An inauspicious start

The second leg of our flight, KUL to MAA, was suitably uneventful.  Another full plane, but not freezing cold this time. We got through immigration and quarantine very quickly, and K&G's bag was the first one off the plane (yay!).  We left the airport, and hit the humidity of post-Cyclone Thane Chennai. Our greeter from the tour company readily spotted us (group of six white people in a sea of brown), and we loaded into our new, air-conditioned van and were on our way.

We were advised that we could go directly to Pondicherry (~3 hours) or take a detour to a very famous temple precinct which would add two hours or so travelling time, plus visiting time. We discussed the pros (very famous, K&G regretted not seeing it last time) and cons (temples generally shut 12:30pm to 4:30pm, although being NYDay, it would probably be open; as a tourist destination, it has a large number of aggressive touts/beggars/etc, we'd get to Pondicherry too late to do much exploring). In the end we decided to skip it and go direct to Pondicherry.

And then the plan fell apart.



We had to pull over only a few minutes later as our driver realised his fan belt had snapped. We limped on to a few different possible contenders (puncture repair place, motorcycle repair, a car repair, and then around the corner and down a backstreet to a full-blown mechanic.

And two and a half hours later, we're still stuck outside at the mechanic's. The first hour or so was trying to get a replacement fan belt, made all the more difficult by it being New Years Day. We apparently have a replacement van coming, but it (a) has been coming for the past hour and a half, and/or (b) it is stuck in traffic/road works/something else and has been for some time. We've eventually played the stroppy white folks card, and senior regional managers have been contacted, but there is still nothing we can do.

It's humid, warm and airless - there is occasionally a hint of a breeze outside. We knew we'd encounter a bit of this sort of thing, but it's a bit much this early on! We're tired, hot, swollen of ankles, and generally a bit ratty (albeit well-controlled ratty). Some of us, myself included, have finally changed out of our heavier plane-suitable clothes and into lighter tropical-suitable clothes, and we've put on insect repellent (some sort of very small nibbly thing) and sunscreen. I'd love to put my sunglasses on, but I'm wearing spectacles (eyes get too dry wearing contact lenses on the plane) and can't wear my sunnies until I've put my contacts in, which I can't/won't do until I can wash my hands properly.

[Whinge, whine, blah.]

WOO-HOO!!! Our replacement van has arrived, it has aircon, and an intact fan belt, and we are on our way (again).