India (2nd Trip)

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Travel Period - Mar to Apr 2009

Chennai, Mahabalipuram & Kancheepuram

This was my 2nd trip to India. A very short trip indeed.

We arrived in Chennai International Airport and our pre-booked vehicle was waiting for us. We had a grand welcome from the hotel (Ambica Empire) - presenting us with garlands :)

The check-in was quick and we got settled in our room. The weather was very humid and staying in an air-con room was a neccessity. We had hired a driver to bring us around for our trip. We had lunch (typical south indian Thali) and it was absolutely delicious and cheap!

After that, we did the usual touristy stuffs:

(1) Spencer Plaza

(2) Marine Beach (super crowded)

(3) MGR memorial (both my parents were fans of his movies)

After this, we went for a bit of shopping for indian traditional clothes.

We left early the next morning for our next 2 destinations, Mahabalipuram and Kancheepuram. We will just stop by these areas as we need to reach Madurai by night fall. In Mahabalipuram, we stopped by one of the temples which had really nice hand craftings on the stones. All these must have been done by the hands of some gifted scuplturer. Next, we arrived into Kancheepuram where we stopped by a store/factory and the owner showed us how Kancheepuram (famous worldwide) silk is being made. You would be expecting a big factory with big machines doin the silk but it wasnt. It was in a small room and each corner of the room were 2 machine, obviously made up of wood and the worker , an old man was doing it manually. Amazing!!

We reached Madurai at night time just time for dinner. We stayed over for a night at GRT Regency. The next morning, we made our way to the famous Meenakshi Amman Temple. This huge temple was estimated to have 33,000 sculptures in the temple. We had to pay a small sum to be nearer to the deities than the rest of the devotees (it happens in India when you are a tourist or rich). We did walked around the temple and noticed many beautifully painted sculptures.

Chennai itself was a crowded city with horns blazing its way through just like any other cities in India. The people are very warm. Although I only spent a day or 2 in chennai and its cities, I hope to come back and spend more time on the streets and taking in the sights as well.

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