Judith Diane's Amazing Adventures: June 2017

April 10th, 2016

Chennai formerly known as Madras is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is one of the biggest cultural, economic and educational centres in South India. According to the 2011 Indian census (adjusted for the new limits of Chennai city), it is the third-largest city and fourth-most populous urban agglomeration in India. The city together with the adjoining regions constitute the Chennai Metropolitan Area, which is the 36th-largest urban area by population in the world.^[12] Chennai is among the most visited Indian cities by foreign tourists. ^]

The Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai as the safest city in India.^[14] Chennai attracts 45 percent of health tourists visiting India, and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists.^[15] As such, it is termed "India's health capital". As a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Chennai confronts substantial pollution and other logistical and socio-economic problems.^[16]

Chennai had the third-largest expatriate population in India at 35,000 in 20^{15. ]} In 2015 Chennai was named the "hottest" city (worth visiting, and worth living in for long term) by the BBC, citing the mixture of both modern and traditional values.^[23] National Geographic ranked Chennai's food as second best in the world; it was the only Indian city to feature in the list.^[24] Chennai was also named the ninth-best cosmopolitan city in the world by Lonely Planet.^[25]

The Chennai Metropolitan Area is one of the largest city economies of India. Chennai is nicknamed "The Detroit of India", with more than one-third of India's automobile industry being based in the city. In January 2015, it was ranked third in terms of per capita GDP.^[26]

They forgot to mention the traffic and the dust!

One wall of the stateroom with notices held up by magnets.

Typical notices on the tv

First view of Chennai from our stateroom balcony

View from deck 7

As far as the eye could see......

We began walking along the very hot streets

Beautiful wrought-iron gates

Wooden shutters

Our destination - need to send post cards to Ernestina in Bremerhaven and grandchildren

We were the only customers for the 4 clerks to deal with. One weighed the cards, one noted the weight and passed it to the man who counted out the stamps. He passed it to the 4th man who put on the stamps and franked them. Not quite full employment but everyone was happy.

First-class compartments

We thought about taking the train to the beach but it was too late to make it back to the ship on time.

We walked through the station, up the stairs and across this bridge, then down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs was a guard who refused to let us pass, even though we could see our shuttle bus about 100 meters away. No one was happy. It meant going back through the station and through the town.