Chennai

The Raintree Hotel 

What a city this is - right on the Bay of Bengal with a new metro rail system being constructed that should be complete in 2 years. I took a motor rickshaw to the beach, got some great video of the city from the rickshaw, and wow is it loud with horns honking constantly to communicate with other drivers and pedestrians - there are no street lines, hardly any lights and pedestrians everywhere and everyone's driving on the wrong side of the road - LOL! You have to be a special kind of driver to drive in this country!

Vijay - My rickshaw driver for the day 

I ate lunch at a great thai food restaurant and am so glad I had so many hot chilies in my garden this past summer - because it has helped prepare me for this trip - Indian chilies put all other ones to shame and the lemongrass soup I ordered left me in tears! I fell asleep at 7 pm as i had been up since 4 am and still trying to get my circadian rhythm back in order....but now its 3am and I'm wide awake!!!!!! But it's a nice time to be awake, everything is so quite and peaceful - I will get footage of the sunrise this morning from the rooftop terrace and will be meeting the rest of the group at noon to head to Mahabalipuram!

On the beach of Chennai - 2nd biggest in the world