Breeze Hotel Chennai (Madras)

... the day. the ferry took us south through the backwaters; a maze of rivers and canals serving dozens of villages on the way to kollam, all lined with palm and banana trees. occasionally we would pass a flock of a few hundred ducks, either trying to swim against the flow of the river, or nesting on the banks. children rushed to the shores to wave to us, and canoes passed by on occasion, some with huge piles of sand on them, weighing the boats down until the sides were almost level ...

... specialty, but the ones you made at your house still tasted better :D )

Yesterday was National Independence Day in India. I'm not that hot on my history but from what I've gathered, it's basically the day that the Brits left India, which is a big cause for celebration (and made me feel slightly out of place in being involved in the celebrations!!!!) This was a nice affair at the hospital as all the patients are brought out of the wards & a flag is raised, incense is burnt ...

... crowded in it was like being in a sauna! We lasted a few minutes but any longer and we would have all been on the floor! One experience I will never forget was getting an elephant blessing!!!! You hold out food for the elephant which is takes and it then places its trunk on your head. The first time we did this was on the Saturday, we then got the chance at another temple on Sunday, however this time I got a bit more than I was expecting!!.... the ...

... most beautiful guttural noise, like a pig gargling golden syrup. Having bought her I rode out to Babu's mechanic friend with a sizeable selection of parts that needed to be either added or replaced - not least a couple of stonking horns. This was the start of day one at the mechanics. A 12hr day of grease monkey heaven. The mechanic was in his mid twenties and not especially forthcoming (perhaps due to his limited English and my non-existent Tamil ...

... with Ashok and Juti, which was more traditional Indian food. We got to have more na'an which, as always is my favorite. They also showed us their terrace on the top of their house, which was beautiful. There was grass and flowers and a cool shrine to Ganesh, the elephant god, which you pray to for good luck. It looked out over Chennai and was just gorgeous. By then it was 10 o'clock, so they drove us back to the ship. After we got back, Ellie and I decided to go see if we could find ...

... the tools that the workers use have such short handles? Even the brooms have handles that are only 2 feet long. You basically have to bend over to use it, making backbreaking work even more painful. We have seen workers balancing 10 bricks on top of their head climb several flights of stairs, instead of just tying a rope to a bucket and hoisting the bricks up to the roof. Workers also move dirt and sand for major road projects with tiny bowls shaped like woks. Wheels, pulleys, and ...

... stories re o and g (will check it out if I have the guts)... the brits are staying out of town, much quieter where the cmc college is.. we're heading to there's for dinner to check out the accomodation as we've only booked into the current place for 2 days... (med rant below, look out) hmm, also, a kid in a candy store yesterday.. I could buy a massive library of med texts for around $100.. I'm talking Robbins for $30, oxford handbook for $10, guyton and hall for $15... ooooh baby..

... with my name amongst a sea of hundreds of Indians waiting to greet their family. No sooner did I find our names on a sign, my coworker did the same with another person. I know that American names aren't all that common in India, so we picked the one that had our company name on the card as well. We were taken to a tiny looking Tata car, put our bags in the back and got inside. I was really surprised at how much leg room there was ...

... around. No hotel nearby, or we couldn't afford one. So we sat in the airport's domestic area for about 4 hours, before the first shoplets opened. I remember getting a mango juice packet for Suzanna, as her first Indian style drink. At 7 a.m. we could finally board the flight for the final lag of the journey to Bangalore.