Socks and Pepsi

After all that I've written on my blog so far, there aren't any pictures of Pepsi and Socks so it's time to give them their moment of fame. I took these pictures of Socks the same time I was out photographing cows and I think the last one is a great picture, as you can see the reflection of the pool in the window. Most of the pictures I have of Pepsi are of her sleeping on the sofa or rolling around on her back with her paws in the air (not very flattering). Anyway, I've chosen two of her - one laid on the armchair and the other in the wardrobe. Since she was a kitten she has always been fascinated with wardrobes and loves sleeping in them. So here she is relaxing in my mum's wardrobe.

How Now Black Cow?

As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, we have a lot of cows around our house (well you see them everywhere all over Chennai). Anyway I saw them grazing outside the front of our gate this morning and I asked my mum to come with me so I could take some photos of them. As my camera isn't great we had to get in really close to get a decent picture ... one of them (the third photo on here) was NOT impressed with us being so close to him and kept a watchful eye on us the whole time. Sorry it's not a great photo - he's sat under the bush! The other cow (second photo) was a bit more friendly and we were very close to him when this photo was taken. I was trying to get a photo of one with a bird on his back, but everytime I got close the bird flew away ... shame - it would have made a great photo!

I asked one of my Indian friends about all the cows all over Chennai as they are everywhere: on the sides of the roads, grazing by the beach, all over the place. She told me that the cows all belong to people - and everyone knows which cow belongs to which person - but the cows are allowed to graze wherever they want to. I wonder how people keep track of where their cows are! Anyway, hope you liked the photos!

Out and About in Chennai

I have a few pictures that I've taken while out and about in India so I don't really have a blog to put with it. I'll just tell you what the pictures are:
There are a couple of pictures I've taken while driving along the ECR in a rick (the shops, fruit stall and newspaper stand (it's just behind the yellow pillar)). There's a picture of my mum on Breezy Beach (two minutes walk from our house).

5 Star: The Ultimate Corner Shop

The other day we went out to the ECR (East Coast Road), which is a ten-minute walk from our house. The ECR is the main road that runs all the way into town. In our section of it (Kottivakkam area) there are a couple of little supermarkets that my mum and I frequently visit – ‘Five Stars’ and ‘Spencer’s Daily’ so we are off to do a spot of grocery shopping. I am taking my camera in the hope that I can get a picture of our supermarket so you can see what it’s like. The other day when we were in ‘Five Stars’ I saw a sign that said ‘Basement Shop downstairs’ so my mum and I went to have a look. Underneath the supermarket, they have a section with toys, crockery, kitchenware and little knick-knacks (most of them are hideous looking) but they do have some interesting stuff.

The guys who work in Five Star are really helpful and are always keen for you to try out different things, asking if we want to try gatorade, brown sweet bread and all sorts of other products. The other fab thing about them is I can ring them up from home and tell them I need milk and bread and within 10 minutes it will be delivered. Perfect for lazy people (like me!)

Akasaka

This evening we went out to Akasaka - a Japanese restaurant. My mum and I were late leaving the house as were trying to entice the cats to come back inside. They have started hunting and exploring out in the front garden. It's fine when we're at home and can keep an eye on them but we can't lock them out because of all the dogs and cows! We have lots of both all around the area where we live.

Anyway, we left the house and started walking to the ECR to get an autorick and Penri phoned to say he was just approaching the restaurant (as he went straight from work). My mum and I were having no luck in finding an autorick and then all of a sudden a white car pulled up and asked if we wanted a taxi. We were really happy to get in (even though it cost more) as it had air conditioning! Something of a novelty when we're out and about.

We got to the restaurant and were taken to into one of the segregated rooms that each table had. Penri was already there and onto his second sake and seemed to be enjoying it. I tried it but didn't like it ... it was too strong! My mum and Penri ordered a fillet steak dish with all the extras (rice, veg etc). I ordered a selection of veggie dishes including cheese wontons (which were delicious), deep fried vegetables and fried eggplant. It was all really nice. I've kind of gone veggie since moving here. If you saw the chickens that were for sale you'd see why - the look more like budgies! Most of the restaurants/shops don't sell pork or beef and although you can get chicken and fish it just doesn't appeal to me.

Anyway, the meal was lovely and we even brought all the left over fillet steak for Pepsi and Socks who were very chuffed with their unusally expensive dinner.

Akasaka in Tiruvanmiyur(?) - Penri's capsule review: good but expensive.

