Chennai
So we’ve spent a night in Chennai now and what an absolute
palaver. The hotel was miles from the city (an hour and a half drive). I called
the agent who’d arranged it for us and told him off, asking to be moved
but it was too late to cancel. Instead he arranged for a driver for us for the
day for free, and it was a good job he did, as it would have cost us a fortune
in taxis, being so far out. The hotel itself was pretty decent; the area was
called Kelambakkam,
near Kovalam
Beach.
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| Kovalam Beach |
We got a tuk-tuk down to the beach last night and regardless of what
they say, it is not a touristy area, although it wasn’t without its charm with
locals sitting along the road, selling fish, sweets and bracelets. Although it was
busy, there was not another tourist in sight. The beach seemed more of a
fishing area than a holiday resort.
The driver picked us up on the following day in an old
banger and needless to say we broke down on the highway on our way into
Chennai. We eventually made it to the outskirts of the city where we were
collected by another driver. He had no idea where any of the main landmarks
were and his English was non-existent. Luckily I had my Indian sim with plenty
of data so we managed fairly well, finding out where to go and how to get there, apart from not being able to get into
certain places such as the fort, because of the money situation. The money
shortage means that the banks are giving out these new 2000rs notes, which is
about £25. No one is able to change them because they’ve taken away so many of the
smaller notes, and a lot of people just don't have that sort of money on them to change.
Next, we visited Kapaleeswarar
Temple which dates from 700AD and is a lovely colourful Hindu complex.
 |
| Kapaleeswarar Temple |
We went
to Sri
Ramakrishna Temple too, which was different from many of the brightly
coloured temples we’d seen in South India which feature hundreds of the Gods.
Sri Ramakrishna was a pale pink colour, with several domes, almost like a
palace.
 |
| Sri Ramakrishna Temple |
We stopped for lunch on the famous Marina
Beach, a 6km stretch of beach that runs alongside the city, before heading
to Mamallapuram
which hosts several ancient sites and temples including the Shore
temple, Five
Rathas and the Tiger
Cave, dating from around 600 AD. These were amazingly detailed carvings and
monoliths which were really well preserved. This was well worth a visit and we
wished we’d had longer there.
 |
| Shore Temple |
 |
| Tiger Cave |
We were supposed to fly to Kerala the next morning, but
with a cyclone storm raging, all flights were cancelled and we were stuck
in the hotel for the foreseeable. The weather was mental, with hurricane winds
and the rain was unreal. I don’t think there was one shop sign that stayed
intact. We sat watching the big sign opposite our hotel room all day and
recording its slow demise.
 |
| Day after the storm |
We were obviously not able to get out during the storm so I
managed to get some work done before Microsoft Office decided to stop working
on the tablet, leaving me with no office programmes and internet conked out too! Early night for us!
#chennai #kovalambeach #kapaleeswarartemple #sriramakrishnatemple #marinabeach #mamallapuram #fiverathas #tigercave #shoretemple
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