Day Three

Forewarning: I may not be able to post every day in the following days. Tomorrow Hena and I are leaving for another town and I am unsure of internet access.

Anyhow, about today!
Woke up at 6 am again for no reason but I put myself back to "sleep" until 8 am when everyone else woke up and the cleaning lady came. :)
Hena and I didn't venture out until later in the day but it was nice to sit around, read, watch the US news reported in Indian accents. :)
I had my first full bath from a bucket today. I had obviously washed before now other wise Hena would have shipped me off home! But once I got over the strangeness of it, it was really very pleasant.
First we went on the train (I want to call them trams because they are electrical but whatever) to buy our tickets for the sleeper car train ride to Bangalore. I found out what "footboard riding" is, it's riding in the doorway of the car! We had a time getting the tickets because we went to the wrong booth the first time and the correct one had a que line of CHAIRS it takes so long to move forward. The guys behind us were not shy about my photographing them, lol.
From Chennai we're riding a sleeper bus two days later to Hyderabad. From Hyderabad we're taking another sleeper train from there back to Chennai after two days so we can do laundry and make our next foray south to the tip of India.
Anyhow, about today! :)
Next we went to the Pondy Bazaar which is actually in Chennai so Hena and I are not sure why it's called that. There were more colors and smells there, whew. Some smells were vile, some were questionable at best, some were ok, and some of them were hunger inducing. Hena and I ate fresh mango and pineapple while walking around. I did some shopping- principally for bath shoes (flip-flops called hawai (pronounced like the US state). I also discovered that I have as much trouble fitting into Indian clothes as I do American clothes. It fits my waist OR it fits my shoulders OR it's the right length- never all three. I also found a dress that I thought I was going to buy- it was so pretty- but we had misread the tag quite badly and there was noway I was spending Rs. 1365 on it. Although it would have been very nice! It was blue with sequins and a full skirt that flared if I twirled. Who knows maybe if it is still there and I want it badly enough I'll get it when we're in Chennai again. *shrug*
Next we ate lupper at Woodlands: Multi-cuisine Vegetarian Restaurant. We ordered *almost* ordered too much food- but we managed to eat it all. We had naan (flat bread), Palak Paneer (spinach gravy with chunked cottage cheese[green]), Gobi and Mushroom Manchurian (cauliflower florets and mushrooms battered and "fried" in Indian and Chinese spices) which are actually Indo-Chinese dishes, not Indian but they were still good [mushrooms in seperate picture]. I like the Palak Paneer and the Mushrooms best, the Gobi was a bit warm- but I ate my half! We also had lassi (yougrt, buttermilk and salt blended together) and while I was very skeptical it was very good and good at taming the burn in my mouth!
The other thing that happened at the restaurant was I got a rude introduction to Indian closets. They are bathrooms for both genders that have holes in the floor in a little bitty room with water to wipe with. I must say my attempt was eventful and embarrassing. It resulted in me yelling for Hena and almost crying. So, yeah... *awkward silence* :D NEXT!
After lupper we went to the beach so I could try to get Gandhi's picture again. But someone told us the wrong bus SO we saw the late Prime Minister's tomb, monument and park. By the time we were done with this and managed to find a auto-rickshaw to take us to the other end of the beach (probably five miles or so by my guess) it was too dark again to get Gandhi's picture... so I will attempt to take a picture of another Gandhi statue somewhere else.
After the beach we started to the flat but we found out that the Cathedral of St. Thomas was lit up at night so I wanted to see if I could get pictures. I photographed the sign, and the garden with the fountain outside, and parts of the interior of the church. Then we went into the tomb and I took pictures of the interior- even the tomb. So I made a donation and whispered a prayer that it was just in case I shouldn't have taken the pictures. :) Keep in mind I took these after dark please...
After that the guard outside the tomb said the bus stop was a block up the street- I must say an Indian block is a long, LONG way. Then we had to wait a very, very long time for our bus. The trains are very good at following the schedule, but the buses just go as they will. I fell asleep on the bus briefly and woke up to discover Hena was dozing as well. I think it was because we were sitting in the front seat which has no windows, nor does the seat behind it, and is over the engine that was burning oil or something rather badly. I think the CO or the CO2 got to us or something- because I wasn't tired before we got on the bus or after we got off. Anyhow earlier in the day I made a short video of light, nice traffic. Keep in mind this is easy traffic- and excuse the movement of the camera as the roads have Lots of bumps.

So yeah, we came home and I am going to bed soon. Write to you all soon.


Ps- If I come home fat it's because Sheru makes Indian sweets every night and bugs me until I try them. :)