DAY 115, Tuesday, May 9.
Port Blair
The main port in the Andaman Islands is Port Blair, our last stop in India. India annexed the Andamans when it was an unnamed archipelago, inhabited mainly by the bugis, a sea-going people. Today Port Blair is an important military base, and while the city itself is very Indian (e.g., cows in the street) the military influence is strong. Not only were passengers from countries hostile to India, like China and Pakistan, prohibited from setting foot on the island, but there was far less garbage everywhere.
On the way into town we passed two larger-than-life, gold-painted statues of important men, one wearing sunglasses(!) In the center of town, right in the middle of its traffic circle, was a third larger-than-life one of Gandhi.
