On Mulberry Street

   Growing up we had this book about a boy who walked home from school everyday on Mulberry St. He never saw anything interesting, but everyday his mother would ask him what he saw on the way home. So one day while walking home he was imagining all kinds of amazing things, but when he got home he just said, "I only saw a horse and carriage on Mulberry Street."
   Here in India, you don't even have to use your imagination to see all kinds of interesting things along the road. Here are a few pictures of some things that we have seen. Keep in mind that these are just everyday sights to the people here, even though they seem strange to us.

Let me begin by saying that just driving is an experience in itself. Not only do they drive on the left side, but all the buses, cars, and motorbikes are weaving in and out, constantly honking their horns. If you can drive for five consecutive minutes without fearing for your life and thinking that you're going to crash, you're doing good. It really seems like madness at first, but there is a method to it. It takes getting used to though, and I still close my eyes a lot. lol

   You also have to be careful not to hit the pedestrians and animals that share the roadway. Animals we have seen crossing the road: cows, horses, monkeys, elephants, water buffalo, sheep, donkeys, peacocks, dogs, deer, wild boar, and dolphins. (jk about the dolphins lol)

didn't know animals could survive on trash, but apparently...

Why did the peacock cross the road?

   One of the most common sights you'll see along the way are Hindu temples. They are literally everywhere. Only certain castes are welcome in certain temples, and tourists are not allowed inside except by special invitation. Not that that's a problem with me, they seem really creepy.

Hindu temple

   Modes of transportation are very diverse. Trucks, buses, three-wheeled taxis, ox-carts, motorbikes, bicycles, cars, tractors, boats... (jk again)

three-wheeled taxi

the loads we've seen are incredible

truckload of sugar cane

share the road

   You also see different kinds of plants growing. Coconut trees, banana trees, rice patties, sugar cane...

   Then there's the random stuff...

washing clothes

In The Jungle

We got to stay two nights at Quiet Corner, in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. It was soooo cool to be in the jungle. Some of the terrain actually kinda reminded me of Texas, dry with lots of prickly pear cactus. But there are vast areas of bamboo/banyan tree forest. All the official safari trails were closed, but we still got to see a lot of animals just from the road.

Guar, wild Indian bison

horses (no, they're not wild)

Indian tractor

wild elephants (no it's not a trick, look closely :))

cute monkey family, we also saw langur monkeys but didn't get a good pic

jungle cock, wild Indian chicken

this guy saw two tigers in his yard a couple days ago

spotted deer, and peacocks were everywhere

aren't the low clouds so pretty?

Wildlife

I am officially christening Thursday as Flora and Fauna day for my blog. So each week I will try to post something about some kind of either plant or animal that we have encountered here. For this week I'm including a picture of a gecko, a herd of sheep, and wait...is that monkeys?

these cute little guys are very welcome residents in our house

herd of sheep causing a traffic jam on a rainy day

monkeys? no, wild? absolutely!

Peacocks!

I think it is really cool that peacocks run around wild here. They roost in the coconut trees behind our house, and hang out on our roof, all the time shrieking, "hailp, hailp." They are pretty skittish, so its hard to get a good picture of them. I guess there are a lot of them. We asked the Indians if they eat them and got a decided negative lol. They do like them because they keep the snakes away.

Look closely...

There are two!