Out of Hectic Chennai

Out of Hectic Chennai

Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2006--Chennai (Cont.)

I have lost so much weight since leaving Texas that my pants are baggy and catching on the heals of my shoes. My measurement of the waistband shows that my waist is at least 2-2 1/2 inches smaller than it was when I left home about 6 weeks ago. I feel and look better because of it.

Mosai came to the hotel to see me in the early evening. He's an Indian I met through a travel forum on the Internet when I was planning my trip. He's a 23-year-old student majoring in technology on his master's degree. He's a sweet and nice young man. I enjoyed meeting him in person. He was only able to stay for about an hour, however, because he lives far from here.

I went to eat dinner after walking Mosai to the bus stop. I went off my vegetarian diet and had mutton curry at an Muslim restaurant. It came with parota, the nice bread I enjoyed last year so much that is made by slapping and folding and slapping until it is multi-layered. The waiters enjoyed having me there. They watched me as I ate, seemingly impressed by the fact that I knew how to tear the bread using only my right hand and then use it to pick up the curry. When I was finishing my second parota, the waiter brought a fresh, hot one to replace my third one which had cooled. Then he brought extra curry sauce for me to have.

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006--Chennai to Mamallapuram

It's interesting noticing the difference in the relationship between traffic and pedestrians in India as compared to Vietnam. In Vietnam, there is somewhat of a natural flow with everyone watching out for everyone while continuing to move forward. I found it amazing how vehicles and pedestrians going at right angles to each other at intersections in Vietnam seemed to continue flowing while everyone paused a little or rushed up a little based upon their perception of the speed of movement of the other person and what would create the optimum situation for everyone involved. Here in India it is different. No one watches out for pedestrians. In fact, motorcycles, cars, buses, etc., seem to purposely cut as close to pedestrians as possible to scare them and/or to force them to move as proof that that the pedestrian is the low-man on the totempole and that they are higher. I've even been crossing an intersection with only one vehicle turning across my path and had him cut close to me or try to force me to stop or go faster rather than just swoop around behind me. It continues up the ladder--motorcycles, then trishaws, then cars, then buses, then transport trucks--in the same way. How sad that people have to constrantly prove how special they are in relation to others.

I went to the museum this morning and didn't enter. India has a problem of trying to gouge tourists at tourist sites. Sometimes, it's not so bad, but when it is really bad, I refuse to let them take advantage of me. The admission price to the museum was 15 rupees for an Indian and 250 rupees for a foreigner. The guidebook complained about the disorganization of the exhibits and said very little positive about what could be seen. I just decided it wasn't worth paying about 15 times the price of a local to go.

I had planned to stay in Chennai one more night and to try to meet Kumar, another Indian who had helped me through the travel forum. When I didn't go to the museum, I tried to call him to make sure he was free to meet me. I didn't get an answer. I quickly decided that I didn't want to stay for the night if I wasn't sure I could meet him. I was tired of Chennai. It's a big, dirty, noisy city with little to commend it. So I went back to the area of my hotel, ate a late breakfast meal of chipatti (like a flat flour tortilla) with sauces, packed, and checked out of my hotel.

I walked to the government bus station only to find it was no longer there. It has been converted to a local bus station. I had to take a local bus for about 45 minutes out to a suburban location where the new state bus station is. There, I waited another 30 minutes or so for a bus going toward Mamallapuram. Then it took us one hour to cross southern Chennai and get into the countryside. Four hours after leaving my hotel, I arrived in Mamallapuram--55 km (33 miles) from Chennai!

I found a nice hotel near the bus stop here in town. It's luxurious and spacious compared to what I had in Chennai. It comes with a free newspaper, too. The only problem is the mosquitos. This town is full of them. I had to leave my ceiling fan on high to keep them off of me during the night.

This is a small village that is popular with backpackers and with weekenders from nearby cities. It has beaches and a famous temple area that consists of stone carvings. It's a little like Enchanted Mountain in Texas in that there is flat land everywhere, but there is this big outcropping of stone. Years ago, the stones were carved into temples.

I spent a couple of hours walking through the village exploring. I went by the temple area and noted that it opens at 6:30 each morning. I went to the beach where boys were playing a volleyball game that was fun to watch. (The beach even has a nice old temple on an outcropping of land at the end of it which is quite scenic.) I stopped and talked to some of the Kashmiri guys who operate the souvenir shops here in town (and in every other tourist town throughout India).

Finally, I found a restaurant and ate a dosa masala. This time, the crispy pancake had a nice filling of a spicy potato-onion mixture (which is the way dosa usually is). The dipping sauces were nice, too, but I really enjoyed the stuffing. I washed it down with a lemon juice.

Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006--Mamallapuram

I was up early to go to the temples before the hawkers and beggers arrived. I got there about 6:45 and had the place almost to myself. I took photos and wandered over the rocks. There are some wonderful carvings of Hindu gods and goddesses, elephants, etc. I was asked to take photos of two groups of Indians who were there that early. They were so happy that I did. To enter the temples means having to take off ones shoes, however. With this being a beach community, there is sand everywhere. So it was frustrating to get sand in my socks an shoes. But I was glad to have enjoyed the temple area. There's even an ancient lighthouse carved from the rocks.

The newspaper tells of two problems in India right now due to mosquitoes. Delhi has an outbreak of dengue fever, and Alleppey has an outbreak of chicungunya. I've never heard of the latter. So far, they seem to be contained in those areas. I won't go to Delhi, and it will be several weeks before I pass through Alleppey. But the mosquitoes are really bad here. I hope they won't be so bad as I move to other places.

India has too many people all chasing the same hopes. I mentioned that Mosai has gotten his degrees in technology. He's working on the master's degree because he couldn't find a job after finishing his bachelor's degree. That's common. He may never find a job. Although we read about all the high-tech jobs coming to India, it's not enough to deal with their need for jobs. The same also goes with the Kashmiri shop owners. This village of 9,000 must have at least 30-40 shops owned by Kashmiris and trying to sell the same items. How can any of them make a decent living with so much competition. The list goes on: Too many trishaw owners trying to make a living by selling rides, too many __________ wanting jobs as __________!

I'll probably move onward tomorrow to Pondicherry. Will post again there.