India hit me.

I was always very curious why people would tell me, before this trip, that three weeks in India is not enough time.  Was it because of the size? That it would take you longer than three weeks to do the route we chose? Or was it because India is just so beautiful that a few days to a week in one destination is just not enough time to experience what that city has to offer? Being in India now, I’ve finally made sense of that statement and all the above questions have an answer of no.

The real answer is: sickness. You have to plan for some time to be stuck in bed, in a non-air conditioned room, in the middle of their summer (lucky me) with a stomach virus from hell and a headache that lasts 4 plus days.  My illness only lasted a week and didn’t put us off schedule too much but still inflicted tremendous amounts of pain on my mind, body and soul.

The great town I was stuck in is about a kilometer long just outside the Bandhavgarh National Park (a tiger sanctuary), called Tala.  Now, don’t get me wrong, the staff of the hotel were patient and understanding.  They didn’t flinch at our 5^th toilet paper roll request and were sincere in their concern of my health.  The lack of AC was the biggest problem and not having the strength to put on proper clothes to enjoy the slight breeze outside, I was stuck in the sweltering hotness of our hotel room.  We did have a fan, which was lovely when it worked. The electricity was usually out between 8-11 every morning and in the evening from 3 until whenever they decided to give the poor town more electricity.   Tala is in the state of Madhya Pradesh which does not have their own power plant therefore they must rely on the state next door to fuel them.  So, I suffered.

Between the Indian headache medicines which actually worked better than the German stuff I brought and some codeine that a friendly guest gave me and some rehydration salts that his travel partner threw in, I was on my way to perfect health….eventually.

Who’s really to say what actually made me sick, there’s no way to know (it wasn't the brains!).  And to be quite honest, this amount of time in India (almost two weeks) has really done me in with their food.  How someone can eat curry that much in one day is beyond me.  What is also surprising is that India was a British colony for a long, long time and yet there are no reminisces of British food like there is in Africa.  Not that English food is the greatest but after this long with curry you would kill for a sausage roll.

Indian’s eat Indian food and that is all.  We tried “Italian” one night which was just pasta with India spices.  I honestly cannot eat anymore curry, plain and simple. 

Hopefully, the next city has more of a selection.

Here is a couple of photos I took when I did manage to peel myself off the bed.

A view from the rooftop of our hotel "Royal Guest House" in Tala.

A very bumpy (ouch) jeep excursion through the national park. Here are some guards on their preferred method of transport. We didn't see any tigers.