Chennai, a big Indian city

Chennai, a big Indian city

I arrived in Chennai last night about eleven o'clock on the express bus from Pondicherry.

Chennai is a big Indian city. Bangalore felt like an overgrown small city, Delhi felt like a planned city, Mumbai felt like a really big city, and Chennai is like Mumbai's younger sister.

It's got wide streets and lots of traffic. Beautiful models on billboards sell saris and mobile phones.

It's another place that travellers and guidebooks complain mildly about, saying that it's a big city with not a lot else. But I like cities. They have their own excitement, just walking down the street. And from experience I know that you have to discover what events are going on in order to do something interesting.

I have a short visit until Sunday night. I got my Thai visa this morning. I hope to look around the shops and see "Casino Royale" tonight. And I'll find some other things to do.

I am staying at Hotel White House in Triplicane for 525 rupees for a single room. It is an old, dumpy place. But it is clean and I may make do with it until Sunday. I found a much nicer place for less, Hotel Empire on Mount Road (Anna Salai Road). It is 400 rupees for a single and looks new and clean with soft mattresses. But it is four kilometers from Triplicane and far from restaurants, shops, and movie theaters. So we'll see if I make the move for two night's stay.

The only truly dirty place I have stayed in India was Hotel Blue something in Connaught Place in Delhi. I got out of that. That is excluding some of the tiny places in the remote villages in the Himalayas. Places may need a paint job but usually they are kept clean.

This morning I got up and walked down Mount Road looking for a place to eat. I found a typical South Indian restaurant serving breakfast. I escaped there paying 24 rupees (about fifty cents) for a masala dosa and coffee. This is typical; pure South Indian local restaurants are dirt cheap. It is when you look for the places with Western offerings in the hotels that the prices climb.

I like walking around the hotel neighborhood when I first get to a place. I get oriented in my environs. On my tasks of getting my visa and getting some lunch, I expanded my circle by taking bus and auto-rickshaw. I guess I like to ease into a place.

Chennai, a big Indian city