19.10.2004

Woah...

It's all true. Nothing can prepare you for India. Chenai is absolute chaos - the fourth largest city in India with around 6.7 million people contributing to the belching, farting, spitting mess of humanity that is smeared across this dirty street canvas.

The crush of people outside the airport gave us a hint of what awaited. We ducked left and avoided the onslaught of touts - making it out on to the main highway, across the road and up to the train station. Compared to the 250 rupees for a taxi (1 AUD = 32rs), 7rs for the train was definitely the ticket.

It was a 40 minute show - standing room only. As the only foreigners onboard we attracted a lot of eyeballs, and a few laughs as we attempted our first foray into learning a little Tamil (the official, commonly spoken language of southern India). The train system in India is the largest in the world - and Indian Rail is the largest employer in the world with 1.2 million workers.

Getting off at Park station in the centre of Chennai was a sight to behold. A mass of saris and red dots hustling to get out of the station. We managed to get across the formidable highway - over to Central station and book our train ticket right through to New Jalpaiguri in the north-east of India.

Over 1700 kms of travel over the next few days which should be fun. For now it's off to find some samosas, dhal, and a bed.