Thursday 23 October 2014

1st. op. day 59 2nd. op. day 38

Hi to all,
We hope this finds you well.
We are now back at Krabi Boat Lagoon, having arrived a week ago.
On the 14th. October we left Pondicherry by car at 6pm. for the 3 hour drive north to Chennai International Airport where we caught Thai Airways TG338 which left Chennai at 0055 on the 15th. So unsociable!! We arrived at Bangkok at 0555 absolutely knackered although we had 4 empty seats each so were able to lie down and get about an hour's sleep on the flight.
But to regress - Jean continues to make good progress, although stating that one hip seems longer than the other! However, that's just a waiting game as the 2nd one settles down. Jim did say to the surgeon when we had our final appointment that we thought he'd got it wrong and made one longer than the other - we all had a good laugh! Dr. Bose said he was delighted with Jean's progress and was sure that when all had properly settled down everything would be fine. There is still some discomfort when she is tired (which is often as she's always overdoing things) and some numbness but when you consider the scale of the operations and the necessity for severed muscles, tendons and nerves to knit back together, it's not surprising that it takes a little time for everything to get back to where it was. And the swelling which was expected and which she experienced has now all but gone, except when she overdoes things.
Towards the end of our stay in Chennai we took a taxi to Georgetown which is what is left of "old" Madras and is near the port. Still quite a few attractive old buildings dating from the height of the British Raj in the late 1800's and which are now showing signs of restoration. But the usual chaotic scenes which we westerners find so incomprehensible. We saw the port which is the usual container port one sees all over the world. But its origins are all artificial and certainly no place for yachts! In the old days the port was regularly destroyed whenever a Bay of Bengal cyclone came through but now it is much more substantial with big seawalls and all they do is order all ships to sea. Just as happened in the last few days when a very large cyclone hit the coast a few hundred miles north of here and the local port up there was cleared. Must have been a rough ride for those vessels!
We spent our days eating too much at the Quality Inn and having walks for a bit of exercise. Although Chennai is not walker friendly, especially on one or two crutches!! Footpaths are patchy at best which necessitates walking on the road - a hazardous exercise anywhere in India. Quite often we would both walk up 3 flights to our room for at least some exercise. There was a small supermarket opposite and we could buy snack items and there was also a pharmacy down quite a flight of stairs which Jean negotiated quite successfully. Boomi, the head waiter looked after us very well - probably too well in fact (!) - and indeed all the staff got to know us and were all wonderful. We showed the Head Housekeeper the gory photos of the ops. and the x-rays showing the new joints and she was very impressed!!
Then there is still the fallout from the scandal surrounding the former Chief Minister who stole over Rs.66 core during the time of her office. She applied for bail and it seemed that most people thought (and inexplicably hoped) that she would be released but the judge said NO and she remained in jail - for the moment. When you think what that amount of money (over 13 million NZD) would have done for the poor people and even just basic infrastructure the attitude is incomprehensible, but this is India!!!
We eventually left Chennai on the 8th. amid much valedictory excitement. Jean even shed a tear or two! We had a very comfortable trip down to Pondy with the same driver who took us around Georgetown a few days before. He was very good and, although his English was limited, he made valiant efforts to show us things of interest and mostly we could understand him. We duly arrived at La Villa Shanti after asking directions once we were in Pondy. It's hilarious asking directions in India. It reminds us forcibly of the Irish direction jokes. Often they don't actually know, although living here you'd think they should. But they'll tell you what they think you want to hear so you take it all with a grain of salt - if indeed they can speak English and one can penetrate the accent. If you ask how far, they'll usually state something far less than it actually is!
The hotel (La Villa Shanti) is an 18th. century house in French style which has been restored and converted into the hotel. There is a new matching wing at the rear and a courtyard where the restaurant is in the centre which was no doubt part of the original garden. When it rains the restaurant also has a substantial undercover area. The whole effect was delightful and it was always very pleasant having a meal in the garden. We had a ground floor room as there are no lifts and the hips aren't quite yet up to constant stairs. The food was excellent and not too spicy as they cater to foreigners predominantly and our room was very comfortable. We were very sorry to say goodbye to everyone at La Villa Shanti.
During our stay we walked and travelled around the old quarter in Pondi and were favourably impressed with the architecture, the shopping and the the ambience generally. Given its French history it's unique in India and in our opinion a highly desirable place to incorporate in any Indian itinerary. We also walked on the beachfront promenade where there is a giant staue of Mahatma Ghandi (Ghandiji). This was generally disappointing as the colour of the waves breaking on the coast was a dark grey/black! All caused by massive pollution and very sad to see. And no harbour of any description so definitely not yacht friendly.
