Chennai - Part 2

Two and a half hours later, we have left Sadhana and arrived back in typical Indian chaos. Diana, although a little better during the taxi journey, was feeling incredibly ill by the time we arrived, and as such retired to bed the moment we arrived at the hotel.

The choice of hotel was an incredibly rushed decision made up of the primary factor of location to the airport. As we needed to be there for 3pm the next day and aware of the typical chaos we usually ensue, coupled with Diana feeling far from her best, we wanted something within a stones throw away. Fortunately for us, this was actually easy enough, a few moments on my phone had revealed many hotels within very close proximity, for not a lot of money either (700Rs for one night). Upon arrival, it seemed we had been exceptionally blessed, as the hotel included both free WiFi, and free airport drop off at the time we required. Bargain.

Our taxi driver managed to drop us off almost directly outside, even though we’d given incredibly vague information on where the hotel was as we had little idea ourselves. A large sign was posted outside, which was lucky, as it was hidden behind two shops off the main road, down a small alley hidden behind a wall. If it wasn’t for a map on my phone I wouldn’t have even considered looking there. Thank god for technology…!

The room wasn’t bad. En suite toilet and shower (no hot water but we’re used to that by now), a proper bed, electricity, a TV with one working channel which later stopped working, and apart from the traffic noise which was inevitable, it seemed fairly secluded. By the evening, although Diana had little appetite, we went looking for a nearby restaurant, which was surprisingly difficult but we eventually found one. Not a lot else really occurred, satisfied we headed back to the room via a little shop on the way.

Both feeling exhausted, we settled down to sleep. This was short lived however, as it appears we were interrupting some sort of party on the landing, a noise of which we had not yet encountered. Shouting, banging on doors and slamming around from early morning until around 5am made it impossible to sleep. I have attached an audio clip of what we heard, volume unadjusted, from the bed at around 2.30am. Considering we had just come from a near silent forest in the middle of nowhere (apart from the odd animal noise) straight into this, whilst ill, we were not best pleased come morning time. Calls to reception were unreceived and a complaint in the morning resulted in the man on the desk making a sad face and saying ‘worst people’. Tremendous, thanks.

Lugging our bags down the two flights of stairs to check out (climbing over various workmen who were ripping up the floors, narrowly avoiding rogue angle grinders), we attempted to leave our them with the hotel, only to find out this was a ‘facility’ they did not have. Instead, they gave us back the key to our room to lock them back in there.  Taking the bags back up again, this time trying not to stand on any loose nails, we locked up and went on the hunt for a little café style place somewhere.

It would appear the area we were in was not a hotspot for people who wanted to eat. After a few minutes and spotting a sign that looked perfect (and then inspecting it to find it hadn’t actually been built yet and people were working inside), we eventually found a little place on the other side of the highway. The gentleman, looking genuinely shocked that we wanted to eat food at lunch time, sat us down on our own, and provided us a bountiful menu. He then came over with a bottle of mineral water, and another bottle of Sprite, in case we were interested. Whilst we said no, eventually the temptation kicked in and I accepted the Sprite. Well, this was just an open invitation to provide us with whatever delicacies they could muster. We made a simple order – tea, an omelette and 3 butter naan’s. Being informed there were no naan’s, we asked for plain roti, and almost instantly we were produced 4 incredibly dry, cold sheets of what may have been a bread at some point. Not being too bothered, I started on one, Diana on the other handed was struggling to chew anything. After a few minutes, two omelettes appeared. Not what we wanted, but no bother, it helped trying to consume the roti’s.

Moments later, we’re offered samosas, he starts frantically pointing at various different dishes on the menu, insisting we had more food. After telling him 4 times we didn’t want anything, he ushered over another man who started pointing at other dishes. Eventually they got the hint, but I still hadn’t got my tea, and actually had to request for it again which, given their desire to provide everything we wanted, seemed surprising.

Eventually we were allowed to leave without eating any more, and headed back to the hotel as we figured we had the key and they weren’t going to clean it anyway, we may as well sit in some comfort. Around 2.30 we head back down stairs with our bags, just missing stripes of wet paint, and await our drop off. After around 10 minutes of waiting, a real car with air conditioning and luxuries like seats turned up outside the hotel to take us to the airport. A fairly uneventful 10 minute journey later, and we’re working out our way around, trying to find out where ‘Air Costa’ check in desks may be in the sea of other well-known airlines. Check in was fairly uneventful, other than the man scanning my luggage asking if there were electronics in there. I replied with ‘Yes, and cables’, and he didn’t really care much, making me wonder why he bothered asking.

Security consisted of me lining up with around 100 other men to set off the metal detectors with no questions asked. Diana got to sneak off to the female only section, where she was finished within 8.5 seconds.

After some standard hanging around at the airport gate, they called our flight number for boarding, although strangely they also boarded another flight at the same gate. Confusing as this was, we soon realised why, as we appeared to be the only people getting the flight. As we sat on the empty coach, unsure why this particular flight was so unpopular, we started having thoughts of perhaps it will just be us on this huge airliner?

 

The Mary Celeste of coaches

Not the case, turns out we think the flight was just stopping in Jaipur as a connection from somewhere else, as it was absolutely packed with people already and everyone was seated apart from us. Not a luxurious private jet after all.

Anyway… Onwards to Jaipur!