Chennai Weekend (Part Two)

After the music festival we decided to go out for coffee with some people that we had met at the festival. We stayed out so long that when we were ready to go back to our hostel it was almost time for the sun to come up. Especially because we were at the ocean, we couldn’t just skip the sunrise when it was so near. So we went back to the beach and watched it rise. At first it was only us, the fishermen, and a few other early-risers. As time went on more and more people showed up, many of them doing yoga or playing frisbee or cricket on the beach. Many stray dogs came out, playing and looking for breakfast.

We also decided it was time for breakfast. One of the guys that we were with, Rohit, had a cousin (Nela, Nula, Neha?… I’m not sure of her name) who lived nearby and said we could come over for breakfast. I was excited because I had not yet been to an Indian home or had home-cooked Indian food. The cousin had a cute little apartment that was full of all sorts of colors- there were green and purple walls, and the bathroom wall tiles were Mickey Mouse. She had two bathrooms- one western style and one Indian style (hole in the floor). For breakfast we had tea (no meal is complete without tea) and parratas. Parratas are some sort of cooked dough/bread that you use to eat a sort of curry or lentil type meal with. It seems that most Indian breakfasts are pretty small and include some sort of dough and a small vegetable/lentil dish. While eating breakfast we sat around the TV and watched MTV and Mr. Bean. After breakfast the cousin wanted to make us lemonade. She made it fresh, of course, and with salt instead of sugar. Nina liked it… I thought it tasted like lemon juice, eggs, and salt. Yum.

During the day Sunday Nina and I had been planning on doing normal touristy stuff- vistiting temples, forts, and museums. But after talking with some of the locals we had so many other options so we decided to travel about an hour south to a little town called Mahabalipuram with a coupld of our new Indian friends, Rohit and Kunal. So we packed our bags, caught a bus, and headed south. We arrived to a very tourist-filled town. I was so surprised to see so many white people (most from Europe it seemed), but it was a nice change because we just blended right in. The first thing we did was find a place to stay. We settled on a Rs. 300 (about $6) room with two tiny beds, a Indian toilet/shower, and some lizard-looking creatures. I could try and describe it more but I don’t think I could ever get the picture out to you. Just imagine the crappiest place you’ve ever seen that you would never even consider walking into in the US- then times that by at least 10 and you get our room. It was all just part of the experience.

Mahabalipuram is known for its temples and beaches. Since we were so tired from not sleeping the night before, all we did Sunday evening was have delicious South Indian dinner (masala dosas, paratas, and other things I don’t know the names of- it was so helpful having natives with us to order!), take a beach walk, and walk around all the tourist shops. After that we called it an early night so that we could wake up early Monday morning to go to the temples and other tourist sights.

Monday morning- by 8am we were at the Shore Temple. We went up to the ticket counter and were appalled to find out that tickets for Indian citizens cost Rs. 10 (20 cents) and tickets for foreigners cost Rs. 250 ($5). I tried to imagine what it would be like in the US if we charged foreigners more money than we charged locals for anything. We got over it, bought our tickets, and went to the temple. It was right on the shore (hence its name). I’m pretty sure it was all carved out of one giant piece of stone also, so that’s pretty cool. After the temple we did the rest of the touristy stuff in town- climbed many stairs, got a nice view of the town, saw a lighthouse, saw some monkeys and cuuute baby pigs, and visited a couple more temple type places.

We had a train to catch back to Hyderabad Monday afternoon, so we were back on the bus to Chennai by noon. The train ride is a story in itself, so once again- Chennai Weekend blog, to be continued…