World Cruise - Day 82 - Apr 3 - Chennai, India

Got up early this morning due to the clocks being turned back another ½ hour (yes, 30 minutes, not an hour—India is 30 minutes earlier/later than the countries around it).  Nice sunrise:

We had fun watching the local fishermen as we approached the port.  Especially how they are dressed:

I’m pretty sure the guy driving the boat is wearing underwear (or a Speedo, but I don’t think Speedos are very common here in India) and the other guy is wearing a diaper.  Well, it’s not really a diaper, it’s actually a cloth wrap that a lot of guys wear in India (that looks like a diaper).

I took this pic of this boat because it looked a little bit like Thomas the Train:

There were all sorts of fishing boats coming by our ship.  I don’t think many cruise ships come to port here.  Note guy #2 from the right in the right boat is also wearing a diaper.  Actually, maybe they’re all wearing a diaper, can’t really tell:

Chennai is on the east coast of India near the southern part of India on the Bay of Bengal (the part of the Indian Ocean that separates India from the Malay Peninsula).  I’ve been here many times in my work, both for Keane and several times for Amazon (Amazon has one of its three major India offices located here, including a lot of the Kindle work being done here in Chennai).

There is a definite smell to India.  At first I was wondering if it was the smell of burning wood, but then I remembered that it’s actually the smog from the cars, since they still use leaded gas.  For those of us in countries that banned leaded gas many years ago, be glad, be very, very glad.  Think Los Angeles in the 1960s and you get the general idea.  Lots of cars, scooters, taxi rickshaws, all burning leaded gas.  India smells like India.  Interesting how I can remember the distinct India smell from past trips.  We could smell it even before we got into the port, so it must just hang out over the water into the bay.

This world cruise has more complicated going ashore procedures due to the visa requirements of most countries.  We have had three Indian immigration officers onboard for the past three days, boarding in Phuket.  Each of the last two days we have had passenger immigration meetings with these officers, every passenger had to present themselves face-to-face to the immigration officials for review of our passports and Indian visas.  Before we left, we had to get both the India and China visas in advance through the respective embassies.  We used a visa processing company (ZVS) to get them for us, since we were limited in time between our last cruise (where we connected the Venice to Fort Lauderdale portion, making this a true full world cruise for us) and the world cruise (only 30 days).  Some countries do not require a visa, others we can just purchase through the ship while onboard.  Most countries require an immigration form regardless of whether or not they require a visa, so there is usually paperwork to be completed for each country before going ashore.  India’s visa and immigration procedure is one of the most detailed and complex.  I already had a 10-year business visa from my travels here with Amazon, so I only needed to get Krissie a tourist visa before our trip.

Just got back from touring around Chennai.  Here are some of our pics (I will post more tomorrow):

After we got off the ship in the morning, this was the first time I had seen this banner on the side of our ship:

I guess that will scare away those pirates!  Word is that they have a sonic blaster that will burst the eardrums of any nasty pirates that get too close.  So they can still use their grappling hooks to board us, but they’ll be deaf so they won’t be able to hear us scream.

There was a patch of fire ants creeping up through the concrete at the port.  So I, of course, had to agitate them to see how many there were.  This is how many:

Very common scene in India is the person sweeping with the very inefficient broom.  Note also the guy with the diaper on the left.

After we got outside the port, there were several auto rickshaw drivers hawking us for a ride during the day, even though we already had a tour booked:

As we drove to our first stop, we drove by The Ice House, which is where they brought huge blocks of ice in the early days before air conditioning to cool the Brits who were stationed here.  Apparently they even brought ice blocks from as far away as the Great Lakes in the US:

Statue of Gandhi along Marine Drive at the beach:

The beach in Chennai is one of the longest in the world.  Indians do not normally go to the beach to swim and when they do go into the water, it is usually fully clothed.  However, the area on the sand is a happening place near sunset, when everyone is done working and they come out to enjoy the relatively cooler weather of the early evening:

Apparently this is a statue of a bull and an elephant, not sure what they are doing, but I think the elephant is winning:

We then drove down the fisherman’s row area near the beach:

Lots of shanties both on the beach and just back from the beach where people lived and slept:

There were women out doing wash on the sidewalk, note the goats in the background eating trash:

Typical shanty where the fishermen and their families live on the beach:

Vendor selling coconuts along the fisherman’s village:

This guy (center) was sensible enough to wear shorts under his diaper:

Shanty area just back from the beach:

These huts were made out of sticks, I took the pic to also get the little girl in the photo:

Local Hindu temple.  Small temples like this are a pretty common site:

Girl riding the scooter side saddle, since she is wearing a sari:

Typical traffic congestion in the morning:

Women on the street with their brightly colored saris:

Do you see the two cows in this pic?  One is black, one is brown.  Look center bottom, near the corner of the intersection:

Our minibus had one guy driving (they sit on the right, drive on the left side of the road) and another guy riding shotgun who would put out his hand whenever they were turning left to let any scooter people know that we were turning:

Four to a scooter:

We saw a lot of people with these markings on their head.  Today is a Hindu holiday, so a lot of people got these markings, similar to what Catholics do on Palm Sunday, but horizontal across the entire forehead:

We went to a school for dance, but they weren’t open due to exams taking place, but we did get a pic with a couple of the students and Krissie:

Another guy with the markings on his head selling vegetables along the road:

Just thought this roof decoration (related to Hinduism) was interesting:

Another sidesaddle scooter person, with purse in tow:

The scooters move in and out of traffic, but typically stay to the left:

I think he meant to say “Stay back, don’t touch me”?

This guy was apparently a priest who was dressing (with clothes) the Hindu gods of this neighborhood mini temple:

View of a local bus, note that almost everyone is male that we see on the streets (about 80%):

Inside the church of St. Thomas the Apostle, who, according to legend, died here in Chennai after preaching in India for about 20 years:

Typical squatter toilet.  Note the foot grip area.  And no toilet paper, only a faucet.  Use your imagination.

This is a sign of one of the politicians, who used to be a movie actress.  Apparently she was put in prison for corruption, but is back out now and running again:

Several women in the median waiting to cross the street, which is pretty much like the game of Frogger:

Like other parts of Asia, the scooters far outnumber the cars:

Apparently they sell Ferrari, Porsche and Lexus here, although we didn’t see any of these brands on the street:

This is the local Indian restaurant where we went for lunch.  Note how there are seven different small dishes of food and rice, noodles and bread in the middle of the platter:

I have more pics to post, but will wait until tomorrow’s blog entry to post them.

The entertainment tonight was Whyte Brothers, who did a Beatles tribute the other night.  Tonight they sang songs from the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, The Monkees and others:

Tomorrow is sea day #1 of 3 on our way to Mumbai, India.