Himm What to do in Chennai?

Many people told me beforehand “There is not much to see in Chennai, 3 days is way too much”.

I was welcomed well in “my new Chennai residence: trainees house" thanks to Malvika, AIESEC Chennai VP ICX, who arranged the place and Lakshiminan, a newbie who picked me up from the train station on my way from Mysore.

 Silvia & Vishant trying to find the "famous" fort & St. Mary's Church in the Fort

After having a proper rest in the legendary Shenoy Nagar trainee house, I saw Silvia, the brand-new Brazilian trainee just arrived all the way from Santa Maria and Vishant, a new AIESEC member who had picked her up from the airport. I was glad to find my travel companions and very persistent that I would “discover” the hidden gems of Chennai with them. However I was wrong...


With my insistence to tick all the “to-do’s” on Lonely Planet, we went to Fort St. George, been inside the church and sat by the famous (and obviously one of the SEA’s biggest) Marina Beach for more an hour talking about the craziest things we had tried so far and we could potentially try in the future.

Adyar Bridge famous in Bwood Movies & Happy Indian Family at the Marina Beach

Following a long bargain with 4-5 rickshaw drivers (in Chennai they are crazy arrogant & spoilt), we got back home and my Chennai discovery trip was over in ½ day already.


In the evening, with the Brazilian gang Ingrid, Luisa, Silvia, Felipe and Taiwanese Bryant, we chilled & listened to Turkish Brazilian music, had our “student/trainee dinner with eggs” and Nutella :) I was already ready to head to some other places and decided to go to Mahabalipuram on the next morning. 

Silvia end of the day - after her 24hr trip 

Ozet

Bes Satirla.. 

2.5 hafta once basladigim yolculukta hersey planladigim gibi gidiyor. 6. duraktayim ve gittigim her yerde ya bir arkadas ya da onceden ayarladigim kucuk otellerde kaliyorum. Tezimde sorun yok. Haydarabad ve Bangalor’da bir kac dernekle gorustum, diger sehirlerde de gorusme ayarladim. Sagligim yerinde. Hemen hemen herseyi yiyorum cok aci olmadigi surece. Hava sicak; hem de cok sicak. 6 gun sonra Tayland'a geciyorum. Eski ev arkadasim Secil de yanima geliyor, onunla beraber once Bangkok sonra Kuzey Tayland tarafina gidiyoruz.


Arada yine Turkce yazmaya calisacagim..

So far..

Time to summarize.. 
OK - and soooo I arrived more than 2 weeks ago.

What happened? 

I had been to Mumbai, Hyderabad, Hampi, Bangalore, Mysore and now in Chennai. 

What is next? 

Chennai & around, Calcutta and then Thailand to meet with Secil & Utku.

All is going well so far, no big sign of any disease, no stomach problem, no sickness. Quite decent places to stay. Relaxing in Mumbai, crazy Hyderabad, Holi & temples in Hampi, good old friends in Bangalore, new cool people of Mysore, curious of what to come next.

Weather is alright, still bearable. Unlike the warnings, Chennai seems to be bearable too. 

Having difficulties to catch up with the blog as I started getting used to the train trips and I prefer sleeping on the trains rather than writing :) but will still do my best. I am trying to write whenever I can write. Eventhough I sometimes feel like I am writing only for myself.

That is all for now, 3 months to go. Stay tuned. Peace. 

My Home in Mysore :)

I had a really good choice by arranging this place in advance. Stephen, a Brit from Yorkshire, decided to move to Mysore 2 years ago after coming here for 6 years in a row. He obviously loved the place, met with great people and decided to open his B&B in one of the “suburb” neighborhoods of Mysore.


When I first entered, a pleasant atmosphere greeted me with Steve's nice music, Manjula (care taker)’s sweet chai and Lucy’s  (the dog) special attention to my feet :) I had connection, tough but a comfy bed, a fan and a rooftop. What else did I need?

We, enjoying our dinner on a rooftop resto  & Me, enjoying my book on the rooftop of the guesthouse

Ah, I also met with Tina, a German girl who had just arrived to Mysore to stay in an Ashram in Bangalore. The best of backpacking alone is the people you get to meet like her. I wasn’t so lucky in Hampi however my luck turned down here and there was Tina. Having arrived ½ hr later than me to Stephen’s place, I was happy to find my travel companion in Mysore. It was also good that we had the similar tastes so it was never an issue to find what to do or where to go.

Tina Shopping & Bargaining 

Stephen has not only been the owner of our guesthouse but also our guide, he accompanied us to Srirangapatna, the restaurants, the palace last day, almost everywhere we went. 


I couldn’t stop laughing as he was the copy of my previous manager Paul. Whenever he talked, I was giggling as I was watching my bloody old Geordie boss. 


Anyways with the house, the service, the places we went, Tina & I had a quite good treatment in Mysore thanks to Stephen & Manjula & Vasanth.

My last evening I said bye to all of them as Tina decided to stay for a couple of days more.. and I was on my way to Chennai..  

Our last pose in front of Mysore Palace

Mysore, Historical Centre of India

Maybe it’s my ignorance but I haven’t heard about Mysore until I was checking places to go in India. Mysore was the capital of Vijayanagara Empire/ Kingdom of Mysore/ Tipu Sultan for more than 300 years and carried a quite important role until the state capital had been changed to Bangalore in 1831.

