South India J'arrive!

I am yet to explore Chennai fully, but have successfully checked in, and am ready to conk out. I just wanted to see that massive line from Delhi to Chennai as it makes me feel like I've accomplished something! More to come...

Lucky more, I hope he cleaned up afterwards...

More to come...

Moving swiftly on I'll give a run down of the journey here and what I did on my day in Chennai. It was goodbye to Delhi after another night in the Regent Continental. I got a better room this time and a warm welocme from one of the staff who recognised me. He quite rightly questioned the fact that I was wearing the same clohtes I was wearing when I left. I've aired some of them but am yet to utilise a dobi-wallah (laundry service where they bash the crap out of your clothes to clean them. Not sure as yet whether it'll get any stains out (my bib has been catching most crumbs and spillages) but it'll sure teach 'em a lesson! I don't smell though which is a testament to the Ayuredic soaps that have been provided in some hotels. It seems that with these 'beauty' soaps the number of herbs they contain is of utmost importance. Himalaya sadly only has 18 in their's, whereas Sarang Palace's could boast an astounding 23. If I ever have trouble sleeping I'll surely doze off counting herbs jumping into little green bars of soap. This is, I am confident, the Indian equivalent of fluffy sheep bounding over a rickety wooden fence.

Digressions aside the next day Mr. Singh picked me up and took me to Nizamuddin Station. I asked whether he'd been able to get home and found out that his wife and 3 year old boy were in good health. I think I'll miss his humble and easy going company. I kind of got the impression that he'd miss mine too. The station was fairly easy to navigate but Mr. Singh wanted to make sure I got the right train and found my seat. This I did with his help. It would probably have taken me 3 times as long without it!

All classes on the train were AC, but because I'd booked late I could only get 3rd class. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the journey was going to be relatively comfortable. After I'd settled into my seat and we pulled away I was reading my book and listening to some tunes. Sublime followed by Killers, not a bad playlist if you ask me. There were originally 7 people in a compartment designed for 8, and there are about 10 compartments to each carriage. An older couple left and so it was only 5 of us. This effectively changed the compartment into 2nd class. I'll explain. They are arranged with a two tier bunk (top one in place, bottom one folded out from the two seats on this side) on one side of the aisle with window. The other side of the aisle has two 3 seater padded benches. Above each of these is one fixed bunk and one to fold down (total of 8 I hope). There is food and snacks throughout the journey, coming from a kitchen carriage somewhere I didn't have tohe inclination to track down. When the first one came I too off the music makers and tucked in. Once finished I got chatting to 3 guys from the Indian Air Force. They were fairly talkative and very pleasant young family guys. They'd all had arranged marriages and were happy with them, but understood why people might object. They were all big cricket fans of course and this once again provided a culture bridge! I didn't sleep that well but didn't mind. The journey was a long one (28 hours plus a bit) but all in all went smoothly.

Arriving in Chennai was manic with lungi (like a sarong folded into a short/skirt formation) wearing porters stroming the train before people got off! I took an auto-rickshaw to the hotel despite the driver's protestations that it was full of bugs and the toilets were dirty AND broken. It was okay though, he knew a very nice one! Hmmm, methinks he was on a commission. Ok, so the hotel's not great (I've convinced myself that the stains are in fact the local spicy soup and not blood) but the loo was clean and had running water. And so, after writing the brief note above this longer one, I went to bed. Zzzzzzzz

Rested after a relatively early night I rose and set out to explore the city. It's not quite as hectic as Delhi, but cerainly no cleaner. It doesn't really have much to offer tourists either, despite having a long beach. I'll visit that tomorrow morning after brekkie, but reports aren't positive. Instead I decided to amble around on foot, which is something I haven't done much to date. It was enlightening and despite not going anywhere specific I'd nearly made it to the museum (I didn't know this until I took the rickshaw). I took a rickshaw the short journey the rest of the way when I came across a roundabout that would put the fear of god into any pedestrian. The museum was only half open (the art gallery was closed) because of a festival for Ganesh (he's the one with an elephant's head) but the museum was interesting nonetheless. It featured many examples of very old statues, sculptures and tablets engraved with early scripts from (mainly south) India. There was also a fairly intriguing Natural History section that I scooched through, but this was mainly pitched at the family visitors. I wandered around the grounds afterwards. The museum complex was built by the British and various pieces (including some menacing cannons taken by the East India Company in battle) were scattered around. There was a vaguely colonial feel about the place.

I have also decided that although I disagree a bit with the bigging up that the Lonely Planet gave my hotel they were spot on with the suggestion of eatery. A cafe near the museum served up some cracking aloo jeera and garlic naan with chocolate brownie and ice cream for pud. Although I love the savoury stuff Indian sweets do not excite me in the least. I'm still trying new stuff if it comes my way (like on the train), but a mango lassi is my level on that front.

I'm looking forward to going to Mamallapuram tomorrow,as I'm actually getting quite lonely now and am confident of meeting people there. I've also resolved to enjoy myself more even if it means spending a bit more dosh.