And well staffed by uniformed and quickly moving servers. The manager of the shop quickly noticed an

We discovered a new and quite welcome philosophy prevailed at the Hotel Femina with regard to check out times. Here, the rule was that checkout occurred exactly 24 hours after check in. This worked perfectly for us, since we had an overnight train to Cochin that evening, but would be free to leave our things in the hotel room, and use it to clean up after the day s wheel.
We breakfasted at a south Indian coffee shop, which we quickly found was a local institution. Its interior was well lit by skylights, and it was crowded with many, many people ripping into vadas, idilis, and dosas.
And well staffed by uniformed and quickly moving servers. The manager of the shop quickly noticed and greeted us, showing us to a table that had been vacated just seconds before. Our server, perhaps the only one in all of our travels in India who was a female, wiped our table down with water and an open hand.
We ordered a couple of idli and vada, a few dosas, and cup after cup of scrumptious South Indian coffee. Feeling refreshed, and quite content to be once again in a land of large portions, we hit the streets.
We wheeled north into the city, bouncing our way over crumbling concrete streets, which dissolved from time to time into gravel, dirt and sand. Our first waypoint fashion magazine 2011 would be a temple complex in the north of the city, but we were unsure of the exact route.
We knew that once we got close, fashion magazine 2011 we would be able to see the thing looming in the distance and chart from there, but first we needed to traverse the five or so kilometers of city, which lay in a tangled patchwork of poorly maintained streets between us and the northern outskirts.
We called a waypoint to consult a local street coffee vendor and sample his wares. Before we could even order coffee, we had a attracted a large crowd, all of whom were men dressed in a kind of man skirt called a lungi, most of whom where silently scrutinizing the speed TRs with hands crossed behind their backs.
One emerged from the crowd, explaining to us that he was the manager of a painting operation, fashion magazine 2011 which was at work next door slathering fashion magazine 2011 the interior of a shop with electric orange enamel. He asked us to survey his men s work, and insisted on buying us coffee (which we nervously drank from a couple of sticky communal glasses).
He then commenced a long chain of introductions, first introducing us to his team of laborers, followed by most of his extended family, who, for one reason or another, all seemed to be walking by at that time.
All the while, the crowd of people fashion magazine 2011 standing around us was growing larger and larger. They were ringing the bells on the Speed TRs and clicking the shifters. When we finally had gotten through the pleasantries and began asking directions to the temple, we hit a roadblock in communications, culminating with the painting manager fashion magazine 2011 insisting fashion magazine 2011 that he would travel with us on his motor bike to the temple. We did our very best to decline this offer graciously, tried to pay for our coffee, thanked the giant crowd for their kind attention, and remounted the cycles. fashion magazine 2011
Through a system of extemporaneous field commands, we were able to make our way out of the city and into the farmland that encircles Trichy. Strangely enough, fashion magazine 2011 the roads actually seemed to improve out here, and as we rode, we waved and helloed with everyone fashion magazine 2011 we passed, young and old, even if they were in the distance, operating a piece of farm machinery. Speaking of the distance, there, in it, was the temple. Looming tall and ornate in the hazy pollution. We were certainly heading in the wrong direction, but we now knew where it was, and that was an important step.
We briefly entertained the idea of cycling along the outskirts of the city in order to reach the temple, but as it turned out, all roads lead into Trichy, so we had to ride back into the city, in order to get out of it on the northeast side rather than the northwest. fashion magazine 2011 By now, we were beginning to know our way around, and made short work of the crumbling streets, fashion magazine 2011 sending up our own clouds of the red sandy soil of Tamil Nadu.
Suddenly a man ran out into the street, eyes wild, and waving his hands in the air at us as if to say Stop the show! Hold everything! We dutifully brought the speed TRs to a halt next to him, where he began to scream to us. A great man! Only one great Man! He then violently pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to show us a tattoo on his arm.
We non-verbally agreed with him, and repeated the name, M.G. Ramachandaran. Upon hearing this he most vigorously shook both of our hands and we were off wheeling again. The extremes of experience indeed.
Here, dear reader, you might be interested to learn: MG Ramachandaran , or MGR as he is more colloquially known in Tamil Nadu was an actor, film producer, and politician. From 1977 until 1987 he was the Minister of Tamil Nadu. For more info, I highly recommend the wikipedia article on this fellow. We found it quite engrossi