With a sad farewell to Pondy, we take an Indigo car (we couldn’t face another Ambassador journey) for the drive north back to Chennai. Economy car means economy space and we huddle in the back with one bag in the small boot and the rest on the front seat. We go via the coast road and stop at the World Heritage Site of the Mamallapuram temples and Chennai’s famous beach resort. The coast road is interesting – between the road and the sea for miles is a wide flat plain – empty apart from a small amount of new building. This area was one of the worst hit by the Tsunami, and like everywhere else we have seen, regeneration money doesn’t seem to be having any noticeable effect.
I think we must have a bit of temple overload and regardless of the Mamallapuram World Heritage status, we see a few temples from the road, but decide to give these a miss and take in the beach resort instead. At the beach resort we expected to find coffee at Café Coffee Day, perhaps a pastry…. Not quite what we got! The resort is one of the most littered public beaches we have ever seen – it may be worse today as it would have been thronged by thousands last night due to Pongal and there hasn’t been time to clear it up, but still for a World Heritage Site it was a bit of a disgrace. The track leading down to it was a bazaar selling the usual assortment of plastic toys, but also was full of stalls selling carved statues of all sizes. Although Ant was tempted by a life size reclining Buddha for the garden, we decided to concentrate on looking for a nice small Ganesh each – but no luck. We decide to cut our losses and make for the real temples we craved – the malls of Madras.
Chennai, (aka Madras) is India’s fourth largest city and a sprawling metropolis of 75 sq kms with no real centre. But having checked into the Raintree Hotel (swish but soulless) we lose no time in hopping into our transport of choice the tuk tuk – “take us to the mall, and don’t spare the horses” we cry. At least Bluewater has no competition here – we were dropped at the “showpiece” Spencer Mall – no sure if any relation to M&S – but if there is, it sure wasn’t apparent! Full of small shops and that all pervading Indian smell of incense, damp and something I would prefer not to put a name to, we searched high and low but couldn’t find anything to buy. Nonetheless we carried on to the CIE in search of pashminas and local craft – still no joy. We give up and wander into Mocha coffee – an odd place where the waiters, in a bid to look middle eastern, look more like an army of erstwhile Tommy Cooper’s with little red fez’s on their heads. But as we leave there, Ganesh was obviously smiling and we find ourselves in the “Bond Street” of Chennai – still not huge amounts to buy but more hopeful. We spot Good Earth (which I thought was a Chinese Restaurant) which is a shop selling beautiful homewares – Ant leaves with a variety of things, including an incense diffuser for his evening puja when he returns home….
One of Ant’s goals for Madras was to have a real Madras curry so we repair to a place recommended by loads of people and the Lonely Planet, the Saravana something (see pics). Very local – tiled walls and very busy where we eat as the locals – great food, but the locals don’t drink with their meals……
I reckon it was this lack of alcohol to kill any excess germs that did it for me. Ant obviously has a stronger constitution – or it may not have been the food at all, but whatever, Day Two in Chennai saw me in bed in a daze for the day. Such a pity – the last day of our amazing trip together and all I could do was whinge in bed! Poor Ant had to spend the day on his own, and hiring his own tuk tuk for the morning he caught up on temples, the fort, the beach, St Thomas’ Tomb, and of course some last minute shopping. For his solo afternoon entertainment he was reduced to the pool for a couple of hours and a massage, before his horrendously timed flight back home, leaving Chennai at 4am. But perhaps it wasn’t food at all that made me ill – it was probably the thought of Ant going home that sent me into a decline. We have had such an amazing time, seen and done some amazing things, laughed loads, travelled in some odd ways and stayed in places as terrific as the Tea Trails and as awful as the Ashram. We played a game in the car driving to Chennai voting for our favourite bits. It was really hard and extremely challenging, we have had so many – we didn’t always agree, but here are some of the results:
Most memorable experience:
Ant – Prassad giving to Amma at the Ashram, Gill - the Ashram
Favourite place:
Both – the Norwood Bungalow, Tea Trails (also won “best accommodation”, “cleanest place” and “best bed”)
Worst bed:
Ant – the Achinka Holiday Inn (the hovel), Gill – the Mothertree Inn, Cochin
Least favourite place:
Both - Kandy
Worst accommodation
Ant – Achinka Holiday Inn, Dalhousie (that hovel again), Gill – Queen’s Hotel, Kandy (the cockroaches)
Favourite hotel person:
Both – Rajesh at Glyngarth Villa (he of the bow tie and beanie hat)
Dirtiest place:
Ant – the coal in the bottom of the canoe on the backwater lake, Gill – the “ladies’” at Hatton train station
Best meal:
Ant – breakfasts (all of them!), Gill – 1st lunch of prawn Caesar salad, Tea Trails
Most disappointing place:
Ant – the Asian Jewel, Gill - Kandy
Most special memory of a place:
Ant – Day 2 lunch by the fishing nets on the backwaters, Gill – early misty mornings at the Tea Trails
Most bizarre moment (and there were many….):
Ant – the music player at Glyngarth Villa, Gill – the Ashram – all of it!
