sister can you spare a square

shown to scale

drugs in the picture may be closer than they appear

The first thing people tell you about traveling in India is don’t drink the water.  Heard.  Even the good people at Lufthansa dropped a hint in the toiletten on our flight from Frankfurt to Chennai (formerly Madras).  Kein trinkwasser.  Not drinking water.  Nope.  Not drinking water.

Message received.

The second thing they tell you about are the toilets or lack thereof. “Ask if they have a western toilet.”  That just means there is a commode shaped bowl on which you may or may not precariously perch.  Eastern toilet can mean bucket, it can refer to a bidet like hose deal or it can be a “put your feet here” set of guides on either side of a hole. 

“Bring tissue.”  The said.

Message received.

There were only two things I was really concerned about before my trip.  One. Not having a hairdryer.  I don’t wake up looking like this.  Two. That thing about the tissue. 

I told Jenny I packed enough travel tissue to wipe the rear end of every Indian in Tamil Nadu.   I have since learned that = 6.7 million asses. 

Good thing I did because the first thing we really took notice of upon checking into our hotel was the size of the roll of toilet paper.  Cut me some slack, it was 12:30 am and I had just flown 16 hours and lost a day of my life.  The second thing we took notice of were the delicious almond biscuits and chocolates and Kingfisher beer awaiting us in our room.  (More on Kingfisher later.)

The rolls shown above are from two different hotels.  The larger comes from the state of Tamil Nadu.  The smaller hails from the state of Kerala.  You will learn more about what a native Tamil thinks of Kerala in a future installment. 

I thought I would also throw in pictures from a couple of "experiences" in Kerala.  The first set of pics is from our lodgings at a State Run Resort.  More on that later too.  Needless to say, I skipped the shower.  Don't you judge me.

That is all for now, off to enjoy a houseboat.

Please conserve your paper.  You never know when you will need to spare a square.