First Impressions from Kodai
This will just be a short (hopefully) entry and will try afterwards to get down here all I have written the past couple of days....for those of you who have complained about my entries being too long and details...remember what I told you in the very first entry...this is MY journal, written for me alone...I am pleased to share it with anyone interested, but will in no way censor it...the REAL personal stuff does not go to anyone anyway, just to me....if you find it trying, just delete...if you want "off" the list, just tell me...I will not be insulted in any way....
I have been in Kodai since Tuesday early morning and am staying at the Greenland's Youth Hostel...a fabulous place on the edge of a cliff with a fantastic view. However, the room is nothing to write home about, it is the cheapest room at the hostel and is still 250 while the nice rooms are up above 400 rupees. At Kailwwod in McLeod, I got the BEST room for 250 and it had just a fantastic view and many other amenities too boot...including hot water shower whenever I wanted, and a good restaurant where I could eat VERY good food 3 meals a day and in between...either in my room or on a terrace where I could also meet other travelers. Here, the food is very limited, what there is, is awful, and it must be eaten alone as there is no central place...also, expensive...I ate my first morning an "omelette" butter toast and hot ginger (which turned out to be chai) and paid 60 (!) rupees....and this morning I ordered just ginger tea (one sec with that one) after telling them how to make it and just dry toast and jam and paid 50 (!) rupees!! so I have stocked up on my own food, as you will see in one of my entries and will be eating out when I can and on my own otherwise.
The biggest problem with the guesthouse is it is 1 kilometer out of town so once you've gone back, especially after dark it is difficult to go back to town...so I will arrange my day to have 2 meals out in the afternoon and late afternoon ...not very convenient...
Ordered ginger tea this morning and explained to them how to prepare it and they proudly brought me it in a nice stainless steel cup (NO plastic of any form is used here in town and it is truly an environmentalists dream) and I put in my honey (which they didn't have the day before but to went out to buy for me) and took a big sip and (yuck!!!!)....it was made with garlic instead of ginger!!! Brought it back and the guy in charge, Deva (who speaks some hebrew and when I asked his name he said "say Nature in Hebrew") apologized and said they used ginger (bullshit) but perhaps the cups were used for garlic before...they made me more but it was still impossible....but took it anyway so as not to offend and this is the last time you will find me ordering anything there...didn't even get any money back from the 50 rupees I paid...so dry toast and jam cost me 50 rupees this morning!!!
anyway./
....the town is not pleasant at all...hawkers all over selling "warm clothing" which no one seems to bring with them....only one book shop, not used books, so far found only 2 internet cafes, no coffee shops, no cake shops, basically Indian restaurants as this is an India resort so this is not a complaint about that, just noting a fact for me...it is not pleasant to stroll around...no really nice shops of any kind...did find a public toilet in the middle of town as clean as any in a modern shopping mall at home and that is MOST important for me....also found a place where I can buy bread and some cakes to take back to my room....so I am basically set...
....today I went down to see the lake which was a useless adventure...from the pics it seems idyllic but there is not even a place to sit and drink chai or coffee along the lake....so just another long, pleasant walk....tomorrow I will head up for the mountains...hopfully up there I will feel happy and content, but don't think I will be here for more than a week or so...have an appointment at the school on the 25th, and will start planning my leaving soon...the big question is do I go on to Kerala or back to Chennai and up north....I am being pulled desperately to McLeod and think I will head straight up there....I don't think I will go to the Zen place either as it is in this same area, and so far, the energies here do nothing for me. I am also having a slight problem with my "bones" as the mattress is a problem...not because it is hard...I love hard mattresses, but it is made of something which does not give at all...like a board, so my hip bones at night are in trouble, and too much of that may undo all the work my therapy did ....and as it is cold, I sleep all curled up....well, whatever....will reserve any further judgement until after I get up into the mountains...
