Made it!

10:30pm. 9 Jan., 2008

Finally made it! After 24 hours of flying, interspaced with 10 hours total stops in Seoul and Singapore, touched down in Chennai. The trip wasn't as brutal as some of the others, I think mainly due to (here comes the commercial) the Sennheiser 250 noise reduction headphones. They really wipe out the constant ear-and-head numbing rumble. Definitely advise long stretch flyers to get some kind.

Chennai's bigger than before, lots of construction, and even visible changes in some of the old haunts. The Broadlands lodge is a bit more run-down (hard to believe), but the folks are starting to do some white-washing & work on the place. It's full of German speakers, and lots of real long term travellers. The alternative to the Broadlands are hotels with 'rooms off the corridors', as opposed to 'rooms off a maze of balconies'. Plus the Broadlands has the large central open area (with a four story 'holy tree'), so even though on the barren & worn-out aspect (and with price for a 'single' up to 270 Rs (about Can$7.30), it's still the place I prefer.

There has been an arts festival - music and dance - going in the last month, and today was the last day for a performance at the Madras Dance School. It was quite a surprisingly nice auditorium -even cool for most of the two performances - with an even more surprisingly good Bose sound system! The performances were just wonderful - the first was a solo dance story (with a 6 piece band, with 3 traditional singers) about a courtesan in a court in Varanasi - again, just amazing. The performer is one of the top dancers in the country, and just so wonderful to watch (and listen). The second was a group of five performers from Orissa (with a 5 piece 'band'), doing the most amazing dances revolving around religious stories (ending with a stunning dance by two of them representing the male and female aspects of Shiva).

Anyway, it was quite warm today, and is a really pleasant somewhere-in-the-70's evening. Chennai is getting to be quite the big polluted city, but at least the Triplicane area isn't too bad. A bit noisy, though. However, the masala dosa I had for lunch was excellent (the old 'Maharajah Veg restaurant was bought out and expanded, but same kind of food).

I'll try to add some pics later.

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