We woke up early and headed down to brekkies. The assortment is fabulous! All kinds of interesting Indian treats both savory and sweet, as well as fresh fruit, fresh juices, yogurt, coffee, breads, congee, iddli, sambar (this is a soup/condiment which Indians put on everything), along with a wide array of cooked western foods. We stuck to the Indian stuff because it was new and different!
Our adventure for today was to wander towards the Indian Tourist office, which was on Anna Salai, a short distance form our hotel. We couldn’t find the tourist office, but did find a Citibank and made use of its ATM. We went into Spencer Mall which was across the street.
Crossing the street in India is a bit like crossing the street in Saigon or Cairo, traffic never stops, even at lights and crosswalks. So you pick your moment when there aren’t cars zooming around and walk steadily across the street not breaking stride. They will part around you!
Inside this mall, which was, at the entrance we went in through, dowdy, and quite old. Here shop owners were very insistent on coming into their shop for the best pashmina and other delights. I really didn’t have any interest and just kept walking.
Deep in the interior of the mall was a large glassed in atrium. There was a children’s festival happening. There were tons of children milling about with their parents. There were arts and crafts tables set up and stands for snacks. We saw children arriving with models they have made and many kids carrying boxes containing their entrants into some sort of contest.
We found a place that sold water and bought a bottle as we were both getting parched. We wandered down to a large roundabout and headed up another street towards a grouping of restaurants. We happily stumbled into the Maharaja Bar in the Pandan Hotel. They sold BEER! Doing our happy dance!
After a pint or so, we discovered that they also served food and had the Butter Masala Chicken. We also had a side of chapatis. Behind my seat was a projection tv playing Bollywood films and in front of me was a TV set playing cricket. Don’t understand the game at all, it’s difficult to make sense of, I can’t figure out when or how teams change from offense to defense and can the ball be passed, or must the batter make contact with the ball on each bowl? These are the mysteries of cricket, along with the running back and forth between wickets.....WTF? And, the field is round, but the pitch is not in the center but far off to one side. All batters must be right handed, or at least learn to bat that way!
We wandered some more, found the Egmore train station and crossed the small river that meanders through Chennai twice. The river and its scents, were what I was expecting all of India to smell like, rotting vegetation mixed with excrement. Quite unforgettable, reminded me immediately of Bangkok!
So many dogs around town. Just lying on the street, in the shade, under trees, as there were in Cuba, where there were dogs everywhere! These are quite docile dogs, no barking, or growling. Just being doggies! Keeping pets doesn’t seem to be a thing here. I haven’t seen any street cats, just dogs. And one dead rat!
Our mid-day luncheon and hours of walking had us taking a nap again and falling deeply asleep until about 7 pm. Neither of us were hungry, so we just read and slept! Ah, the retired life!
I had contemplated getting my phone to a repair shop here in India, but after reading about a couple of them and the reviews, I felt that I would not get it turned around in time for our departure to other cities. So the phone is a brick as it fell off the nightstand last night and half the screen is now totally black! Luckily, I’ve got the iPad !
No comments:
Post a Comment