In India: Calgary to Chennai, Friday - Saturday 2012 January 13 - 14

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Our 24 hours plus of airports and airplanes wasn’t so bad – I forced myself into a kind of sleep after dinner on the way to Frankfurt. On the way to Chennai I had several genuine naps, interspersed with looking out the window. The sky was clear over most of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. As we went over the Caucasus Mountainsby the Caspian, I finally disturbed my seatmate to get at my camera in the overhead compartment. Just caught the end of the snow capped ridges as the sun set. The pattern of weather was obviously from the northwest as most of the snow was on that side of the mountains in a scene of white and greeny-gray, deepening as the sun set into an orange rim.

The night was deeply black when we arrived in Chennai at about a quarter to midnight. After waiting in the long lineup at immigration and then collecting our luggage, we stepped out into florescent-lit darkness, punctuated by the many horns of the many cars meeting the many passengers. After a few minutes, we walked through the chaos understood only by the Indians to our full-size bus, which drove into the fairly quiet streets of Chennai. First impressions were of lots of one-to-three-storey concrete buildings, all shuttered for the night. I was surprised that there was no unusual smell to the air as there is in Africa.

Our hotel (Vivanta by Taj Connemara) greeted us with garlands and juice. Lovely honey-coloured marble and modern rooms. To bed about 2:30 a.m.

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Photos

Dancing Nataraja
The Dancing Nataraja is an important symbol of India. This statue is in the hotel lobby.

Comments

[Judith]

Irish Connection to Chennai
A friend wondered why a hotel in Chennai had an Irish name. Thank goodness for friends - they make us think about new things. Robert Bourke, 1st Baron Connemara, was Governor of Madras between 1886 and 1890; Chennai was called Madras until the official name change in 1996.