Overseas Womens' Club

Yesterday, I joined the OWC (Overseas Women’s Club). My mum and I went to their monthly get together at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel. It was really nice and we met loads of lovely people. They have all kinds of events on a weekly basis, such as book readings, Mah-jong, children’s playgroup etc. Those of you who know me well will probably laugh at the next thing … I have joined the Cookery Club! Once a month they get together and learn how to make something. The first one is in September and it’s being held at the Marriott and we are being taught a recipe by the chef there. After that it will be held at people’s houses and each person teaches the rest of the ladies how to make a dish. Sounds fun – I’m not worried at all! :-} Penri suggested I teach them how to make beans on toast, as it’s one of the few things I can make! J

I also joined the Children’s Committee. They organise events for children, such as Halloween Arts and Crafts, Trick or Treating, a Christmas party etc. This really sounds like my kind of thing. I miss teaching and this means I get to help out and be creative!

We are going to join the British Club as well. They are meeting on Friday 25th for a Bingo evening. I suggested this to Penri, thinking he would never go for it, but he surprised me by saying ‘sounds like fun’, so we’re going and really looking forward to it.

So things are definitely looking up … I am meeting more and more people, making some friends, finding great places to go and things to do and best of all, I have a piano.

Water and Electricity

Another thing about India, which I haven’t really talked too much about … power cuts and water shortages!! Anyone who has lived in a country like this will know what I am talking about. The night before last, the power went off at 2 a.m. and our bedroom was absolutely sweltering hot. I didn’t wake up but Penri woke me up and told me to go downstairs as the air conditioners were working in the lounge. That is the bizarre thing about power cuts here … there doesn’t seem to be any logic with the circuits in the house. For example, one time we had a power cut where the left side of the house cut out (including only one of the two ACs in the lounge), another time it was the upstairs only and then last night in our bedroom the AC went off, but our lights were working and downstairs the ACs were working but the lights weren’t. It’s very bizarre and makes no sense whatsoever. Anyway, Penri went to sleep on the sofa and I slept on the daybed, which would have been ok except Penri left all the light switches on in the lounge, so when the power came back on at 4 a.m. it lit up like Blackpool Illuminations! So we woke up again and went back upstairs! What a night!
The water is another story all together. Sometimes one tap will stop working and the rest are ok and other times all the water will run out. This happened the other day. My mum and I had been moving some furniture around in the house (in fact up and down our spiral staircase) including carrying a sun lounger from the second floor to the ground floor and moving tables, chairs and a big wooden blanket chest. When we finished we both collapsed and I suggested going for a swim, so we did. We came back in and I went straight upstairs for a shower while my mum was faffing around in the kitchen. I put my shampoo on my hair and went to turn the water from the tap to the shower so I could wash it out and the water stopped completely. So, I grabbed my towel and went into my mum’s bathroom and turned her taps on in the shower ... nothing! I picked up my towel again and went downstairs to the kitchen. I asked my mum to fill up a bowl from the kitchen tap so I could rinse my hair out and guess what … no water! I didn’t know what to do – the only person who could fix the water was Bala (our security guard) who had gone out on his bike to the shops. I was absolutely covered in shampoo by now and it was dripping everywhere. My mum said ‘Well, you’ll have to jump in the pool!’ After running through all the options in my head, I figured this was the best one, so I put my swimsuit back on and jumped back in the pool to rinse my hair out. Bala came back 20 minutes later and fixed the water for us.

Piano

Yesterday (Wednesday 16^th) I phoned the music shop (again) to enquire about hiring a piano and the man said ‘Yes, I have one in stock for hire’. I couldn’t believe it – I have been ringing there twice a week for the last five weeks and he didn’t even think to ring me and say he had a piano. So, I hung up the phone in shock and said to my mum the guy said he has a piano. She said ‘Let’s go see it now’ – this was at 5 o’clock so we phoned the music shop again and they said they close at 8 so off we went. We got into a rick that looked like it would collapse at any moment … there was a hole in the back (where the window should be), the seat was not attached to the car and the driver was a lunatic! But, with the piano in mind and no other ricks about (due to rush hour) we got in. During the trip to Anna Salai (or Mount Road), which was about a half an hour drive we kept hearing this noise ‘beep, beep, beep, beep’ and I said to my mum ‘what is that?’ She told me it was his speedometer telling him he was driving over the speed limit … that’s how crazy his driving was! When we got out at the music shop both my mum and I both felt dizzy! We had a look at the upright piano, it was really nice, but it wasn’t a proper piano … let me explain – they had taken all the hammers and strings out and made it a digital piano using the actual piano keys. It’s really quite cool and I liked playing it so we signed a contract there and then! On the way home (in the same rick) I saw a sight that I have never seen before (and will probably never see again). There was a motorbike driving on the left of us with two men on it and in between them was a goat – I ‘kid’ you not (geddit?!) – bleating away and obviously not very happy. He was squashed in between the two blokes with his two front legs over one side of the seat and two back legs over the other. I felt so sorry for him! When my mum and I kept looking at them, well more like staring, the driver of the motorbike was laughing and smiling at us. Only in India! Can you imagine driving a motorbike down the M4 with a goat on the back?

