Chennai

Hello again! We have so much to catch up on since we didn't have any internet in Chennai! Our trip to Chennai was short but packed full of food and family. We arrived to my Uncle Alex's house in the early afternoon. Their house is beautiful with a full garden in front.

The first night we went to visit St. Thomas Mount where St. Thomas the disciple was murdered. The memorial and church are on a high hill that overlooks the city. I had been there before, but the experience at night was much different especially with an almost full moon above. The city was lit up and the breeze felt perfect.

The next day we spent a lot of time in the heart of the city. We went to visit my Uncle Alex's property/building named "Alexander Square".

That night we made a quick stop at the beach. It takes approximately fifteen minutes to walk from the edge of the beach up to the water! It is one of the broadest beaches in the world which makes for a huge expanse of sand. Though there were quite a few people on the beach, everyone was very spread out.

We were lucky enough to meet up with more of Uncle Alex's family as well as Dr. Hermon's nephew Sunny bhaina at the club they belong to.

We are now in Bangalore, home of IT giants such as Infosys and WiPro. There is a much higher concentration of younger people and it seems to be a very "fresh" city. However, due to the sudden growth the quality of the air is severely diminished. This is the first time we have noticed the smell, which is like following a bad diesel truck on the highway.

We started at my godmother's sister's house in the heart of old Bangalore where we had an incredible South Indian meal: sambar, russum, crab, daal, pickles, paratas, chicken curry etc. They live in a house with four generations of family, from great-grandmother to two little ones.

We had dinner at Kobe Sizzler (the constant food is starting to show), which was a hotplate joint where we could finally reuinte with beef.

There was also an American radio station on, so with steak and Eminem we felt a bit like home. Ryan went with the Pepper Steak, and I split a couple of dishes across the table.

This is Ryan's Pepper steak which cost 390 rupees, or only about $7.50. Some of the prices around here are just incredible.

We have a huge luncheon today with Renu's dad's family, expecting about 35 people to come to the hotel to meet us. We'll send pictures soon!