Cybernet: Fri 11:30

Friday, 07 January, 2011 11:30

Currently at lat/long: n22 28.370 e78 26.051

Hotel Park View, Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, IN.

No phone signal (or the iPhone being rubbish -- why didn't I bring a Nokia with me?) and I've seen roadkill move quicker than this dialup Internet connection (I do not jest). The 60+ mins spent watching the connection time out last night in the cold were fruitless and it was suggested it would be better in the morning -- presumably when the sun has warmed the wires up. Anyway, updates might be reduced in frequency for a while.

Freeloading at a cottage in the park was firmly rebuffed by the landlord (but in a very polite way -- he is a minister of the church and had dismissed the housekeeper for using a bad word amongst other offences) but as it turns out the cottage wasn't quite so buried in the park as I'd imagined and is only just over the river from here.

As ever with these things, the image of pristine forest (the forest at the entrance 45km back is fabulous dappled wonderland, to be fair) is shaken by the presence of towns and villages and people going about their daily business not quite so in fear of being eaten by tigers or leopards as you might think. They even encourage tourists to cycle around so I don't think I'm going to see much.

What I will do, however, is get cold. The days are curiously warm like lovely spring days up towards 20C and much much warmer in the sun but the nights are very cold. There are a few tourists about but for what is nominally a peak season the place is deserted. I shivered alone in a restaurant last night my condensing breath obscuring the TV. Let me tell you that egg biryani is nowhere near as exciting a meal as you might think.

Still, they advertise a few landscape-y attractions so I'd better head out to see them while it's warm!