Saturday, December 18, 2010

Trip Day 1 - Madurai

We started our biking trip in Madurai. Getting to Madurai was interesting. We had booked Volvo bus tickets and its truck is suppose to be bog enough to fit in the bikes. At the last moment though, the bus operator caused problems and asked us to send the bikes in 'luggage' separately. We went to luggage place and things appeared very dicy. I don't know why they cause so much problem, probably just wanted some more money. It did not look right from the beginning. But we sent the bikes in luggage. They promised that it will arrive right in the morning with us. ok. As I will learn multiple times, Indians have no sense of time, or of meeting any expectation. Tomorrow never really means tomorrow.
We arrived Madurai very early morning, and then roamed around to find a hotel. Found a not so cheap place. Then we headed out at promised time to check out the bikes. No surprise, the bikes were not there. The guys at counter had 20 different stories - it will come at a different place, it will come in afternoon, it will come in evening and then finally it will arrive tomorrow! I can't help wonder if this type of non-commitment is the reason why this country is still so backward even though there is no shortage of talent. Honesty and sincerity are missing big time.
There was not much to do in Madurai. We saw the main temple, which is great. And then some other temples.

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