Tamil Nadu Trip Report

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice during the planning phase of this trip. The second half of the trip report is posted in the Kerala forum.

My wife and I went to India for the first time for a friend's wedding in early July. We arrived in Chennai at 04:00 after a long Emirates flight from San Francisco with a connection in Dubai. Landed an hour late, panicked a bit because we did not immediately find our driver, but eventually found him and was taken to our friend's parents' apartment to nap for a few hours before checking into the service apartments (Hanu Reddy Residences) where out of town guests were staying.

The Hanu Reddy Residences were amazingly modern (it would seem even more so after some of the other places we ended up staying in our travels). We had a double room with a powerful A/C unit, shower stall with half wall, and western toilet. The room was spotless, cleaned every day, and a fan in the bathroom ensured the floor was never wet. Western breakfast was provided (omelet, toast, fruit, juice, tea/coffee, corn flakes with hot milk). Had no idea how much this place cost since the wedding party covered it.

Wedding activities occupied the first 5 days of our trip, which I will not cover, but we did have some amazing South Indian food at all the events. Chennai was a dense sprawling city, not really our style. We prefer to walk, but the number of autorickshaws and cars make it nearly impossible. We made it on foot to the Cisons complex in Egmore to buy some sandals and clothes for the wedding, but otherwise, relied on the Innova that was provided for the guests. The weather held up for us, as it was mostly in the high 80s and low 90s (we heard it had been up in the triple digits the entire week before we arrived).

Our travels around India started the afternoon after the ceremony (which started at 6:15am, apparently an auspicious time for the couple) when we went to Mamallapuram. We saw most of the temples, with the 5 Rathas being our favorite (kind of looked like a children's playground). Very impressive that these started out as one gigantic stone. The group had a late lunch/early dinner at the Sea Breeze before heading back to Chennai. My wife and I stayed behind, since we planned on heading down to Pondicherry the next morning.

We were pretty dejected after looking around for a room and finally settled on Greenwoods for 900rs double room with A/C. Most of the places we saw were dingy, mouldy and smelly. The Greenwoods was basic, but the cleanest, so we took it. Since we had just eaten and drank lots of Kingfisher, there was not much to do. We bought some water then came back to the room to shower, at which point an army of ants came out from around the faucet on the wall. They also died almost instantly, so there must have been some seriously toxic insecticide already sprayed on the wall. Despite the A/C, I got several mosquito bites overnight and then the power went out at 05:00, so we decided to skip breakfast (didn't start until 8am) and got on a bus to Pondicherry.

We arrived in Pondi after 2 hours and had breakfast at La Terrasse. The old "European" side of the city was even smaller than we imagined. We walked around, stopping at the Ghandi memorial and Hotel De Ville before having an early lunch on the roof of Seagulls. On the way to the bus station, we decided to check out the botanical gardens, which were poorly maintained and smelled like it was being used as a public latrine. We took an A/C bus back to Chennai (the only one with A/C we would take the entire trip). We were jealous of the guys across the aisle from us, who had smartly brought bottles of Kingfisher Strong. It was raining when we got off the bus in Guindy, where we transferred to the suburban railway to get back into Chennai. The Chetpet station was walking distance from the Hanu Reddy, but the streets were starting to flood and my wife was worried about getting splashed by cars zooming by, so we hopped on a rickshaw for the last few blocks.

Back at the Hanu Reddy, we bid farewell to the rest of the wedding guests, packed up our bags and headed out for one last meal in Chennai. Although the Hanu Reddy is a great place to stay, there is a dearth of local Indian restaurants (very tourist catered area with Chinese, Thai, Italian places). We ended up at Thai Banh for some pad thai and soy sauce soaked vegetables, then headed to Egmore to catch our night train to Thanjavur.

While it would have made sense to go to Thanjavur directly from Pondi, the first portion of our trip was off the cuff and we had already booked our train tickets a few months prior. My wife and I got a 2 bunk first class A/C compartment. The conductor who gave us our sheets had the most amazing head bobble I have ever seen. His head seemed to wobble at a baseline frequency and increased in amplitude as he talked with us.

