Arrival in India

Upon arrival and checking our visas, everything goes quickly. Many taxi drivers are already waiting outside the airport. One of them takes us to our hotel for 600 Rupees... about 10 francs for about a 30-minute drive... On the way, our hearts skip a beat several times. For Indians, blinkers, traffic lights, or road lines have no meaning. The one who honks the loudest has the right of way, otherwise, the one with the bigger balls and brakes last gets ahead fastest. A chaotic mix of buses, cars, mopeds, tuk-tuks, and pedestrians. From the window, I spot a pig on one of the garbage piles, and everywhere you can see men peeing on every street corner.

The taxi driver drops us off one street before the hotel. We have to cross a flooded street and pass through garbage piles to get to the hotel. The reception looks promising and clean. While checking in, we realize that there is no specific check-in and check-out time. We entered at 7:00, so we have to leave at 7:00 again!

Although the lobby seemed promising, our room brings us back to reality. The walls are painted in about 10 shades of white... or dirty. The bed sheets don't look any better, and the door is speckled with dirt. There is no toilet paper... Sigh... Learned something once again, when Indians write in booking reviews that it was clean, it doesn't mean European standard. After a short nap in our sleeping bags, we take a taxi to go to the shopping center to get something to eat and buy a SIM card. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a SIM card as we have no contact in India. The whole trip was in vain... It's pouring rain outside now... We try to get a taxi, but a man tells us we have to order one. Easier said than done without a SIM card... The only option is a tuk-tuk. We're already inside when the driver says it costs 15 francs. The way there cost 2 francs, because it's so difficult to get through all the flooded streets. That's too much for us, so we retreat back to the safety of the shopping center. I approach a group of young Indians and they promptly order a taxi for us. I'm surprised by how helpful they are and especially by how good their English is.

Back at the hotel, while doing some research, we realize that it will rain more or less continuously every day. So after much consideration, we decide to fly to Goa in the dry west of India. It's not how I imagined it! We spend the next day in the hotel playing UNO and eating sandwiches that we bought in Dubai. We book a hotel for 50 francs per night in Anjuna and hope for clean beds.

Of course, I can't forget to mention that I am infuriating myself because I had the wrong information about the weather in Chennai.