Chennai

Arrival at Chennai (Madras) on 22^nd November

My first impression as we land at the airport at Chennai is colour and tropics! The buildings seem less cramped together and  there are actually houses I think, rather than huge high rise apartments as around Delhi. There are lovely palm trees everywhere and the houses are painted in lovely summery colours of turquoise, yellow and shades of blue. We step off the plane into much more heat and humidity but it feels good.

Following bag collection I scan the line of men holding up signs from different travel companies and for different people. No mention of my name and by now I know to be looking out for Intrepid Travel rather than Trailfinders. To no avail.

A small and busy man asks me which company and if I have contact information. He keeps asking me and I have no idea so start to rummage through all my paperwork looking for clues. The best hope comes on one paper that says my tour of South India commences at the My Fortune Hotel. Maybe I should just go there? The little man starts to tell me I should get a taxi there and starts ushering me over to a rank where pre-paid taxi journeys can be booked. He must work for them I’m thinking. He keeps saying ‘Good taxi’ ‘good taxi’ to me. But the guy in the box does not know the hotel name and they keep saying Sheraton Park. I’m a bot wary by now but they say they have found it and it will cost me 540 IR – that’s only £5.40 so I think well I might as well go there as stand about here and maybe it will be right. My doubt is based on a final conversation I had back in UK with Trailfinders who said they would not know the exact hotels for my tour until it commenced so the hotels would be as the name stated on the provisional list or something similar. So will it actually be the My Fortune?

We head over from the booking box to the taxis and it is a real clapped out looking banger. Also the driver is now talking to another taxi man and its really hard to tell if it’s lust a lively chat or actually arguing. I’m beginning to think the latter but all the while the little man who set me off on this keeps saying ‘get in! get in’ to me. I protest I’m not getting in till this dispute is sorted out. I’m also quite concerned what will I do if they don’t know anything about me when I get to the hotel and what’ll I do then?

Eventually after what seems like an age the driver gets in and so do I. it’s a rough thing with no air con and the seat belts don’t work. As they close my door the little man is shouting now at me ’Tip! Tip!’ so I give him 200 IR (about £2) and he says “not enough” so at this point I shut the door and say ‘tough!’. Thankfully he gives up and likely goes away to curse at me for being a mean western woman. Meanwhile we have set off and I have the driver from hell – he hoots all the time even when there’s nothing in front of him and seems to hate being behind anything. We weave along and as we get into the city the traffic is heavier and he seems more determined to drive as fast as he can irrespective of anything or anyone else. He does not say a single word to me and I’m now in panicky mode about what on earth to do if the hotel is not aware of me, or is not a nice place. It is a long journey with lots of hooting but no words.

Eventually we arrive at a lovely swish looking place and at least that assures me a little. As I get my bag out the driver suddenly finds voice to demand ‘Tip! Tip!’ I feel like giving him a tip on being a friendly driver but decide probably just giving him some rupees is likely a more sensible choice and he goes away.

Inside the hotel they seem to think I’m part of a group that seem to have just arrived. They are Australians I think and the hotel people mention Peregrine Travel which means nothing to me. So I’m asked to sit at a separate desk and have to wait while all this group are checked in. they seem OK and I am wondering if maybe they are my group after all and on first sights I feel they would be OK. Never having done a group travel like this with strnagers before this was one of my main worries when I booked this holiday and had remained so since. What if I don’t like them? 

Well i find they are my group and am pleased to report a lovely group with no big characters or egos. Very friendly and nine of our 15 have been touring in the North together but we are all welcomed into the new group.

Anyway, Chennai was formerly known as Madras we explored here today on Sunday 23rd.

Our first visit was to this Hindu Temple to Shiva and it is very much a living and lively place with lots of people coming along to pray. We therefore had to be covered (no legs or bare shoulders) and remove our shoes during our time in the temple. On the street by the entrance, lots of stalls were making flower garlands and the street seemed perfumed by these flowers mainly in white (I think related to hyacinths) and red (rosebuds). I was given a rosebud by one stall holder.

Photographs could only be taken of parts of the buildings and never of the deities. The tower as shown above is about 120 feet high and makes the entrance archway to the temple.