Days 2: Chennai

Chennai used to be the main entry point to South India a few years back. Now, as Bangalore has become the Silicon Valley 2, and Kerala tourism has exploded, there are other entry points. However, even though most of my family no longer is there, we still came to Chennai for two reasons: (1) To see an old family friends who had successfully completed 13 chemo treatments for lymphoma and (2) To go to my father's side's family temple, Vitheeshwaran Koil.

We woke up Wedsnesday morning and had the most fabulous breakfast at the hotel. I have to say, I love the juice in India! They actually grind up real, fresh fruits. And watermelon juice is such a special treat that I've never been able to have anywhere else. Nestle also makes this totally awesome mango yoghurt. I wish it were available in the U.S. too. We decided to use the day to visit friends and shop. We headed out to my dad's collegemate's factory where he set us up with water, coffee, soda and a personal driver to take us around all day. We saw our family friend, and then she took us shopping in T Nagar and Mylapore.

In T-Nagar, we went to Varsidhi, where I ended up buying 3 saris... and they were not cheap... not even by indian standards! But they were absolutely gorgeous! Don't buy from the website unless you have to.. the actual store prices things in rupees. We went to Mylapore to buy some jewellery for a girl that is a Bharata Natyam dancer. After that, we went back to the hotel, slept a bit, and then had dinner at Navaratna, in the Le Meridian. We went to bed... we had to wake up so early to go to Vitheeshwaran in the morning.