We checked out of the Morgan Hotel and headed over to the Holborn tube stop to head out to Heathrow Airpot. We got on the airport train, and were happily heading off, when I pulled out my phone and noticed a bunch of black vertical lines on the screen. “Great”, just when I needed it in order to navigate our way around Indian cities. I powered the thing down, and then back on, nada, they were still there. Couple this with me telling Bill that our flight left out of terminal 4 and we find out that oops, nope, terminal 5. Luckily there was a free bus that took 10 minutes to get to the proper terminal. I felt like a double dope! First my phone, then misreading the ticket! Destined not to be my day, and it sure as hell turned out true!
The flight was uneventful, and rather pleasant. This premium economy was a godsend. Instead of 9 seats across as in regular economy where you are packed in like sardines, this has 7 seats across. In a 2-3-2 arrangement. We were in a 2 seat. I took the window and Bill the aisle. It was one of the new dream liners. There were no sliding window shades, instead there was a button you push that will either darken or brighten the tinting on the window. Really cool, had to play with that a couple of times!
No screaming babies on this leg, well, except when we were about to land, and I can understand the little thing crying. If you can’t clear your ears of the pressure, it hurts!
I ended up not sleeping on the plane and just watched movies and Ab Fab. Which left me pulling my broken phone out of my pocket over and over again, which in turn, pulled the 20 quid note I had in my pocket out and some lucky cleaner found it! It was not my day! 3 major screw ups in less than 12 hours, a new record!
What a difference from Cairo Airpot! Chennai was so civilized! Passport control was the only hitch. This was partly because of my phone not being able to display the e-visa. I ended up pulling it up on my iPad, which had its own set of problems. Apparently, you are not allowed to have computers out in the immigration area. The clerk reluctantly wrote the e-visa number on his hand and transcribed into onto his data sheet. It seems that I should have printed it out. But in my defense, in rereading the email, it is very unclear that print out is necessary. Bill stepped in and explained that we were staying at the same hotel. After that, everything went smoothly. It was our dumb luck that we got the clerk who completed visa entries for 6 people, while all the others managed to clear the rest of our plane in the same amount of time!
Once we exited immigration, we headed to baggage claim and quickly spotted our bags. Off to find an ATM! Only, there weren’t any in the airport! Only currency exchange booths. We (Bill) bit the bullet and changed $ into IR (Indian Rupees). each IR is worth 1.5 cents.
Oh, did I mention that we landed at 5:30 am local time? I was astonished at how calm the airport was.
What was so different from Cairo was that everything was calm. People were calm, there was no shouting or tugging at your clothing to be taken to their friend’s brother’s uncle’s taxicab. In fact, there was a prepaid taxi voucher that you purchased and turned in to a table of officious looking men who just waved a hand over the voucher and off you went to the lucky driver.
The cab ride was not too exciting in terms of fearing for one’s life, as many of our initial taxi rides in various countries have been. We were able to get to our hotel efficiently and easily. And the voucher was less than Bill was expecting it to be. The guide book quoted 600 R, turned out it was 450! Our first bargain! About $7! King’s ransom in India, but to us, WhooHoo! On the ride in, I was amused that it reminded me of riding into Saigon, or Bangkok. Tons of low-rise buildings building up to city core. I found myself thinking, “I could like India”.
We arrived at the hotel around 7 am only to find out that check in is at 2 pm and that for an additional $25 we could get a room now. Jump on it we did! We were also given the privilege of having a second brekkies at the hotel. Their buffet was fantastic. All manner of Indian treats as well as eggs, pancakes, waffles, omelets, etc. We were very happy to eat the Indian stuff. Loving the vadas, stuffed parathas, and espresso! After eating we came back to the room and promptly fell into a deep sleep. We didn’t wake up until 6 pm.
What to do next? Eat of course!
We wandered in a loop around the neighborhood of the hotel. From our window we look out onto a bunch of tin roofed shacks with one cement building which we assumed was the public toilet. When we first checked in I was unsure, as was Bill, if these shacks were businesses, or homes. On our walk, it was clear that they are homes.
I was expecting to be blown away by India, not in a good sense. I was expecting it to be Cairo on steroids, meaning that there would be beggars tugging on my arm or touts constantly bugging you to come to their shop, take their taxi or auto rickshaw. I expected it to be dirty and smelly, soiled with eons of filth. I must admit, I was so wrong! These shacks I had expected to be smelly, but no, it was not gross at all. Sounds so awful to say that. Cairo was dirtier, as was Bangkok.
We ended up on Greams Road and found Sennthur Hotel which had a dosa/vegetarian place to eat. i experienced my first Indian Man stare there. There were 3 separate, well sort of, rooms. First, on the street level, was the take away, then 2 steps up was the waiter service, non AC room (had fans), and thirdly, there was the AC room with waiter service. It seems that the third room is where most women eat! I was the only adult woman in the non-AC room. One of the busboys was staring at me throughout the entire meal. OK, Bill warned me. It wasn’t a leering, just staring as if I was a novelty. Half way through our meal of dosas and biriyanis 2 Moslem men enter the restaurant and one of them proceeds to stare as well. I asked Bill to shift his chair a few inches, problem solved!
The meal was really good. Bill had the paneer biriyani, and I had the Hyderabad biriyani. The dosa was plenty and we still have my left over biriyani in the fridge in the room!
We wandered back to the hotel in a different direction and went to the hotel bar. Well, let me be fair, it is called the hotel bar, but they do not have a liquor license yet. The dinner place did not have beer as well. I was hoping for a beer just to help me sleep. Turns out it was unnecessary! We just conked out!
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