arrived and explored it a bit. The floor wasn’t particular straight nor the floor boards looked secure. Izaskun had read that there was a second tree house, we couldn’t see it anywhere… what could of happened to it? – mmm….

We asked to move to another room, which was lucky for us that the resort was empty. We were the only people staying on the complex. This turned out to be a blessing and a curse, the blessing was that we had the place to ourselves, while the curse was that we were followed Relentlessly. We were also told that we couldn’t walk around the complex as there are tigers around which I doubt, but of course there is a small fee should we wish to get someone to walk with us. I truly believe that it was any opportunity to squeeze more money from us. In addition we were constantly asked if we would like tea or coffee, something we fell for once but soon realised that they were not be generous but rather they were charging us for this privilege. Over thou the place was pretty good and we enjoyed our time away from the huddle and bustle of the cities.

 

We managed to go on a jungle safari, something I find strange coming from Africa. We wanted to see tigers but unfortunately didn’t. We managed to see other animals including elephants, deer, wild boar, eagle and other small creatures along the way. Overall an enjoyable ride but not be negative I do think African Safari is superior, that’s just me I guess.

 

The next day we also managed to go to an elephant sanctuary which was pretty interesting. We arrived in the evening just before dusk which is the feeding time for the animals. We hung around for 30 minutes before we saw the feeding. The elephants are clearly smart enough to know when it’s dinner time as they all start wandering towards the central house that stores the food. What proceeded after this was a whole host other animals coming to get a piece of the action (or food), mainly wild boar ran around the grounds clearly not scared of people or the elephants.

The next day we unfortunately had to go. We had planned to simply drive all the way to Salem, which is where the wedding was to take place. We woke up, ate and started our 6 hour drive across the country. The route was took required us to drive over the mountain and back down again. The ascent consisted of many hairpin turns (36 on the way up) but overall the ascent wasn’t too bad. I believe it wasn’t busy which helped a lot. At the top of the mountain is a small town called Ooty which is a touristy sleepy town. It is also the where the famous blue train (a world heritage site) travels to. Once on the top of the mountain the only way was to go back down along its narrow and windy roads which filled up with a bit of traffic.

To cut a long story short, we managed to explore the country side from Ooty across to Salem which took us about 6 hours to drive. This was an interesting but also a bit of sad journey as there was a lot of poverty which seemed to go on for miles and miles. However, after a long drive we managed to arrive to Salem which was the venue for Priya and Nick’s wedding. In particular we staying in the Park Plaza hotel located pretty centrally. Salem appears to be an industrial city with its main industry being plantations and factories.

We had an extra day before everyone was to arrive, we decided that since we were around we should see some of the sights, so after much research and discussion we decided to rent our own driver for the day and drive to a place Thanjavur which boasts an impressive temple called Brihadeeswara Temple (aka Big Temple). Thanjavur also has a palace which we were interested to see, so in the morning we managed to organise a driver and make our for our trip, we appreciated that it would take some time but we didn’t quite appreciate that it would take 4 hours each way, that means we took 8 hours of driving under 400km, reason being is that the roads a notoriously bad at part there were dirt roads which is meant to be a major highway. We were lucky to have had our own driver as well as an air-conditioned vehicle.

 

 

Overall the trip to Thanjavur was worth it, Big Temple along was probably the most impressive temple that we saw on our trip. It was very impressive and the people seemed more fascinated by us than us of the temple. We were followed and constantly asked where we were from and whether we could take a photo of them. It was a bit strange for us but overall the people were very kind and had no issues, it was funny how the ladies would only speak to Izaskun while the mean would talk to me.

 

The palace was also interesting, we didn’t as much time at the palace as we would of liked but there was a bit of confusion on what the ticket we bought (which I don’t think the locals did) allowed us into, there were random rooms that you needed an additional ticket but we didn’t know what they wanted or what they were showing. Overall it was a great trip even thou the time it took.

Later that night people started to arrive, who also had a bit of an adventure on the roads.  The guests that had arrived from London had arrived to Chennai which is about a 3 or 4 hour drive to Salem but it appeared to have taken them many more hours than that. Everyone arrived pretty late so not much was done once they arrived.

 

The next day, one day before the wedding, there was a split between those who wanted to see some sights and those who wanted to stay at the hotel. Izaskun, myself and another girl (Selwa) decided to see a sight called the 1,000 temples which consisted of… 1,000 mini temples or shrines and apparently it is still growing.

 

 

We explored the grounds and even managed to meet some locals, overall there was a great sense of colour and there was a lot of pride placed in ensuring the idols were clothed. There were no two idols that had the same clothing and all appeared to be hand-made. After a good trip, we needed to buy some stuff for the ceremony the next day, the girls needed more bling.. so it was off to buy millions of bangles at the local market. After much shopping and looking around we managed to get everything and headed home for the next day, the big day.

 

We had an early start, 4am. The girls needed more time to get ready so most of the time between 4am and 7am Nick and I simply sat around, in our traditional dress took about 15 minutes so we had a lot of time to chill, it was almost like they could of let us sleep more. However, once everything was ready the ceremony we proceeded to go down and wait a bit more in the reception area. After a short wait we saw people starting to trickle into the room, followed by a sudden excitement for Nick to get ready and ensure he has all that needed which included of flowers around his neck. After another half an hour or so we were all set and we waited for Priya to enter the room, when she did she was all in red with her entourage. The overall design and entrance was truly grand.

The ceremony was interesting, only about an hour long in total but consist of many different traditions that we don’t have in a traditional ‘western’ wedding, including a fire on the stage which the bride and groom had to constantly throw flowers in to activate the flames further and further.  The stage was busy too with the whole family and cousins all being around the bride and groom, it seemed to be that you get a ticket on stage

After the ceremony things calmed down a bit and we managed to see the bride and groom directly without other standing the way. We unfortunately couldn’t stage too long for the rest of the ceremony as we had to take a flight from Bangalore back to London, which was about 6 hour drive from Salem. Selwa also had a flight to catch so we all had to start saying our goodbyes and congratulate the lovely couple.

It was a gruelling drive through the country and chaotic roads, including a thunderstorm which didn’t help traffic with the mini floods that were occurring but we managed to get to the airport in time for our flight, while waiting around I grabbed some food. I was looking forward to eating some non-spicy food so I bought a juice and got Selwa ordered some food for me, which I don’t know what it was but it was good. Much to my horror I had bought a spicy juice which I managed to finish but not too happy about it in the process.

We caught our flight firstly to Mumbai, where we spend a few hours with Selwa and her sister, who lives there. They took us to a very fancy 5 star hotel in the north of Mumbai which was a total contrast to what we had seen from Mumbai at the start of our trip, it really made us think how diverse the city can be with the very rich and very poor all in one city. Anyways… after a few hours we had to go back, the trip back was not eventual, especially as we didn’t manage to get business class this time, and we managed to land in Heathrow early in the morning, on time for once. Later that day we had our flight to Johannesburg which you will see other posts about. So a lot of travelling in a short amount of time.

Overall an eye opening experience that really highlighted how different we can be culturally in the west than that of the east.