11 June - Chennai -> Kanchipuram - > Chennai
Got up and got ready to leave for Chennai at 10 am. We had a little trouble with checking in the
handbags because there were no locks on the luggage. My bags did not have
locks. Both Papa and Bhaiya kept discussing it instead of getting locks. I went
downstairs and bought the locks. Of course Papa had to ask, “How much they
were.” And when I told him, he said, “I should have gone with you. You paid too
much! Go back down and tell the shopkeeper that the locks don’t fit.” Oh my
Lord!! Of course I wasn’t going to do that! What the…!!
The train again was not AC. We were supposed to get off at Arakkonam and
take the bus to Kanchipuram, but then Papa got cold feet and we did not get
off. So then we went on to Chennai….had some peanuts on the way. Reached Chennai
around 2 pm and got our luggage from the cloak room. Took the bus to Perry’s
corner and from there to Kanchipuram. It took about 2 hrs. to get there. I was
stuck in the middle seat and could not see a thing outside!
It was drizzling in Kanchipuram. We went to the Shiv
temple there. It was a beautiful old
temple. We got a guide, even though we did not want one. Anyhow, he was good.
Showed us around well. The temple resembled the Rameshwaram temple in its
architecture. It is the 2nd key temple after Rameshwaram. We did
puja in two places before we went to the main temple. It was nice to go up to
the front and stay for a few minutes rather than get rushed away. Also saw the very
old mango tree, the guide said it is 3500 yrs. old. I am not too sure about
that!
After another 10 mins of walking around and taking
pictures, we took the bus back to Chennai. Took our luggage and checked into
Tourist Home in an AC room. And of course, as usual of Indian hotels, the AC
was not working yet….later. Did laundry and finally AC was working, but then as
India would have it, the power went off. And the AC went off. Back to hot night
with mosquitos. Terrible! What a night!!
12 June - Chennai
Today is just a Chennai day. The power is back but still no AC. What a joke.
Had breakfast and went to Egmore station to make reservations, but then
we had to go to Central to make the reservations we needed…my great country
India. My foot is really hurting from the cut from Tirupati.
From Central we needed to go to T-Nagar (Ranganthan St)
for shopping. Had to go to Perry’s corner to get the bus. But did not get the
bus. After Bhaiya and I had a cool glass of sugar cane juice, we got the auto
to go to T-Nagar. It would have been better if Papa had decided on that
earlier…but no problem. We also stopped in the middle to have some great Papaya.
And then finally to Sarnavasan – the shoppers paradise!
There were many stores there. Papa went to only one on
first floor, the one for utensils. Bhaiya and I bought a great deal of utensils
and then went on the clothes part, where also we bought some nice pieces for
myself, my cousins and friends. After more shopping we went to hunt for food,
but no good luck. Then we found the local train station, Mamallapuram, to go to
Egmore. Took only 10 mins vs the 30 mins it had taken the auto.
Came back to our room, still no AC! Damn hotel. And the
porters who kept our luggage wanted money right away – they were supposed to be
working for the hotel! They should wait until we give them the money!
Reshuffled everything, and now we have one more suitcase!
Went off to the train station after packing. Went to pick up the luggage from
the cloak room. I had to go with Bhaiya despite my hurting foot, Papa’s need to
send me with Bhaiya. As we got there, there was a long line. Then a man came
and stood in front of Bhaiya, so Bhaiya moved, and then there were two lines.
And then there was chaos. And there was only one guy there, so we had to go
inside to get our own luggage. Great service!
Then Bhaiya insisted we go on the 2 tier from the 3 tier,
excellent! Then it was just sleeping all the way to Bangalore. Shopping was
awesome today, I wish I needed more stuff.
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