Day 119: Chennai – Welcome to India

According to the Lonely Planet, Chennai, the fourth largest city in India, is “muggy, polluted, hot as hell and difficult to get around”. And it was our first city in India. We thought we were mentally prepared after talking to several travellers who had been to India. But the culture shock was overwhelming. On our taxi ride from the airport to our hotel, we saw rusty old buses packed with people (keep in mind it was around midnight), cows and goats feeding/resting on the road, and people sleeping on the sidewalk. Welcome to India!

the street where our hotel (Paradise) was on

The next morning we had our first authentic Indian breakfast consisting of dosa and iddly – the staple food for the locals. It was actually delicious, and it cost around US$1 for two of us. In the afternoon we stumbled upon St. Thomas church, which we later learned was one of only three churches in the world built on the tombs of the original 12 apostles of Jesus Christ. As a Christian, Katy was deeply moved and took a long prayer in front of the tomb of St. Thomas.

After St. Thomas church, we strolled around the beach of Chennai to admire the Bay of Bengal. To our surprise, a good part of the promenade was taken up by slums. It really opened our eyes to the way these people lived. Some were washing their clothing. Some were cooking their dinner. Some were sleeping. Some were taking the toilet relief (usually no.1 for the men & no.2 for the kids). All these activities happened on the side of the road next to the beach. We were not prepared when several little kids surrounded us asking for money. We knew not to give them money, so I gave them the only edible thing in my bag – a red bean filled pastry from Singapore airport which I had been saving for later.

First breakfast in India

check out the size of this dosa

St. Thomas Church

One kilometer away from the slums, we entered a totally different world – the City Center mall. It felt just like a small size mall in North America. It had a movie cinema with four screens, a food court (including KFC and Pizza Hut), a supermarket and many international branded clothing stores. The locals in the malls looked well dressed with LV bags and Armani jeans. Nowhere in my life have I seen such drastic change in wealth only 15-minute walk apart. No photo was allowed of the mall, so I can show you only the slums.

the slums on the beach