Chennai and Pondicherry

After all the serene little villages and beach towns we'd frequented in Sri Lanka, it was back to the big smoke, namely, Chennai (which used to be called Madras) in India! As far as arriving in India goes, it must be one of the better cities to do so as it wasn't as traumatic an experience it's made out to be! Luck may have been on our side though as we managed to share a cab into town with some India savvy Brits of Indian origin, our saviours!

Hindu temple

We didn't stay long in Chennai, but we managed to overdose on dosas, became accustomed to drinking chai all the time, and saw the craziest, most colourful wedding procession winding its way through the streets. As well as several hundred men, followed by a hundred or so sari clad women, there was a marching band, a decorated truck, a turbaned man on a decorated horse, and people dressed as animals (like sporting team mascots) dancing amongst everyone! It was such an amazing sight to see, and so different to anything we'd seen before.

We then spent several days in Pondicherry, which was once a French colonial town. It's set by the sea, and apart from the usual Indian mayhem on the streets, there were actually some really nice areas of town, and really beautiful restored houses painted in all different pastel colours. There were several churches and cathedrals dotted around, and some really colourful Hindu temples which we visited. I don't think we'll ever come close to understanding all the different gods and goddesses associated with Hinduism, it's really confusing!