Let’s go cycling

A bit of a contrast!

Down through the lush green lands of Kerala’s Chinnar wildlife refuge,  full of waterfalls and vast valleys, to the bordering lands of Tamil Nadu.

Over the checkpoint the landscape changed dramatically.  In the rainshadow of the Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu was instantly drier and the foliage changed from lush tropical rainforest with large leaves to almost cactus like trees,  small leaved and spiky.

Maybe coincidence,  but many of the roadsides were now like rubbish tips…

Tuk Tuks were nowhere to be seen…we eventually spotted a couple in the first major township and have seen several since- but not quite as prevalent as in Kerala.

Second day in Tamil Nadu found us in a rather larger city- “Erode”.  The ride through the city to find our accommodation was a little challenging and the pace of the traffic a bit frenetic- but it was all doable!  Perhaps a little taster of how things might look when we get to Bengalaru with a much larger population base.

Found a beer in Erode, a bit of a rarity so far in India and the whole concept of Bars here is a bit off-putting… but enjoyed nonetheless after a hot day on the bikes.

Three days in and our impressions of India with its relatively quiet roads and manageable traffic started to change… the ride out of the city was hectic but fairly simple and the day started with reasonably light traffic but we hit major highways on the last two days in Tamil Nadu and all that changed. Sandwiched between constant trucks and buses was not the most fun…

At least food was more readily available along the established highways. The bread omelets that were common in Kerala seem to have largely disappeared…but tea and cake stalls were frequent enough to get us by 🙂  However, we struggled to find places to eat on the quieter roads and our lack of ability to speak Tamil definitely didn’t help!

Food and services were also a big problem on the brand new highway that we attempted today (although the traffic became quieter!). Massive big roads but nowhere to eat. Despite hunger we did pass by a couple of roadside stalls but, well, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to eat there. We consider ourselves reasonably tough when it comes to roadside eating but there is a line to be drawn somewhere. Sorry…

Eventually we found a substantial town and a lovely clean place for lunch. It also happened to be the point where the new highway finished (still under construction) and all the trucks were funneled through this little place with fairly hilarious (and slow…) results.

One of the fascinating aspects of riding on the new and newish highways was the number of houses which have literally had their fronts chopped off to make way for the roadworks. We have no idea whether the residents were compensated in any way…but some of the houses were left with just a tiny little shell to live in.

There seems to be a much lower proportion of English speakers in TamilNadu- although it could also be that we happen to have taken a path fairly well untrodden by foreigners so they don’t normally have a need for English!

Eating is an art-form here…one which we are unlikely to master. After a couple of attempts we’ve dispensed with pride and we generally ask for a fork or spoon now whenever we order a rice meal. Somehow, neither of us can manage to eat anywhere near enough using just our right hand- but the locals manage it very adroitly indeed!
A masala dosa (that’s like a great big crispy thin pancake with potato curry inside) can just about be achieved without a fork…but it’s messy! Luckily pretty much every eatery has a wash station for just this reason…
We won’t repulse you with pictures of us eating…or anyone else for that matter…

Tea is certainly a staple and we’re both getting used to drinking it however it comes- usually sweet! We’ve learnt to ask for a tea (milky) and a black tea.  Same with coffee- the default is lots of milk and lots of sugar.

And…the kids love asking for selfies…we much prefer posing for a selfie than being asked for money!!

And that’s Tamilnadu! Next stop the state of Karnataka and Bengalaru…

2001 km travelled to date, 17950m elevation
(no wonder I’m feeling a little tired!)