I’m in Chennai now, having taken a 6 hour overnight A/C Volvo semi-sleeper bus from Bangalore from 12am to 6am yesterday. All I can say about Chennai so far is that it’s not as bad as I had researched, but it’s still a frustrating city to travel around in (no public transportation, sights are spread apart and not really highly recommended by anyone, mosquitoes everywhere, and autorickshaw drivers are some of the most aggressive you’ll ever meet in India).

Arriving in Chennai yesterday morning where Supraja, referred to be as mutual a friend of Saraswati (who hosted me a few days ago in Hyderabad), picks me up from the bus station:

 

So today I’ll meet up with a friend of mine from college, Jean, and make plans for my trip to Mamallapuram and Pondicherry tomorrow. These are my last 3 days in India!

Some snapshots of Chennai later in the afternoon:

 

When I got back to my hostel in Chennai, I couldn’t get in. Therefore I banged on the glass to wake up the staff who were sleeping inside on the floor. When they woke up, they weren’t able to unlock the door from the inside. So a few of them crawled out of a window and spent a good hour trying to get me in.

After finally getting inside my hostel and realizing how early it was, I remembered that my college friend whom I stayed with in Mumbai — Avanti — e-mailed me the number of her friend living in Chennai, Arjun. So I called him up to see if he wanted to hang out. He instead decided to pick me up and have me stay at his apartment, the night before he was planning to move out entirely. I guess I caught him just in the nick of time!

Thanks Arjun.

Tomorrow I’m off to the beaches of Mamallapuram!

- At time of posting in Madras, India, it was 87.8 °F -

Humidity: 62% | Wind Speed: 8km/hr | Cloud Cover: few clouds