City Centre Shopping

On our anniversary Penri and I went out for the day. We started off at Santhome Cathedral. It is one of only three churches in the world where a saint was purported to have been buried (St Thomas or Doubting Thomas). It is a lovely cathedral and there is a museum at the back with relics and information about St Thomas. Very interesting and well worth visiting. From the Cathedral we went to Spencer’s Plaza (shopping mall) and then on to the Park Hotel for a meal. It was a lovely day!

Speaking of shopping, my mum and I took a trip to the City Centre Shopping Mall - the one I have heard so much about but hadn’t managed to get to. This trip is a perfect example of what I was saying before about rick drivers. We agreed before we got into the rick on 80 rupees; in fact we didn’t even negotiate with the driver – he said 80 and we said ok. He took us there down all these back roads and we had no idea where we were going – he was a bit of a crazy driver, weaving in and out between the traffic. When we got there he said ‘Very far, madam, 150 rupees’. We couldn’t believe his cheek – he obviously knew exactly where he was going and he is the one who set the price!! It was obviously a fair price though as coming back we paid the other rick driver 80 rupees. Arriving at City Centre, from the outside it didn’t look very promising. The building didn’t seem to be complete and there didn’t seem to be anyone around. I kept saying to my mum ‘Are you sure we’re in the right place?’ We walked around the corner and saw the main entrance and quite a few people. So, off we went. The shops, although there were only two good ones, were massive and spanning over three floors! We spent a couple of hours in ‘Lifestyle’ and had a very strong cappuccino in the café there, which we got free with the cookies we had bought in the shop. The shop had everything from clothes to toys to household items. From there we went to ‘Landmark’ (the other big shop), which had the best bookshop I have seen in Chennai. It was on par with Waterstones and had such an amazing selection that we spent over an hour in just the book section. Other things they had were a good selection of CDs and DVDs and a stationery section. In total we were shopping around City Centre for five hours!! I’d definitely go there again.

Anna Zoological Park

As I mentioned in one of my last blogs, one Saturday we decided to go to the zoo. So Penri, my mum and I walked to the main road to get an autorick (still our most frequent way of travel) and hailed one. Penri did all the negotiating, as he is much better at it than either my mum or myself. When they agreed on the price we got in the rick and set off. With the autoricks, you must always set the price before you start on your journey otherwise you get to your destination and they will completely rip you off. It happens so often that you agree on a price with a rick driver and when you get to the other end they say ‘very far madam, very far, more money’ and my response is always ‘no, we agreed on the price and you knew where you were going’. Nine times out of ten, they will try and get more money out of you. Anyway, back to my story. Here we are, the three of us in a rick heading to the zoo. We got there and it wasn’t the zoo at all, it was Guindy National Park. Penri then had to argue with the driver that this wasn’t the zoo – this was a park and we wanted to see animals. The driver then realised where we meant and said ‘Ah, zoological park … very far’. We agreed on a price (after Penri haggled with him for a while) and set off again. We drove and drove and drove, out past Chennai airport and kept driving. After an hour Penri said ‘I can’t believe I battled with him over the price; it can’t be much further’. But we kept on driving. It didn’t help that this rick wasn’t particularly fast and we seemed to be chugging along at about 40 miles an hour! We arrived at Anna Zoological Park after an hour and 40 minutes in the rick! So, in we went, telling the driver we would be a couple of hours. Inside the zoo we bought our tickets and had a look at the map. There were several different routes to take depending on how far you wanted to walk. Bearing in mind it was scorching hot and we’d just sat in a rick for an hour and a half (on plastic seats), we chose the shortest route (2 ½ miles). Off we went. We must have walked for about 15 minutes before we even saw an animal and even then, the enclosures were so large and shaded that you couldn’t see a lot of the animals. So after walking for two and a half hours we only saw about seven or eight animals. As we were walking around we saw a lot of school trips (must have been at least ten) and with every single one that passed us they stopped to talk to us and asked us our names and where we were from. My mum told two little girls that her name was Lakshmi (a typical Indian name) and they went running back to the teacher saying ‘Her name’s Lakshmi, her name’s Lakshmi’ – they were so cute! As we were walking back to the exit, we saw these massive trucks driving around taking people on a guided tour. We couldn’t believe we hadn’t seen them before. We also found out that you can hire a motorbike to drive yourself around … that would have been much cooler! Anyway, overall it was a nice day!