We arrived in Thanjavur around 07:00 and were disappointed to find that the cloak room at the train station was closed. We stopped by the TTDC hotel to see if we could leave our bags there for the morning when we went to Brihadishwara Temple, but they wanted us to pay for a day room. So we trudged on with our packs to see the temple, which luckily only had a handful of visitors that early in the morning. We had dosas at a small place cramped with locals before walking over to the palace, which now has a school built up around it. There wasn't much to see in the palace complex, since the art museum was closed as was Durbar Hall, so we got on a bus to Madurai.

We headed to the TTDC in Madurai, but found the reception completely uninterested in talking with us and the rooms smelling like mold, so we moved on to West Perumal Maistry St, where the rooms were not much better. The Hotel Supreme had rooms with decently clean sheets, screened windows, and reasonably modern bathrooms, but was asking for 1600 rs per night. A rickshaw driver point us to the Hotel Keerthi, which was recently built. The cold blast of A/C in the lobby was refreshing after carrying our packs around the whole morning and afternoon. The hotel, although new, had a 70s look to it. The room was clean with double bed, western bathroom, strong A/C unit and was only 990 rs + tax with breakfast included. We took the room (they strangely wanted more for the deposit than the cost of our 2 night stay). We were famished since we skipped lunch, so headed to Anna Meeknashi and got some curries with nan before taking in the views of the temples over Kingfisher on top of the Hotel Supreme.

The next morning, we had typical Indian breakfast of idlies, vadai, uttapam, and puris with sambar and chutney before walking to Meeknashi Temple, the most impressive we would see on our trip. The temple complex had huge gopuras that we had seen from the roof of Hotel Supreme the night before. Inside, there was a mix of tourists and devotees. We wondered how long it would take to fill the central tank with the two sputtering hoses they were using. For lunch, we headed to Aarathy, one of the best restaurant recommendations in the Rough Guide. The place was bustling and we were the only non-Indians there. We had to wait a few minutes for a table to open up. There was no menu (per our receipt, we received the "special" meal) and metal plates covered with a banana leaf and several small bowels of sambar, chutneys, fried veggies, and the thickest, creamiest yogurt I've ever had were placed in front of us. Circulating severs dropped scoops of rice, pappams, and various starches in the center of our plates. The bill came out to 150 rs including tax and the whole process took less than 20 minutes (and we ate slow compared to the locals). The Kundalagar Temple adjacent to the restaurant was closed, so we took a rickshaw to the Ghandi museum. The museum had an informative, but text heavy walkthrough about the struggle for independence in India. After reading through the 25 or so panels, we realized that we had known very little about the country we had been travelling in for the past week.

Beer o'clock had rolled around by the time we got back from the Ghandi museum, so we headed to the rooftop of the Royal Park, where we were the only customers. After a few Kingfishers, the rain came and there were some scenic moments with lightening striking behind the Meeknashi Temple. Although the menu looked touristy, we liked the view and didn't want to get soaked walking to another restaurant, so we asked our waiter for recommendations for South Indian curries off the menu along with some rice and parota. We retired to the Keerthi after dinner and flipped through channels on the TV, 80% of which seemed to be Indian music videos.

The next morning, we headed to the assembly line for Indian breakfast before driving to Munnar for the Kerala portion of our trip (separate post).

Overall, we had a great time in Tamil Nadu. I don't think we would have stopped in Chennai if it weren't for the wedding and probably wouldn't have enjoyed it if the groom's family had not set us up like VIPs with a great place to stay, a driver, and all the wedding events, complete with a gratuitous amount of food and booze. Nevertheless, some of our best experiences of the trip were eating banana leaf meals at the wedding while watching the staff run up and down the aisles plopping down rice and ladles of curry, somehow serving thousands of guests without anyone ever having to wait in line. The groom had warned us beforehand that he always lost weight when he came to India, but there was no way that happened to us.

Kerala trip report here.