Chennai - first impressions

My journey to Chennai was uneventful. I slept 90% of the way here which was brilliant. The seats were rubbish for Business Class though, as bad as standard class. The flight from Dhaka to Dubai was better. On arrival I had to wait nearly an hour for my bags to come through but that is normal!

Once through baggage claim, I found an ATM, got out some cash and paid a "pre pay" taxi to bring me here. The journey was about 40 mins for Rs450 - which I think is probably about £7. So not too bad.

I've been told by many people over the past week that Chennai is a lovely city. It is certainly very green around here, but so far I haven't seen the lovely bits. All I've seen is mega loads of construction sites and lots of traffic. After a sleep, later on I'll take a Rickshaw to the public beach.... maybe...




My hotel is a slightly worn building right next to a major road junction. On the plus side it has free Wifi, a complimentary bottle of water, a complimentary bowl of fruit, air con and a big ceiling fan. It doesn't have double glazing, so I can hear the hoot of every passing auto rickshaw, taxi, car, truck, bus and anything else that hoots like crazy in this corner of the world. Its a good 5 steps down from the Surina in Dhaka and more expensive to boot. It only has a shower, the sort that i guess we would call it a wet room, the toilet is all in the same place and its not shiny sparkly lovely either. The joys of travel. Its OK , the bed is comfy enough a thin foam mattress on a board... I'm that tired I could sleep on the side of the road, so right now I am really pleased to be here.