One day we visited Auroville ("City of Dawn") which is on the outskirts of Pondi. It is a small town/village which was established in 1968 by Sri Aurobindo in collaboration with a French lady called Mirra Alfassa. The philosophy behind it is "that it would contribute significantly in the progress of humanity towards its splendid future by bringing together people of goodwill and aspiration for a better world". It has been endorsed by UNESCO 4 times in the past 40 years. There is an Ashram there as well as many community buildings and separate individually owned dwellings all set in a rural atmosphere and surrounded by much lush bush. You cannot simply decide to go and live there; you have to be invited after a trial period over months of living with the community.
We had previously met an Italian lady (an ex boatie many years ago) who lives there with her Japanese husband who makes Japanese style furniture. We went to her house and had a very interesting conversation. It is fascinating to see how other people live and while initially appealing, we don't really think we could eventually retire there. We are always thinking about where we might one day finish up living when our sailing days are over!
India is like this - it always conjours up very diverse feelings. On the one hand you can't wait to leave the pollution and the noise and overcrowding and on the other one always remembers the people one meets and the kindness and friendliness that they show.
Our feelings after this visit were no different although the primary purpose of the visit was of course Jean's surgery and subsequent rehabilitation.
A final example of the irritations that can be experienced in India came at Chennai Airport when we arrived there from Pondicherry. We arrived 4 hours before our flight because we didn't know how much congestion there would be on the road. Some people said it would take only 2 hours; in the event it took us 3. But because we were early they wouldn't let us into the terminal building due to "terrorist concerns". Jean urgently needed to get to a toilet and only after we had threatened that she would "go" right there on the airport forecourt and amid much shouting and yelling that they finally produced a passenger manifest with our names on it and let us in! Then sometime later Jim was a bit hungry and all that was available was a chicken burger. Not his usual fare at all. However, when this gastronomic delight was requested they said "sorry we are on a half hour dinner break"!! Can you believe it - at an international airport. Again after much shouting it was eventually produced but definitely wasn't worth the effort. Such a pity that our final hours in India were blighted in this way.
We were completely exhausted when we finally arrived at Bangkok at 6 the next morning local time. We had booked on the internet into the Summit Windmill Golf Residence which is a golf oriented resort. For us the attraction was a very good discounted price although we had to pay an extra 2000 THB for early check-in. We had breakfast and then crashed. Woke around early afternoon feeling not so wonderful but then had a walk on the golf course before dinner. we had an enormous one bedroom apartment with full kitchen, sitting room, terrace, bedroom and very large bathroom. It was absolute luxury but somewhat wasted on us and our fatigue which was at least partially caused by "coming down" after all the pressures and worries surrounding our time in India. Notwithstanding that the result has been absolutely wonderful as far as Jean's ongoing prognosis is concerned.
We left the next morning for the one hour taxi ride to the domestic airport and then a one hour uneventful flight to Krabi with Air Asia where we picked up a car at the airport. It took us about 4 days to finally come right and Jim had a persistent stomach bug which had been acquired in Pondi. Thought he'd avoided the Delhi Belly, but it was not to be. The boat was wonderful and Des and Popeye have done another fabulous job in raising our cockpit sole and other work while we were gone. Still a few minor loose ends to sort out but whenever is a boat completely finished?!!! Jean stayed with Garn who owns the Galley Restaurant at the marina for about 5 days so that she could be confident of getting on and off and around the boat before finally living on board. It's all gone according to plan and she is now on board and climbing the companionway ladder with aplomb, albeit slowly!
Anyway, it's good to be back and Jim is threatening to show Des and anyone else who's interested the gory holiday snaps of Jean's op.!! We obtained an extension of the boat's import licence until early December but we feel reasonably confident that we should be able to sail down to Langkawi in Malaysia before then. It's only 100 miles and should be an easy sail as there are many good anchorages between here and there.
So, now just reprovisioning and finishing off minor boat jobs and then we'll be away. It will be good to be sailing again. However, we will certainly be back up here early next year to further our Thai experiences and to see all our friends at Krabi Boat Lagoon. In between all that we will be visiting our far flung families, probably in Feb./Mar. 2015. Jean is due to become a grandmother for the second time in March so she will be in Miami, Florida for that happy event, particularly as she missed Carter's arrival last year due to the fact that at the time we were in the South China Sea heading to Singapore! Jim will no doubt be in Christchurch and Auckland visiting his children and grandchildren.
That's about it for now from us - there will be some photos of India on our website very soon now.
Lotsaluv from us...........
Jean and Jim

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