Feb 14
- enjoyed the camel ride!
- while waiting for our train to go back to Kochi from Alleppy (Alappuzha), we accepted an offer for a 2hr taxi ride with AC directly to the Kochi airport for $20US (he took care of the train tickets refund with small commission--fair enough :)
- had uneventful 1.5 hrs flight to Chennai.
- got culture shock once we were out of the airport! Had no clue where we were going to stay.
- endured a horrendous non-AC taxi ride for 1hr+ on highway which was down to two lanes, traffic jams, breathing in exhaust fumes...
- got to an area where it should be full of tourists as we asked. Hmmm, not a soul!
- grabbed a nice hotel just to get in regardless of the price $45/day, no restaurant, just room service (we didn't know where the food come from) Wifi charge was 2$ /100MB, uploading pics was draining my pocket so fast so I stopped.
- ate street food with fingers while standing late at night.
Feb 15
- didn't feel well, got a chest cold but agreed to go for a walk with G to find a money exchange. Still couldn't find a proper restaurant for breakfast. We bought a samosa and a pastry to keep walking on dirty streets (Chennai is the 4th largest city in India???)
-The hotel only accepted cash so I desperately needed US$ exchanged. Took a while to find a bank but it was not authorized to do the task! People are still nice here even they look, act, speak differently than in Kerala. The bank had to call another bank and they promised to deliver money in 1/2 hr but it turned out to be almost 2hrs! For the whole time I stayed in the most dirty bank I have ever seen, a bank of India Branch. G went out finding food and came back with a small apple which I had no desire to eat. I was getting sick without realizing it.
- That was it! I hit the bed for the afternoon. Ordered room service for a bowl of soup which made me even sicker that night!
Feb 16
- in my condition, we had to stay put. Couldn't plan to see places like Mamalapuram 60km from Chennai. G was very supportive, wandered around close to the hotel to check on me. That was when he felt he had enough of Chennai (and India as a whole): no good food, had to get beer illegally. dirty streets...so he agreed to get out at any price.
- I was in bed on the hunt for airline ticket to VN and the earliest we could get out for the price "I" would pay was Mon Feb 18 at 3am! $200/each more than planned.
- we were content to stay another day because we knew the end of our India trip was near.
Feb 17
- to our surprise, I was feeling better in the morning! We decided to take a short day trip to a closer temple & beach. Boy! This beach was the worst compared to any beaches we had been to. It was so dirty along the shore! But the temple was nice. The locals began to come around 3pm. On the way back unexpectedly we saw another nice temple. (Please see temples and beach pics on slideshow on the right)
- we ended the day by eating in the room a takeout half roasted chicken. The first time in two days I felt hungry.
-checkout at 10pm and to airport by 11pm. The autorickshaw driver tried to get more money from us with his children story up to the point of begging. Even I had been tipping generously, we didn't like his behavior, no good tip for him.
- Chennai didn't give us any good impression including its airport, my pic said it all. BUT the great thing we found out was we were flying in business class. I couldn't explain how it happened because I was sure I booked economy class???
-we missed the Lounge Invitation so only me turned around to use it and went through the security check twice. G didn't want to do it, but understood that I needed to do so--my first time ever to enjoy the business class service.
-We both were so happy getting out of India AND getting in business class cabin on both flights to Vietnam without knowing whatever the germs we got from Chennai was following us onto the plane!
-Augh! I was feeling sick again on the first flight, and G felt the same the minute we landed on Hong Kong airport. We both decided to take antibiotic pills! Gladly we had 6hrs to rest and recover at another Cathay Pacific's Lounge where we had forgo all the good free foods they served and settled with soup and light drinks only. It paid off, we felt much better by the time we boarded the second flight to VN.
What all the Yo-Yo experiences we both have in the two weeks in India after my one-month ashram life! Hmmm, reflection on this trip will come later when we get home!
VN here we come!
- enjoyed the camel ride!
- while waiting for our train to go back to Kochi from Alleppy (Alappuzha), we accepted an offer for a 2hr taxi ride with AC directly to the Kochi airport for $20US (he took care of the train tickets refund with small commission--fair enough :)
- had uneventful 1.5 hrs flight to Chennai.
- got culture shock once we were out of the airport! Had no clue where we were going to stay.
- endured a horrendous non-AC taxi ride for 1hr+ on highway which was down to two lanes, traffic jams, breathing in exhaust fumes...
- got to an area where it should be full of tourists as we asked. Hmmm, not a soul!
- grabbed a nice hotel just to get in regardless of the price $45/day, no restaurant, just room service (we didn't know where the food come from) Wifi charge was 2$ /100MB, uploading pics was draining my pocket so fast so I stopped.
Feb 15
- didn't feel well, got a chest cold but agreed to go for a walk with G to find a money exchange. Still couldn't find a proper restaurant for breakfast. We bought a samosa and a pastry to keep walking on dirty streets (Chennai is the 4th largest city in India???)
-The hotel only accepted cash so I desperately needed US$ exchanged. Took a while to find a bank but it was not authorized to do the task! People are still nice here even they look, act, speak differently than in Kerala. The bank had to call another bank and they promised to deliver money in 1/2 hr but it turned out to be almost 2hrs! For the whole time I stayed in the most dirty bank I have ever seen, a bank of India Branch. G went out finding food and came back with a small apple which I had no desire to eat. I was getting sick without realizing it.
- That was it! I hit the bed for the afternoon. Ordered room service for a bowl of soup which made me even sicker that night!
Feb 16
- in my condition, we had to stay put. Couldn't plan to see places like Mamalapuram 60km from Chennai. G was very supportive, wandered around close to the hotel to check on me. That was when he felt he had enough of Chennai (and India as a whole): no good food, had to get beer illegally. dirty streets...so he agreed to get out at any price.
- I was in bed on the hunt for airline ticket to VN and the earliest we could get out for the price "I" would pay was Mon Feb 18 at 3am! $200/each more than planned.
- we were content to stay another day because we knew the end of our India trip was near.
Feb 17
- to our surprise, I was feeling better in the morning! We decided to take a short day trip to a closer temple & beach. Boy! This beach was the worst compared to any beaches we had been to. It was so dirty along the shore! But the temple was nice. The locals began to come around 3pm. On the way back unexpectedly we saw another nice temple. (Please see temples and beach pics on slideshow on the right)
- we ended the day by eating in the room a takeout half roasted chicken. The first time in two days I felt hungry.
-we missed the Lounge Invitation so only me turned around to use it and went through the security check twice. G didn't want to do it, but understood that I needed to do so--my first time ever to enjoy the business class service.
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| The Noodles Bar |
-Augh! I was feeling sick again on the first flight, and G felt the same the minute we landed on Hong Kong airport. We both decided to take antibiotic pills! Gladly we had 6hrs to rest and recover at another Cathay Pacific's Lounge where we had forgo all the good free foods they served and settled with soup and light drinks only. It paid off, we felt much better by the time we boarded the second flight to VN.
What all the Yo-Yo experiences we both have in the two weeks in India after my one-month ashram life! Hmmm, reflection on this trip will come later when we get home!
VN here we come!
You guys definitely had up and down days. You sure love your food. Thanks for the newsy update of Chennai. I don't think it will be on my bucket list of places to visit anytime in the future. Ha ha! Eleanor
ReplyDeleteJust saw your latest photos. Business class certainly agreed with you. It was a great reward for all the other "stuff" that you had to go through to get out of India. The food in VN looks yummy and both of you are definitely smiling. Le, you look like you are home. Yay!!! Eleanor
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