Chennai

"Chennai is a city of contrasts, a city of tradition and modernity, a city of the sea and the sun."

- A.R. Rahman

Arrived at Chennai late and very wet first impression from the airport was it appeared very organised and clean. The tour rep was there to greet me which made me at easy. As mentioned previously only those flying in the next 90 minutes and those arriving are allowed in airport but at Chennai only approve government cars and electric buggy are allowed to the door makes transfer so much cleaner the buggy are running continuously which makes a quick transition to the car waiting area which is also moves quickly Chennai Aldo has a metro at the airport. The drive in to the hotel was good roads are good and not the congestion I’ve seen else where even in the heavy rain.

The hotel was a palace very grand the room was very regal with a view of the ocean .

The other guests were to arrive the next day which was when I discovered there would only be 3 guests counting me making a group tour very private tour not sure if the sums add up. We had a small 5 seater bus with aircraft type seats so plenty of room.

The sights of interest were Saint Thomas basilica built in 1523 by the Portuguese, Hindu Kapaleeshwarar Temple, the government museum where they had a great bronze statue collection . The hotel had many rows of antique furniture what I found interesting they were all roped so you couldn’t sit on them with signs to say they were fragile artefacts strange.