Stinky Lingam

Commandos from Andaman & Nicobar Tourism may hunt me down for wikileaking the following supersecret, but I live dangerously:

Havelock Island, two hours by ferry from the regional capital Port Blair, receives the lion's share of tourism - mostly related to scuba diving and snorkelling. In spring/summer 2010, the sea temperature around Havelock Island increased enough to seriously mess with animal habitats. Aaaaand, another side effect of the temperature change was that all of the coral above 20 metres was bleached... what was vividly multi-coloured for many years is now pale brown. Yuck. Andaman Islanders are doing a good job of keeping the news hushed up, but word will escape soon enough, and scare away some tourists. What a bummer for snorkelling! It's like watching tv in black and white. Ah well, more time for lazing in hammocks on empty, white sand beaches. I handled it with cool grace.

Nine days in the Andamans was not enough - doi oi! I strongly urge friends and well-wishers to visit, even though it's extremely awkward for North Americans to get there. I particularly liked Neil Island, though perhaps I'm overly influenced by the weather - our 2 days on Neil were a remarkably sunny escape from this plaguey rain and drizzle. Begone already!

We flew back to Chennai on the 15th and skipped straight over to Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram), two hours down the coast. What's with every place in India having multiple names? When it's not confusing, it's just exhausting. Here's a sample conversation that never happened, but could've:

Me: I'm going to Kochi. I would like to book a train.
Some guy: Where?
Me: Kochi
Him: Ohhhh Cochin
Me: Yeah whatever, so how about that train?
Him: Well, the train goes to Ernakulam, not Fort Cochin.
Me: Yes, I know. But I didn't say Fort Cochin, did I? I said Kochi. And you damn well knew what I meant.

Mamallapuram is so-so. Last night we ate dinner with a nice Polish couple who were really excited about the 'good shopping' in this town - whaaa? To my untrained eye, it's all overpriced (Kashmiri textiles), heavy/expensive (massive stone carvings), or something I don't want (jewelry, clothes, etc)... Later, Ben commented that he'd be happy to buy shit, but there is never anything worth buying. Indeed - where are the joke t-shirts? The Shore Temple was underwhelming, which is mildly embarrassing as I'd been hoping to take credit as its founder/builder/namesake. It's one of the sites in India that has been roped off by the Archaeological Survey of India, for which foreigners are required to pay Rs 250... um... roping fee? Thanks for nothing, ASI! There's another temple complex behind the bus station that looks 1. free and 2. better than the Shore Temple. It's on the roster for this afternoon.

Tomorrow we return to Chennai to catch an overnight train to Kochi/Cochin. I can't wait to see the mumsies and dadsies! I get a kick out of meeting familiar folks in strange settings. It's disorienting in a nice way. In Chennai, we dearly hope to catch a screening of the new Tron movie. We remain nerds in faraway lands.