Mysore Palace by day & night

The Kingdom of Mysore was ruled from here, then the area has been the capital of Tipu Sultan empire until the British took over and put the Maharaja back in control in 1804. There has been 4 major wars in this area.From the obvious English to French, from Nizam army (who ruled in Hyderabad) to Swiss armies there were many different nations attended the wars on the Mysore fields.

Local Market in Mysore

Mysore, itself, can be considered as a big city, at least bigger than what I had expected. It has a population of one million and planned to expand with the new high speed train constructed to Bangalore.

Chamundashvari Temple & Sunset at Chamundi Hill 

Local market, Mysore Palace, Chamundashvari Temple, Chamundi Hill are the most important landmarks of the city. 3 out of 4 days I was in the city, Tina (my German backpacker friend) and I were walking around the market looking for a shalwar kameez :) or some random stuff to buy. Mysore had really good options no doubt however as I still had a long way to go, I preferred not to buy anything. 

 Around Srirangapatna kids & Ox-cart Makers

On my last day, on Sunday morning, we decided to see around Mysore and head to Srirangapatna which is around 19 km away from Mysore city. Of course our dearest host Stephen has joined us.

A religious ceremony by Kaveri river & Monkeys welcoming us 

Srirangapatna, a small island surrounded by Kaveri river had been the capital of Tipu Sultan Empire as it had a more defendable situation. There was the fort, the palace, the mosque, the temples, all the possible touristic attractions however the village/city has been preserved quite well. I was not able to see any touristical resort or big hotels but locals only.

One of the most interesting I had experienced in India so far was the Bathing Ghats by Kaveri. Locals come and spend their Sundays to wash their clothes and themselves after a weekend in one of the temples nearby. Then you can be a part of the daily life of Hindus, you can see followers praying in their spiritual ceremony Pujas, or wash themselves in Kaveri or healing “patients” who suffer from various diseases including strokes.

Life by the Water around Kaveri River

I was not allowed to take pictures of the religious ceremonies or the healing process however in the 2 months i spent in India -in total- this was the time that I felt closest to the local/rural Indians. 

Friends, Re-unions, Catching Ups in B'lore

Even if Bangalore is not known to be the most exciting place in India, I had a really good, short but quality time thanks to my old friend Aakash and his wife Babitha.

 Aakash in Lalbagh Botanical Gardens & Celebrating His Birthday in his office 

Aakash who used to live in Istanbul for 1.5 years working for Microsoft, I met with him back in 2003. I have not seen him since he left Istanbul even if he came back twice with Babitha. They were my dear hosts during my three day trip in Bangalore, I had my own luxurious room with a private bathroom and had a quite good access to city’s landmarks (+malls).

First night, they took me out for a place called TOIT which is known for its own brewed beer.

Second night I was out with Shashaank, who was the AIESEC Microsoft coordinator in Belgium back in 2007. I wasn’t aware that he was living in Bangalore until he got in contact with me on facebook. Our meeting point was this Fireflies place, a quite posh one, closeby the center of MG Road.

I liked talking to him about Indian music, Best songs of A R Rahman, Bollywood movies, arranged marriages, his brother’s marriage, Bangalore life, next steps etc etc. He gave a full list of Indian movies to watch and Indian music to listen to.

I really appreciate talking with Indian friends and try to understand their taste, their beliefs, their perspectives because in a diversified, old and crowded country like in India, most of the time you do not know what to expect from whom.

Third day even if we decided to meet up with Pallavi whom I met in Hampi, she had to work so I ended up spending my last night at home planning the remaining part of my SEA trip and chatting with Babitha & Aakash.

From the very first time I arrived in Bangalore until the very last time I left for Mysore, Aakash had been a great host, even in the last morning we went for a  South India type of Breakfast where we had nice idlis with chutneys and Masala dosa.

Breakfast with Masala Dosa & Idlis with Aakash

I thought from the beginning I was not going to get along well with the Indian food but on the contrary, there was so much “yumminess” that I had eaten so far and yet to be discovered.. and my Bangalore trip had surely helped me with it!

Grass is greener in Bangalore..

After lively but hectic Mumbai and colourful but “traficky” Hyderabad, Bangalore by far seemed to be the calmest “big city” I had seen in India so far. It reminded me of my dear "Kadikoy" part of Istanbul or Ankara. 

Lalbagh Botanical Gardens with one of the oldest trees

The city was green first of all, there were parks all around and spaces to rest & breathe wherever you go. And it was modern especially due to the change new big IT parks and young well educated generation brought. The city has changed rapidly in the last 10-15 years and shifted its image from the “pensioner’s city” to “young dynamic cosmopolite”.

Bangalore Palace & Cubbon Park

Compared to many other Indian cities, its history was not very long though. Historically having been the second biggest city in Karnataka region, the city had gained its importance after being the capital of Kingdom of Mysore in 1831. There is the Bangalore palace, built in 1887 the palace became the new residence of the Maharaja. There are many parks and some trendy streets, ie MG Road, Brigade Road to explore throughout the city.

Famous Windsor's Pub with young local businessmen

For me the best part was going to the local places that my friends Aakash & Babitha suggested, Windsor’s Pub where only local business guys hang out, Blossom, a great bookshop where you would find books about anything, Koshy’s a timeless restaurant where you lose the sense of time.. And there were the malls. Many many of them.

Blossom, an eccentric bookshop with zillions of books & Koshy's, a local resto where the time stopped

In the search for a bikini for my Chennai/Thailand trip, i spent almost a full day killing time in different malls and it was good also to take a breath, take some notes, read & watch the people around. I have to admit that I almost didn't feel like i was in a different city or country when i was walking in Bangalore streets.