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| 2011 Royal Enfield 350cc Electra |
This morning's first job was breakfast. After skipping dinner last night we were after something tasty. Egg Dosai. Basically a really thin, huge pancake, covered in egg, salt and pepper, rolled up like a crepe and served with two bags of spicy and spicier dipping sauces.
Next we needed to get the remainder of our cash, which were unable to get out last night. We got some but then had a slight scare when Chris got a text message from the fraud department of our bank, asking whether the huge number of transactions we had completed last night and this morning were authorised. Thankfully, we simply text them back and they didn't freeze the account.
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| Marina Beach, Chennai |
Knowing we could not get anymore cash from the same ATM but now know Chennai's ATMs like the back of our hand we weren't worried and took a stroll to Marina Beach. It was vast and desert-like. The sand seemed to go on forever so only a distant slit of ocean was visible. On the sand were all manner of stalls being set up, beach cricket, horses, families and a range of other bits and pieces. We wandered along the promenade until we came to ..........l.l.l we checked that out before taking some serious back streets around the Cricket Stadium to reach the bike shop by 10:20am. Our 10:30am meeting time came and went. We sat outside, then inside and when 11:15am rolled around and there was still no sign of the boss man we were waiting for we left. What made the situation more frustrating was that nobody seemed bothered. People move at their own pace here, often doing things in a round-a-bout way that seems unnecessarily drawn-out to our Western eyes. Convinced we were not going to change this habit we tried our hardest to write it off as a cultural difference. One we would have to get used to sooner rather than later. Gosh it's annoying though.
We killed an hour with the world's slowest wifi (it too apparently works on 'India Time.') Can't complain too much though...at least it was back on. The power at our guesthouse goes out each morning from 8-10am. On our walk to the bike shop we were stopped by two men who jumped off their motorbike to talk to us. They would be filming an Indian film in a few days and needed Western extras. 1000 INR pay plus food for a day's work. He even offered to come pick us up from Mamallapuram if we happened to be there. Pity our plan is to be out of Chennai and past Mamallapuram by filming day otherwise I'd have been there with bells on.
Returning to the bike shop we found boss man as relaxed as ever and the slow process of making the bike ours continued. Things needed to be photocopied, again. Documents needed to be filled out and signed. Receipts needed to be asked for as apparently writing the price of the delivery note is not standard practice. We needed to be informed of what to do if the police pull us over.
Boss man then sent one of his johnnies to guide us to a petrol station and to buy helmets. Yes, we found ourselves riding the streets of India without helmets for a while there. Unlike Sri Lanka, helmets aren't compulsory here. The cops don't even wear them. We got ourselves a couple of 'original' helmets, organised a time to meet boss man tomorrow and set off home with Big Red. Mission accomplished. Almost.
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| Goat eats posters en route to George Town |
We took Big Red on his first outing...up to George Town to check out the markets. It was a Sunday though so most shops were shut. We did however find that George Town follows the age old trick of having entire streets dedicated to one thing. We therefore got to see lots of diaries and lots of fabric. Despite many shops being closed, flocks of people still flooded the streets, getting their fruit and vegetables from the fruit and vegetable street. We too took advantage, grabbing some grapes and mandarins and then some samosas. It's frustrating that four samosas cost you 28 INR while one mandarins and some grapes cost 30 INR. It's difficult to motive yourselves to eat fruit when it's more expensive, less filling and certainly less exciting on your taste buds.
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| A quiet day in George Town, Chennai |
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| Express Avenue Shopping Mall |
We dropped off Big Red, figuring we'd ease him into things, then set off on foot to Express Avenue (EA) shopping centre (that Boss Man had told us about.) We expected it to resemble Spencer Plaza- dingy, very local and mostly shut. In fact, I questioned whether, on a Sunday, EA would even be open. Chris made another 'surely statement' though anew boy was he right. This place was huge! And busy! And Western! It glistened with overpriced goods that looked just like home. It was like Chadstone. But like Chadstone a week before Christmas. There were people everywhere. But it was still nice to grasp at some familiarity for a couple of hours. I even went all out and got myself a Salwar Kameez. After many shops, and way too many options (they literally have thousands in each shop ranging in colour, style, price, pant type, embroidery, sequins, sparkles, length, shawl type and style) I settled on the first Salwar in the first shop we had visited. As we do. Photos to come later.
We climbed even further aboard the Western bandwagon and got KFC for dinner. Naughty. By this time it was 6:30pm so we sook a leisurely walk home. The streets of Chennai come alive after dark. Considering that for many of the locals the day doesn't seem to start until at least 11am, 7pm is just like midday. There's more traffic, more people, more food, more noise, more general craziness. And our crazily dressed friend who likes to say "welcome to Chennai" every time we see him was out and about again. As was a man who must have been very intrigued by Chris and his ever growing beard because as we walked he came and stood very close to him and gave him the best stare we have had to date.
It's been a pretty successful couple of days.
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| Goodnight Big Red |
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