I arrived in my 4th and final state for this trip. Chennai will be the biggest city I’ll be spending a lot of time in. The first thing I noticed here was public urination by men all over the place. Along side every road, this is what I see. I walked around for an hour or two trying to find a good place to stay. I found a place that wasn’t full for $4/night. It is kind of like a prison cell though.
I noticed it was more humid here when I got off the train. I’ve been very lucky so far in my trip here since I’ve been enjoying low humidity. Looks like I’ll be sweating a lot more these last two weeks.
I decided to go check out the nearby library and museum. I wasn’t planning on going inside the museum until some foreign guy gave me his ticket. The museum was only open for 45 more minutes, but I gave it a try and got in for free. Saved me $5, but I did have to rush through everything. The exhibit I was looking forward to seeing here was closed, however.
For lunch and dinner I ate at a place that served “meals.” When I got inside, they put a big banana leaf on the table instead of a plate. Then they scoop out various vegetables and put it on the leaf. Then you take rice, put it on the leaf, mix it all together with your hand and eat. I was thinking, it doesn’t get more authentic than this place! It is very filling since they will keep giving you more food if you want. And it tasted great too, all for under $1.
For dinner, one guy who works at the restaurant came up to me and asked if he could stay in my home in America. Being friendly, I said ok. Then he asks for the price of the airline ticket and how much he can get paid there so he can send money back to his family. He wants to do housework in my home and he wanted my phone number and address. This is what you ask me after meeting me one minute ago? He was pretty serious, so it was a little uncomfortable.
I did some research and found a cinema I could walk to that showed a movie in English. The movie was Slumdog Millionaire, filmed right here in India. Most of the dialog was in English and some was in Hindi. I can’t say it was a very fun movie to watch since it showed all the very worst parts about this place. It is nominated for Best Picture Academy Award. Only cost $1.50 to see the movie!