Chennai info required

Next october I will be in Chennai with my African girlfriend for a couple of weeks
and would like ask you for some info:

1) Can I find a clean accommodation for 20-30USD per day?
2) Is there any good Indian or Tibetan restaurant you can suggest me?
3) What are the most interesting/beautiful places to visit?
4) Where can I buy some good quality human hair for my girlfriend's and her sisters extensions?

Thanks a lot
Flavio


CA Note: Your thread has been moved from the state forum to the city forum.

1) i don't know where you can find a clean place for 20-30 USD, but i do know where you cannot - Hotel Tamilnadu (TTDC) opp Chennai Central. however, my guess is that if A/C is a must, 20-30 USD will not get you very far...

3) I would say the Govt Museum is a wonderful place to visit (especially if you are interested in sculptures/statues).

I'll start with a suggestion to spend your couple of weeks OUTSIDE of Chennai. Mamallapuram will be quite nice in all respects.

good idea, but after 2-3 days, there would be nothing left to see or do...

still much more, then in Chennai. apart from much, MUCH more comfortable stay in $20-30 range. what makes a HUGE difference alone.

again, there are a lot of interesting places around, which can be accessed much more easily (bicycling possible and can be a pleasure, alternatively, one can rent a scooter/Enfield, whatever one wishes). in contrast, driving from/to Chennai is not pleasant experience and extremely time consuming.

BTW, do you aware about the surfing in Mamallapuram?

perhaps i went in off-season (may 1st week), but i did not see any surfing activity around....

correct

2) Indian restaurants in India? The good restaurants would be atleast 20 USD/meal

3) Please define your definition of most interesting/beautiful places

4) I guess you can get this anywhere in the world if you do a google search.

Is that a per person budget? If so, you can try Spring hotel near Nungambakkom (at the point where kodambakkam high road meets the nungambakkom high road). If its for both of you, try the egmore area and search some of the older threads.

If you're OK with south Indian food, try murugan idli shop, sarvana bhawan.

Other than what's recommended above, few places that I like - Kanchipuram. Hardly any tourists. You can take an MTC airconditioned bus from Koyambedu terminus or Guindy. Copper beach in neelankarai area (look at wikimapia for location)

Old chennai (parry's corner area). Get down at the last bus stand and go down on netaji subhash bose road. Ask for Chenna Malleswarar and Kesava Perumal temple. Atleast two shops in the vicinity. Given that your gf is african, would indian hair (non-curly) work? I have no idea how hair extensions work but I have seen shops near these temples (the hair come from devotees).

First of all a huge Thanks to all of you for the useful info you gave me.
One more question:
Is it possible to get an Indian VISA in Sri Lanka? How is the weather like in SL in october? We might arrive in Colombo, have a short visit of SL and then take a plane to Chennai.
I give you some more explanations:
1) I am interested in both historical monuments and natural beauties therefore Mamallapuram and Kanchipuram can be fine.
2) I do agree with you that Chennai will be a huge, polluted and frantic city but having never been to India before I would like to experience a few days there too, especially in the old part.
3) We are sharing our travel costs thus if I should pay 10USD more for a double room that wont a big problem. I dont like AC anyway.
4) I mentioned a good Indian restaurant because some travellers warned me against eating on the street food stalls especially the first days of our stay. Was he true?In Thailand I loved food stalls where we spend a few dollars for tasty Thay food.
5)African women like so much hair extension (both straight and curly)and I heard that indian hair are not too expensive and good quality, yet I read that Chennai region is the best place to get it. Should I bargain hard with them? will they overcharge a couple of foreigners without experience of India???
Thanks again
Flavio

2) The Chennai Fort & Museum is a wonderful place if you like old stuff. There is too much security though as the State Legislature is housed inside the fort.
3) 1500 rs (or 30 usd) should fetch you very good rooms without a/c or no-frills room with a/c
4) typical dinner in a south indian restaurant should not cost more than 3-5 usd each. if you go to fancy places, have a drink, appetizer, entree & dessert, even 20 usd might be short. street food might be risky because of hygiene issues & quality of water used, so use your judgment after you take a look around.

... but if you have visited some *real* museums, don't waste your time. "Fort" is not really "fort", just few British-era buildings, under heavy security (read: a lot of restrictions) and "museum" is *very* basic.

Egmore museum, especially Chola bronzes, is much, much more interesting.

South Indian food is quite different - first, it's "pure veg". So, if you like Thai kind of food, you will be disappointed - nothing similar.

To say, I'm not vegetarian, so I never seen anything *so attractive* to make me forget the obvious "hygiene issues"

If you want to try "street food" - there are a lot of the eateries opened to the streets, for sure, they are enough "street food"

"Fort" is still a real fort, just that the moat has dried up in most of the places after the river connection was cut off.
Egmore museum is certain much bigger & has a huge collection, but Fort museum is much better maintained (perhaps because it is too small).

I have no problem in eating totally vegetarian if it is a decent tasty meal and if it doesn't oblige me to hurry to the toilet.
I repeat my question:
Is it possible to get the Indian VISA in Sri Lanka??? In Italy it's quite expensive and time wasting procedure so I might consider a short visit to Sri Lanka then fly to Chennai.
Thanks a lot
Flavio