Kerala to Chennai

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Well these train rides are becoming quite the norm and I know it's not great but to be honest you do get used to it - the dirt, dust, bugs, cockroaches, the heat, locals selling everything from tea to Rubik’s cubes, from maps to squeaky toys - a particular favourite of mine at 3 in the morning...
Anyway, we arrive in Chennai fairly unharmed and eventually find a hotel after consulting o' faithful - the lonely planet and once we dodge all the local touts we head off past the beach at sunrise in a taxi to finally head off to a proper bed - only to discover we're 4 hours to early to check in - oh the joys of travel, anyway we quickly waste 2 hours having breakfast and chance our luck and we're able to check in...
After a quick freshen up we have a quick look at the city and to be more precise - the Spencer plaza shopping mall which wasn't too bad... so after a quick shop we head back to our hotel to sort out our flights to Sri Lanka as the hotel also has a travel agent on the premises.
While we were checking on flights to Sri Lanka Suzanne enquired about flights to the Andaman Islands - obviously I knew where that was as well, for the rest of us that don’t know they are a remote set of beautiful islands in the Bay of Bengal which apparently has the most beautiful beach in all of Asia - quite a statement I' sure you'll agree. Well with this reputation and the fact that the flights were about half the price we imagined it was bye bye to Pondicherry and hello to the Andaman Islands - no contest really, beautiful untouched remote islands with amazing beaches or an old French village. It turns out there is a flight the very next morning at 7am - only about 11 hours after we booked the tickets - I love spare of the moment decisions - anyway ta ta for now as I better go and pack my bags - take it easy...

PS - sorry, no pictures of Chennai but just imagine another city - the fourth largest in India apparently but anyway get me to that beach

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