Incredible !ndia (part 1)

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The adventures of Daron and Kirstin continue! This time in India, where we traveled from Hyderabad to the Andaman Islands with our 2 good friends, Dan and Meryl!

India...the country we've been wanting to visit for years...crazy to believe we've already been there and back! Lots happened in 2 weeks. I will attempt to play it back for you:

Thursday, 28 October
We depart Phnom Penh and arrive in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 hours later. We stay at a hotel 5 mins from the airport, so don't see anything more than the airport and the parking lot. Still, it's obvious we've entered a different world than our dear Cambodia. (I will leave Daron to detail the differences between KL and PNP in another blogpost.)

Friday, 29 October
We wake up at 4:00am. (Terrible! The first of many, many early mornings this trip!) Walk to the airport and board the flight for Hyderabad, India. (But, before this, we almost got on the wrong plane. Air Asia, please work on your tarmac signage!)

4 hours later, we arrive in Hyderabad where we are met at the airport by our great friend, Dan! (Dan has been working in India for the last 3 years.) We meet up with Meryl (arrived from the USA at 4am that day) and have our first meal in India: delicious breakfast with chai. Nap. Lunch. Tour of Dan's workplace and housing. More chai. Bus to downtown/Old City Hyderabad where we browsed the bizarre.

Interesting note: We were surprised, but Hyderabad feels more like Istanbul than the SE Asia we know. Largely - I think - to the Muslim influence (40%).

Purchased $5 pearl earrings. Bus back to Dan's house. Delicious meal of chicken biryani - Hyderabad specialty.

Saturday, 30 October
Lazy morning. Home-cooked lunch with Dan's co-worker's family. Great conversations. Frisbee and badminton. Rain. Night train to Chennai. (Night train just like the European ones, but with delicious Indian food and chai!)

Sunday, 31 October
Arrived in Chennai, 8:00am. Explored Chennai. Purchased great clothes, jewelry, and scarves at Fabindia: www.fabindia.com. More delicious food. Nap! Auto/Rickshaw to the beach, where all the Chennai-ians were hanging out. Sleep.

Monday, 1 November
Woke up at 2:00am! Taxi to the airport. Flight at 4:45am to Port Blair, Andaman Islands.

This is getting long, so I'll break it up into a few posts. Stay tuned for our adventures on the Andaman Islands!

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