Crocodiles and Temples

Last Saturday we hired a driver (and his brand new car) for the day and visited a crocodile farm in Mammapullaram, which is south of Chennai. It was really cool, as in addition to crocodiles they have over 100 snakes from which they collect the venom. We saw a cobra, python and some other smaller snakes. They also had terrapins and turtles. From there, we drove further south to Radissons (a 5* American hotel) for lunch. It is situated on the beach and there seemed to be a lot of tourists there. We were serenaded by an Indian group singing Country and Western songs. After lunch we visited Parthasarathi Temple (which is the ruins of one of the oldest temples in India) and we saw the most amazing carvings in rock.

We also stopped and went on a motorboat along a river. We had a lovely day out and it was nice to do some touristy things, as so far I haven’t really had time to just stop and relax and have time to myself. Next Saturday, we’re going to the Zoo.

It Ain't Half Hot Mum!

The weather here is really extraordinary. It is absolutely baking hot (like you can’t imagine), temperatures varying between 25 and 35oC, and then all of a sudden it will start raining, thunderstorms and lightning. The other night we had such a storm that all the windows were rattling like mad. It was quite scary! It’s nice to have the warm weather and we’re lucky we live by the sea as we have the breeze, but there is nothing I am happier about than having the pool. I have swum every single day (except for one) since I’ve been here.

You cannot believe how crazy the driving is here; there’s no such thing as being courteous, it’s every man for himself, oh and they don’t pay attention to stop signs and traffic lights and lanes don’t exist in this country! The traffic lights all have timers on them with a count down to when it turns green. When it gets to 10 seconds before they change, all the drivers start revving their engines and inching forward and sounding their horns. When they’re driving if they want to pass someone, they have to sound their horn repetitively until they get past them. Also, if there is no space to pass the car/bike they want to get past, they just pull across onto the other side of the road and drive past them. The amazing thing is, if a car starts coming towards them (when they’re on the wrong side), they sound their horn to tell them to get out the way! The roads are full of motorbikes, bicycles, scooters and ricks. And the buses are horrendous. They all have no windows, are dented and scratched from all the near misses and people just jump on and off them without waiting for them to stop! The buses are so full that you cannot see through from one side to the other. As you can imagine, being on the roads here is quite an experience.

Amma Naana and Spencer's Plaza

On a positive note - things on the shopping front are definitely looking up. Penri told me about a supermarket called ‘Amma Naana’ which is near to the hotel he was staying in when he first came to Chennai. My mum and I went there the other day and I thought – ‘this is more like it’. It is still no Asda or Tesco, not even a Tesco Express, but it’s a darn site better than the other supermarkets I have been to. We managed to buy things like olives and nice pasta sauces and proper cheddar cheese. These things all sound so basic – but trust me – they’re the things you miss the most! Still no salt’n’vinegar crisps though (so if you come to visit, please bring us some nice Walkers salt’n’vinegar or Kettle Chips, the Balsamic Vinegar ones). Mmmmm.

Also talking about shops – there is a shopping mall called ‘Spencer’s Plaza’. I’ve been there a few times now and they have a few good shops. Again, nothing like the normal high street shops, but at least I was able to buy things like ‘Thank you’ cards, a dinner service, a toaster etc. There are clothes shops as well, but I haven’t really made the effort to have a look around them. The thing is when you go shopping in India; you get bombarded with people who want you to look around their shop and then when you do go in they follow you around showing you things you don’t want or need. It drives me crazy! So, it’s easier to know what you’re shopping for, go in and get it and leave straight away (basically shop like a man). The other thing that really, really annoys me is the way everyone here tries to rip you off! Whether it’s taxi drivers, rick drivers or just in the shops, they see a white face and can’t resist pushing the prices right up. There is also a shopping mall that has just been built and apparently it is the place to go if you want to just spend a day shopping. I’ll save the experience for a rainy day (we seem to have plenty of them at the moment).

Moving House

On Thursday morning (having been in Chennai 5 days) at about 2 a.m. Penri woke me up to tell me he thought he’d made a mistake taking the house we were staying in. When I asked him why he thought he’d made the wrong choice, he explained how the house was far too big for us and how much it was going to cost to buy enough furniture to fill the house and put curtains everywhere and what a nightmare it would be trying to sell it all on when we eventually leave. We talked about it for hours and came to the conclusion that we would call the relocation agents first thing in the morning and try to have a meeting with them to see if there was any way we could move house (and get out of the contract he had signed for 11 months on the house we were staying in). So that’s what we did. We met up with them at 10 a.m. and by lunchtime the next day; we managed to sort out a different house, come to an agreement with the landlord for our current house to opt out of the contract and we got the keys to our new house to move in on Saturday morning. It was a manic couple of days!

