Trivendrum - An Odysse

It feels strange to come to new places but having the feeling that you already know how to move there only after having looked through the guidebook a bit. When leaving Kolkatta I toke a cab to the airport, which was lazy, as already knew how to travel part of the way by metro. The flight to Trivendrum via Chennai was rather unexciting, which is good, as I tend to live some adventures at airports with delays and not arriving luggage ;)
Leaving the arrival airport I was determined not to take a taxi, but find my way to the city with public transport. I toke a local bus and somehow managed to communicate myself with some local passengers to find out, where I had to get of. Eventually I jumped off the bus, walked for a bit and got on an other bus for a few hundred meters, shouting to make the bus stop near by a Guest house mentioned in the "Lonly Planet". For some reason the guy at the reception was had serious problems articulating himself and got desperate and a bit mad at me as I did not understand a word of what he intended to say in what he held for English. I moved on, thinking that I would find a different place without any problems… what a miss perception. Apparently some swami (spiritual teacher) is in town right now and that´s why almost all budget hotels and guest houses were booked out. I walked almost through the whole town with all my luggage, taking a tuck tuck every now and then to find myself in front of an other booked out place. How ever, I was very motivated and optimistic to find an affordable place (in Indian terms, of course there were hotels available with European prices) to spend the night. After 3 hours of the authentic backpacker-spirit I finally found a room at the place right next to the first guest house I went to, so I guess this explains the title of this post ;)))
In the evening I went out to have dinner -- eating al the forbidden stuff which I would be missing in the Ashram I planned to go the next day -- and on my way back I had my first vegetable juice… made of cucumber, carrots, ginger and some really bitter fruit …arrrggg, it tasted so awkward, it must have been very healthy …at least that´s what the guy at the store told me.

Still healthy and with an optimistic traveler enthusiasm I got up the next day in order to visit the huge main temple of Trivendrum, already sure, that I would leave this rather loud and ugly town right afterwards. The temple was nice from outside, I can not tell you much about the inside, as not Hindus were not allowed to enter ;)
I moved on to find out about the bus connections and asked my way through the town, "visiting" unexpected places like the train station, the police station, two bus terminals which were not the ones I needed, a nice Chai place…
With patience I found the place were my bus was supposed to leave, harvesting un-understanding looks, why a supposingly rich western guy would not take a taxi for the 30 km to the Sivananda Ashram in Neyar Dam. Now I am sitting on my bed and writing this post in a text document, so that I can publish it, when the Internet place here is opened during one hour in the evening. I am lucky I brought my own lap top, as like this it is easier to get a free spot (cable). I am not sure how often I will be able to post during this month, as the training will be very intense and strict, but I will do my best to keep you informed. All the best from the Ashram, big hug.