Third Time in Chennai

We're back in Chennai for a couple of days. The train ride back was kind of miserable. It wasn't a sleeper, which meant there was less space per person on the seats, as well as less space to stash luggage. About half way through the six hour ride a bunch of people got on, far more than there were seats for. I guess they just sell tickets that don't have seats when they run out of seats. The train was really, really packed with people. Even though I was sitting down, I was pressed up against people that were standing in the isles. Then, to make things even better, it started raining outside, so we had to close all of the windows and deal with a stuffy train. Oh well, it was only for a few hours, and we did all make it to Chennai, although we were pretty worn out.

Once we were in Chennai, we checked into a hotel and then went to a nearby restaurant in search of a late dinner. The people at the restaurant didn't speak much English, and we don't speak a word of any south Indian language. Apparently there were a lot of things that they were out of by this time of night. I'm not sure if we were just having major communication blocks, or if we actually found the one restaurant in India that was out of rice. It seemed like whatever we asked for, he would tell us that they had chapattis and parattas (two types of bread). While this was somewhat helpful when we asked about nan (another bread), it was less helpful when I asked for a lassi (sweet yogurt drink). Eventually we managed to order some chicken and parattas. It wasn't exactly what we had originally wanted, but it was really good. Todd and I rated the place as an "A" for taste, but as a "D-" for selection.

We had a similar experience at breakfast this morning. We chose to sit at two tables because the tables were small. At my table, Kristin tried to order grape juice, which the waiter said they didn't have until 11:30am. I tried to order a lassi, which he said they didn't have. We all settled for tea instead. The funny thing was, that they brought me both a tea and a lassi. I'm really not sure how that happened. At the end of the meal, we got a bill that had two grape juices on it. Apparently they were able to come up with grape juice for the other table. I wish I knew how these things happened. It doesn't seem like the waiters would try to prevent us from ordering what we want. They again... this is India.