Will end this short one and begin the LONG entries now, but my hour here is almost up and it is expensive...will see what I manage...train ride, ride up the mountain to here and then the important one "FIRST LESSON FROM INDIA". I figured out this morning what's going on and it was a real eye opener...and will write it up as soon as I can.
I have been in Kodai since Tuesday early morning and am staying at the Greenland's Youth Hostel...a fabulous place on the edge of a cliff with a fantastic view. However, the room is nothing to write home about, it is the cheapest room at the hostel and is still 250 while the nice rooms are up above 400 rupees. At Kailwwod in McLeod, I got the BEST room for 250 and it had just a fantastic view and many other amenities too boot...including hot water shower whenever I wanted, and a good restaurant where I could eat VERY good food 3 meals a day and in between...either in my room or on a terrace where I could also meet other travelers. Here, the food is very limited, what there is, is awful, and it must be eaten alone as there is no central place...also, expensive...I ate my first morning an "omelette" butter toast and hot ginger (which turned out to be chai) and paid 60 (!) rupees....and this morning I ordered just ginger tea (one sec with that one) after telling them how to make it and just dry toast and jam and paid 50 (!) rupees!! so I have stocked up on my own food, as you will see in one of my entries and will be eating out when I can and on my own otherwise.
The biggest problem with the guesthouse is it is 1 kilometer out of town so once you've gone back, especially after dark it is difficult to go back to town...so I will arrange my day to have 2 meals out in the afternoon and late afternoon ...not very convenient...
Ordered ginger tea this morning and explained to them how to prepare it and they proudly brought me it in a nice stainless steel cup (NO plastic of any form is used here in town and it is truly an environmentalists dream) and I put in my honey (which they didn't have the day before but to went out to buy for me) and took a big sip and (yuck!!!!)....it was made with garlic instead of ginger!!! Brought it back and the guy in charge, Deva (who speaks some hebrew and when I asked his name he said "say Nature in Hebrew") apologized and said they used ginger (bullshit) but perhaps the cups were used for garlic before...they made me more but it was still impossible....but took it anyway so as not to offend and this is the last time you will find me ordering anything there...didn't even get any money back from the 50 rupees I paid...so dry toast and jam cost me 50 rupees this morning!!!
anyway./
....the town is not pleasant at all...hawkers all over selling "warm clothing" which no one seems to bring with them....only one book shop, not used books, so far found only 2 internet cafes, no coffee shops, no cake shops, basically Indian restaurants as this is an India resort so this is not a complaint about that, just noting a fact for me...it is not pleasant to stroll around...no really nice shops of any kind...did find a public toilet in the middle of town as clean as any in a modern shopping mall at home and that is MOST important for me....also found a place where I can buy bread and some cakes to take back to my room....so I am basically set...
....today I went down to see the lake which was a useless adventure...from the pics it seems idyllic but there is not even a place to sit and drink chai or coffee along the lake....so just another long, pleasant walk....tomorrow I will head up for the mountains...hopfully up there I will feel happy and content, but don't think I will be here for more than a week or so...have an appointment at the school on the 25th, and will start planning my leaving soon...the big question is do I go on to Kerala or back to Chennai and up north....I am being pulled desperately to McLeod and think I will head straight up there....I don't think I will go to the Zen place either as it is in this same area, and so far, the energies here do nothing for me. I am also having a slight problem with my "bones" as the mattress is a problem...not because it is hard...I love hard mattresses, but it is made of something which does not give at all...like a board, so my hip bones at night are in trouble, and too much of that may undo all the work my therapy did ....and as it is cold, I sleep all curled up....well, whatever....will reserve any further judgement until after I get up into the mountains...
Will end this short one and begin the LONG entries now, but my hour here is almost up and it is expensive...will see what I manage...train ride, ride up the mountain to here and then the important one "FIRST LESSON FROM INDIA". I figured out this morning what's going on and it was a real eye opener...and will write it up as soon as I can.
posted by Jane @ 11:11 PM
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