Day 1, Chennai : 18 June 2010

“Make sure you take care of yourself okay?” followed by a pause. Then, “I love you!” Famous last words uttered by many parents upon seeing off their children on overseas trips at the airport. Suddenly, the daunting task of leaving our comfortable homes and our loved ones made us reluctant to check in. However, this was the day everyone prepared for. This was the day that we were finally leaving for India …

In the morning, we all gathered at Changi Airport, with our family. Everyone was very excited as we waited to check in our luggage. Some of our families were insisting that we buy souvenirs home, while others were convincing us that it is not necessary to splurge on gifts.

For some of us, the trip to Chennai on Jet Airways was their first time on the plane. Thus, we were all very excited. For those who had been on the plane, we were still excited as we were taking a plane with our friends.





About 3.5 hours later, we touched down at Chennai Airport whiich is very much smaller than ours. After collecting our luggage, we squeezed our way out of the arrival hall, and received roses from our tour guide, Mr Jaffar. When we exited the airport, we could see that the streets were very chaotic. The traffic noise was alarmingly deafening with every motorist honking as often as the eye could blink. We noticed that the pedestrian crossings, unlike those in Singapore were hardly ever used. As we proceeded to town, we could see many people jaywalking seemingly unafraid of the many cars zooming past. We also saw another type of taxi, known as “auto” or “tuk tuk”, a three-wheeled vehicle.



After a sumptuous lunch which included mutton, chicken, acar, dhal, sambar, rasam, idly, poori, naan, steamed and vegetable rice, we headed to MGR Memorial House which was the official residence of late Dr. MGR, who was India’s beloved actor and Chief minister, for more than two decades.











Subsequently, we walked past a market near the Marina Beach, which is said to be famous for its 23 statues. It is also reputed to be the 2nd longest beach after Miami Beach in Florida. As the bus headed to our next destination, we passed by the area that was badly hit by the December 26th 2004’s tsunami. Many people lost their homes. The makeshift tent-like houses which could only fit one mattress in each were still there and sadly, those who could not afford new homes were living in them. There were also houses made out of straw and leftover materials and they looked very unstable and unhygienic. We saw a couple of kids playing in the dirty water and appreciated the clothes we have and the stable roofs above our heads. Looking at the torn and dirty clothes which covered these children, we are grateful for the comfortable beds and clothes we possess. It embarrassed us to think that we once moaned about how our clothes aren’t of the latest fashion!

Later we stopped by St. Thomas Mount, a Catholic church, which is one of the only three churches in the world that was built over priest remains. We also stopped by the Temple Of Knowledge. This temple was built in the 16th century. Its gates were carved out of a giant block of stone. There were many beautiful statues and admirable craftsmanship. To think that back in their days, where technology was limited, they used only simple tools to hand carve these intricate designs. We had to remove our shoes before entering the temple as a form of respect. The stone ground was warm and according to our tour guide, many people just walked around the temple premises as a form of foot reflexology.

After the visit to the temple, we headed to have tea at a local coffee shop, as dinner would be very late at night. We had copious cups of creamy coffee and masala tea which tasted delicious with vadeh and vegetable samosas. Mdm Juhariah had two cups of coffee and one cup of tea. When questioned about her dire thirst, she defended herself by insisting they were “super tiny” cups (Mrs Lim who had two super tiny cups also agreed!!), and everyone else sighed, “Yeah right!”

We traveled to Chennai Airport to catch our flight to Coimbatore. Some of the girls needed a toilet break, and took our own sweet time in the bathroom. Mrs. Lim realized we lost track of time and rushed us past the security checks to the boarding gate. The staff was panicking as most of the passengers had not checked in. We later realized that we occupied three quarters of the plane! We reached Coimbatore and as we disembarked from the plane cool air met us. The airport was so deserted that we were the only ones there. After collecting our luggage, we boarded a bus, and were introduced to a new tour guide, Mr. Sanjay.

We checked in at CAG Pride Hotel, had a quick dinner and went to our rooms which were very nice and spacious. We bathed, washed up and went to sleep …