India - Leaving bangalore / Arriving in Chennai.

After updating my blog on Friday, Kumar took me to the Bull temple, it wasn't very big, there was just a huge granite bull inside. We gave a donation and were given some jasmine to take with us. Had a bit of a drive around and then we went to a small lake called Sankey Tank (which doesn't sound too inviting, but was actually very nice) we hired a pedaloe for half an hour, it was so nice and relaxing, it felt we were miles away from the city.

After that we went to the Krishna temple (another Hindu god) it was one of the bigger temples I have visited, it's the one Kumar goes to regularly. After you come out of the temple there are lots of stalls where you can buy books, pictures, food etc. Kumar pointed out a picture of Krishna and his mother to me, he asked if I liked it, I said yes, then he said would I like to buy it, I just said no, thank you..then I felt a bit guilty as I didn't want to insult him and his beliefs, so I ended up buying one for me and another for him...but at about 20p per picture it didn't really break the bank!!

Friday night after we picked Gav up from work we went out for dinner and to meet his golfing mate Gerry, who is also from Northern Ireland. Had a good night and a few glasses of wine. When we got back I gave Gav a run for his money playing snooker...actually I'm lying, I was hopeless apart from a few flukey shots! I did pot the black to win the second game tho!

Woke up bright and early on Saturday to get my stuff ready for my next trip. I didn't manage to pack my rucksack very well so I had a bit of stress with that, it seems even fuller than before..I don't quite know how. Anyway, when I got that done we went to the restaurant we were at the other night on the 13th floor for lunch. I had quite a pleasant suprise seeing the view in the daytime, it was pretty amazing, no wonder they call Bangalore the Garden City. After lunch it was a quick drive to the train station where Gav helped me find the train, then we said our goodbyes. I've had such a great time in Bangalore and Gav and Kumar were so generous and made me feel so welcome, I was sad to leave :-(

The train journey was pretty uneventful, I managed to get a seat in the air con carriage and suprisingly there was quite a lot of leg room which was a good job as I had to keep my bags in front of me. It was really interesting travelling through the countryside, there are so many palm trees here, it all looks really tropical. We passed through a lot of small towns too. Seen lots of monkeys on the way, they're everywhere! The train was quite noisy, was pretty busy, so I just put on my headphones and relaxed. I was determined not to have to use the toilet on the train so I tried not to drink too much water, from what I've experienced the public toilets here are pretty horrific, so needless to say I haven't drunk much all week..yes, Chris I know it's not healthy but a girl has to sacrifice these things sometimes ;o) Lots of people passing through the train selling drinks and curry which made the train really smell!

So I arrived at the train station and found the taxi rank and arrived at Jeanettes flat. It's a lovely place and she's made me feel really welcome even though we have never met before. I didn't have a very good nights sleep tho, and to top it off I woke up in the night and managed to smash a glass on the floor, how embarrassing!! she was ok about it though. I think these next few days will be an experience as I will have to navigate my own way around...we shall see!!