Most unexpected:
Ant – Gill lovin’ an elephant at Pondy temple, Gill – Pondy the town itself
Best experience:
Ant – Adam’s Peak, Gill – being blessed by an elephant
Best journey:
Both – Cochin to Kollam on the Backwaters
Proudest achievement:
Ant – being hugged by Amma, Gill – managing to stay two nights in the Ashram!
Till the next time, love Shanti and Shilly xxxx
I think we must have a bit of temple overload and regardless of the Mamallapuram World Heritage status, we see a few temples from the road, but decide to give these a miss and take in the beach resort instead. At the beach resort we expected to find coffee at Café Coffee Day, perhaps a pastry…. Not quite what we got! The resort is one of the most littered public beaches we have ever seen – it may be worse today as it would have been thronged by thousands last night due to Pongal and there hasn’t been time to clear it up, but still for a World Heritage Site it was a bit of a disgrace. The track leading down to it was a bazaar selling the usual assortment of plastic toys, but also was full of stalls selling carved statues of all sizes. Although Ant was tempted by a life size reclining Buddha for the garden, we decided to concentrate on looking for a nice small Ganesh each – but no luck. We decide to cut our losses and make for the real temples we craved – the malls of Madras.
Chennai, (aka Madras) is India’s fourth largest city and a sprawling metropolis of 75 sq kms with no real centre. But having checked into the Raintree Hotel (swish but soulless) we lose no time in hopping into our transport of choice the tuk tuk – “take us to the mall, and don’t spare the horses” we cry. At least Bluewater has no competition here – we were dropped at the “showpiece” Spencer Mall – no sure if any relation to M&S – but if there is, it sure wasn’t apparent! Full of small shops and that all pervading Indian smell of incense, damp and something I would prefer not to put a name to, we searched high and low but couldn’t find anything to buy. Nonetheless we carried on to the CIE in search of pashminas and local craft – still no joy. We give up and wander into Mocha coffee – an odd place where the waiters, in a bid to look middle eastern, look more like an army of erstwhile Tommy Cooper’s with little red fez’s on their heads. But as we leave there, Ganesh was obviously smiling and we find ourselves in the “Bond Street” of Chennai – still not huge amounts to buy but more hopeful. We spot Good Earth (which I thought was a Chinese Restaurant) which is a shop selling beautiful homewares – Ant leaves with a variety of things, including an incense diffuser for his evening puja when he returns home….
One of Ant’s goals for Madras was to have a real Madras curry so we repair to a place recommended by loads of people and the Lonely Planet, the Saravana something (see pics). Very local – tiled walls and very busy where we eat as the locals – great food, but the locals don’t drink with their meals……
I reckon it was this lack of alcohol to kill any excess germs that did it for me. Ant obviously has a stronger constitution – or it may not have been the food at all, but whatever, Day Two in Chennai saw me in bed in a daze for the day. Such a pity – the last day of our amazing trip together and all I could do was whinge in bed! Poor Ant had to spend the day on his own, and hiring his own tuk tuk for the morning he caught up on temples, the fort, the beach, St Thomas’ Tomb, and of course some last minute shopping. For his solo afternoon entertainment he was reduced to the pool for a couple of hours and a massage, before his horrendously timed flight back home, leaving Chennai at 4am. But perhaps it wasn’t food at all that made me ill – it was probably the thought of Ant going home that sent me into a decline. We have had such an amazing time, seen and done some amazing things, laughed loads, travelled in some odd ways and stayed in places as terrific as the Tea Trails and as awful as the Ashram. We played a game in the car driving to Chennai voting for our favourite bits. It was really hard and extremely challenging, we have had so many – we didn’t always agree, but here are some of the results:
Most memorable experience:
Ant – Prassad giving to Amma at the Ashram, Gill - the Ashram
Favourite place:
Both – the Norwood Bungalow, Tea Trails (also won “best accommodation”, “cleanest place” and “best bed”)
Worst bed:
Ant – the Achinka Holiday Inn (the hovel), Gill – the Mothertree Inn, Cochin
Least favourite place:
Both - Kandy
Worst accommodation
Ant – Achinka Holiday Inn, Dalhousie (that hovel again), Gill – Queen’s Hotel, Kandy (the cockroaches)
Favourite hotel person:
Both – Rajesh at Glyngarth Villa (he of the bow tie and beanie hat)
Dirtiest place:
Ant – the coal in the bottom of the canoe on the backwater lake, Gill – the “ladies’” at Hatton train station
Best meal:
Ant – breakfasts (all of them!), Gill – 1st lunch of prawn Caesar salad, Tea Trails
Most disappointing place:
Ant – the Asian Jewel, Gill - Kandy
Most special memory of a place:
Ant – Day 2 lunch by the fishing nets on the backwaters, Gill – early misty mornings at the Tea Trails
Most bizarre moment (and there were many….):
Ant – the music player at Glyngarth Villa, Gill – the Ashram – all of it!
Most unexpected:
Ant – Gill lovin’ an elephant at Pondy temple, Gill – Pondy the town itself
Best experience:
Ant – Adam’s Peak, Gill – being blessed by an elephant
Best journey:
Both – Cochin to Kollam on the Backwaters
Proudest achievement:
Ant – being hugged by Amma, Gill – managing to stay two nights in the Ashram!
Till the next time, love Shanti and Shilly xxxx