So, that’s how we came to be at this new house where we are living now. It’s really nice and came fully furnished (which is perfect for us). (See pictures below).
Anyway, back to my news. Since we’ve moved house there have been little bits and pieces that have needed doing around the house (as it’s never been lived in before) such as getting a telephone, connecting the washing machine and cooker and putting things up like a washing line, mirrors and toilet roll holders etc. So we have had lots of workmen coming into the house so I’ve mostly been staying at home the last week or so. My mum arrived from Doha on Thursday 13th and has been helping me find out about where things are and sorting out things like a piano (which I still haven’t managed to do yet but I’m getting closer – I found a shop that stocks pianos!)

First Week in Chennai

I arrived in Chennai a fortnight ago and it has definitely been an interesting two weeks! It’s not at all what I expected. I’ll start from the very beginning.

I arrived in Chennai airport at 4 a.m. on Sunday 2nd July after a tiring 21-hour journey. My main concern was for Pepsi and Socks (for those of you who don’t know – they travelled with me on the plane as excess baggage). As soon as I got through passport control I tried to find someone who could help me. I eventually managed to find a man who worked in the airport and asked him where do I pick up my cats from? He pointed at the conveyor belt and told me they would be coming out on it. I was shocked (as you can imagine) and tried to explain to him they were live animals and surely they wouldn’t put them on the conveyor belt! But he was quite adamant that they would come through on it. So, I tried to push my way through the crowds of people to get near to the conveyor belt and when I did I saw their two crates right at the end of the belt on one side with lots of luggage around them. I went over to them and they both seemed very happy to see me! It must have been a horrendous journey for them, as they both seemed pretty shell-shocked! Anyway, happy to have found them and having got them onto a trolley, my next task was to find my luggage. Sounds easy enough, but if you’d seen the amount of people and the luggage everywhere, it was a nightmare! When I did finally get my luggage I then had a challenge to fit two cats (in quite large crates), two suitcases, three pieces of hand luggage and my beanbag pillow onto a trolley. What a state I was in!! I went through to the customs and it was quite obvious that they very rarely get pets coming through Chennai airport, as they didn’t know what they were supposed to do. These two people were just looking at each other and then looking at me. Great start! I asked them if they wanted to see the paperwork (seeing as we’d paid a small fortune to get the export documents sorted), and they were quite pleased about that. The man kept saying “Paperwork, yes, paperwork” and grinning at me. So, I gave the paperwork over and they had a discussion (in Tamil obviously) about what to do. They decided that they would both sign it and put a stamp on it to say Chennai airport and then let me through. Penri was waiting for me in the arrivals – I spotted him straight away, as he was the only other white face around. We left the airport to make the half-hour drive to our house.

The house was lovely … but absolutely MASSIVE! If you can imagine a three-bedroom (four times the size of a normal bedroom), four-bathroom, two-lounge, two-dining room and kitchen with the only bits of furniture being a bed, a sofa suite, a coffee table, TV (albeit a massive one) and DVD player. The house seemed (well, it was) pretty empty. Penri had only moved in the day before I arrived and had only managed to sort out some pieces of furniture.

The first place I wanted to go was a supermarket to buy the essentials – cleaning stuff (mainly) and some food and drink. Penri took me to a supermarket called ‘Spencer’s Daily’ just down the road from our house. I couldn’t believe how little they had in the shop. If you imagine a small corner shop in the UK, that is the equivalent of a supermarket in India!!! It worried me that this is how we’re going to be living for the next year – not being able to buy luxuries such as milk (they only had this rubbish thick cream stuff which even the cats wouldn’t drink) and salt and vinegar crisps (which they don’t have here). Seriously though, there was such a limited choice of things that I was in shock at how people manage to eat healthily here.
Anyway, we bought some things and then got a rickshaw (you know, the little yellow three wheeler motorbike things - see picture below), and went back home. On my first evening in India we were sat watching TV and the electricity fuse box blew up. We lost all our power and had to run the generator (at the bottom of the garden) to keep the air conditioners running. The electrician came out at 10 p.m. to have a look at it and basically said there was not a lot he could do but he would bypass the meter and it should be working ok – the only thing was we were only allowed to have one a.c. running at any one time.

For the following few days Penri would get up and go to work and I would stay at home with the cats entertaining myself by reading and swimming and not much else. I went out a couple of times to meet him for lunch, which was nice as I got to see a bit more of the city.