India in your face

Unlike Vietnam where we cruised up a beautiful river to our port, we just sailed through the morning haze and popped out and there was India.  We docked at an industrial port in Chennai, India, a city of seven million people.

We got to watch the Captain and crew skillfully guide the ship through a narrow breakwater and nestle up against the dock.

We were scheduled for our diplomatic briefing at 8 am, but were running late.  The customs folks wanted us to do get our passport stamps at the same time, so there was a little chaos as we got called out of the meeting with the consular guys by groups of ID numbers.  I was there when one of the Consul guys said he went to Auburn and asked if anyone else was from Auburn.  I got to yell out "War Eagle!"   Immigration is done differently in every country, and this was one where we actually had to pick up our passports and  go before officials on the ship to get an entry stamp.  This is the only place so far that we had to have a declaration of our "stuff", ie. electronic gadgets so we could bring things back on board.

We were finally cleared to leave the ship about 8:30 am and were provided with music at the gangway by a group of musicians.  Notice that they are using a tarp to sit on because the dock was covered by coal dust and the air was filled with dust and diesel fumes.  This was our first "taste" of India.
Nancy and I were going on a late morning trip with SAS, so we held back and watched everyone take off.  Then we hopped on a bus for a trip to Mamallapuram, a coastal town of several temples.

The ride itself was quite a trip. Like Vietnam, there were motorbikes and bicycles but also cars and autorickshaws and lots of  buses.  The road we took was two-lane with narrow motorcycle lanes on the sides and lots of signs saying "high accident area".  We quickly learned why the signs existed. No one stayed on their side of the road.  Our driver came right from NASCAR.  We passed with oncoming traffic blinking their headlights, and everyone forced everyone else to move off to the narrow motorcycle lane. The center line was nothing but an aiming point for our driver, and many time we covered our eyes and though "I'm going to die in India".

Needless to say, this gave us all a big appetite, so we stopped for a traditional lunch.  Our guide had arranged a lunch where the meal was served on a banana leave, and there were no eating utensils.  You are supposed to eat with your right hand (because your left hand is used for other bodily functions).  It was easier than chopsticks and very spicey.
Everyone should try this at home sometime.

Back on the bus and to the Rathas, a group of five temples all carved from one big stone and never completed.  We were also besieged by people selling trinkets and items carved from stone.

Then we moved on to the Shore Temple which was undergoing cleaning. This was in the area of India which was struck by the Tsunami with some damage.

Our last stop was at Arajuna's Penance, a bas-relief stone carving .  This is home to what seem like hundreds of monkeys who are part of the landscape.

I'll describe our ride home and shopping experiences in a later post.