Chennai - Bangalore... India!

Well, I´m definitely deep into the travel now. I wasn´t going to take on India and China in the same trip.. but it´s been awhile since China and I seem to have found my second wind for the umpteenth time.. oh and the cheap flights form Singapore didnt hurt either. So now I´m doing what I hadn´t imagined back in January... wandering around India on my own with no real plan other than to sight see. For some reason showing up in a new city/town with no idea where to stay doesn´t phase me - I arrived in India at 11:45pm in Chennai expecting to stay overnight in the Airport ( the internet made it seem high tech and new - but I think that´s the proposed new airport ) so was a bit put off when getting through baggage/cutoms etc and finding myself pushing away taxi touts on the streetside! I was happy to find the domestic terminal next door had a nice big waiting area for which I could pay a small fee to enter. Had a great meal at the airport and
waited for the next morning to brave the mass transit ( ie cattle car.. no, seriously ) to the center of town and the foreigner/backpacker only accomodation. Chennai was not the easiest introduction to India I was later told.. but I kept my cool hoping I could escape to a western style shopping center to steel myself. The western style shopping center was in its third phase and only a few years old going on 50. Like Asia.. things here get built and then ignored into disrepair. In many cases they dont even get fully completed before they are left to rot over time. That should be a reminder not to fully pay for anything here or in Asia before it´s been completed or you´ve reached your destination!
I´m now sitting in my hotel ( first time I´ve had a tv in my room in a long time.. for 310 rupees or about $7/night ) before going to hop on the 10pm overnight bus north of Bangalore ( Hospit.. on the way to Goa ). I still haven´t recovered from all my overnighters ( KL->Singapore, Chennai airport, Chennai -> Bangalore ) and I´m off on another one. It´s a bus though so maybe I´ll feel secure enough to get some sleep this time.

For the Record

A few notes after the fact...
Almost missed a flight... Just in time is becoming my motto... I went camera shopping in Jakarta and then barely got back to my hotel in time to get to the airport. Not a good idea when it´s the last day of your visa and you are in a country that will throw you in jail for a 10 day overstay. Daily penalties up until then are about $30USD a day and a chance for the immigration agent to make you miserable. When I got to the airport shuttle bus I realized the trip to the airport was a long one and that I hadn´t given myself anywhere near enough time! I got off the bus and hopped in a Taxi before realizing that wasn´t going to do it either.. my only hope was a delayed flight and sure enough.. it was 30 min delayed! I still had to run but ended up with 5 minutes to spare before boarding commenced.
Revisit Rabies - When I initially researched rabies ( having being bit by a mouse in Bangkok ) I read that in north America most of the rabies deaths are from people who were bit by a bat but didn´t realize they had been bit as teh incisions are so small. Just recently it clicked that when I was in Seattle I had woken up with what I thought was two small spider bites on the back of my neck... very neatly spaced and tiny. Now I realize there´s a good chance it was a bat bite as there were plenty of bats ( vampire bats??? ) around the area! I´m not sure what freaks me out more.. the idea of being bitten by a large spider or a bat. Anyways.. I´m sure glad there was no rabies in that bite.. that was almost 10 years ago!