MARINA BEACH, CHENNAI - AN EVENING

Photo Travelogue :
Read first part - Here!

For past 2 decades, I'm living in Bombay only and only for 1 reason - the sea. Needless to say, I'm partial when it comes to seas. I've seen Bombay and Goa beaches on the west coast and long ago the Puri beach in the eastern coast. From my observation, the eastern seas are more darker in colour and are also more ferocious. I heard lots about the Tsunami some years ago in Chennai, also seen the wreckage it caused, on TV. So, naturally I was curious to see the sea out here and also its famous beach - Marina!


After quite a day in Chennai, we headed for the beach. But to my amazement, it took quite a while from ITC Grand Chola Hotel, traversing through various lanes, twists and turns, flyovers etc. By the time we reached, it was already getting dark. The sun had vanished and just a hue of light was left, with the waves roaring and crashing in. From whatever day-light was left, I could see that the beach was really huge ( 13kms long, hence, longest natural urban beach ) and also dangerous - swimming/bathing is prohibited. It is very sandy and most visited too. The walk from the main road to the waters itself, took us quite a while. In the dark shadows sat many couples coothie-cooing, and I nearly fell over them. There were sea-shells, coconut shells, someone's sandals, ship-anchors etc littered across the beach here and there, that I kept stumbling upon; and quite a few stray dogs too. The street lighting doesn't reach to the beach, hence, soon it was pitch black. I could see numerous fishing boats and few fish-fry stalls too, with tiny lamp glowing.


Those dark pictures ( 3rd&4th pic ) has couples in them :p :D


Fish-fry stalls - You can see marinated fresh fish, laid out and some hanging raw, ready to be cooked and served. Though we sat and clicked pictures in this dhaba-kinda-shack, we didn't try, lest we got an upset tummy ( we had a long train journey ahead ). We didn't want to take any chances. Anyways, the beach smelt fishy enough and we had our fill of that. After quite an evening, where the others tried various filmy picture poses ( task of a blogger carrying the other ), finally, we headed back to collect food before going to the station enroute Ramneshwaram.

Marina Beach, Address 17, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Nungambakkam. Chennai, Tamil Nadu
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ITC GRAND CHOLA, CHENNAI - HOTEL AND FOOD

Photo Travelogue :
Read first part - Here!


The ITC Grand Chola is a five-star luxury hotel in Chennai, India. Opened as the world's largest LEED-certified green hotel, it is the third largest hotel in India. It's built is inspired by southern palaces and temples mainly of the Chola period - hence, the name.

We were to meet the Indi-Team here for lunch, after roaming around the day in Chennai city. My impression on first seeing the hotel was - WHOAH! Its huge. If one is not used to it, one might get lost easily, as it happened with none other than yours truly. But, something even bigger happened before that. I was so awed by it, specially the interiors that I instantly started clicking pictures. I saw a beautiful water-fall in one corner and tried to get a good shot of it, and the next moment ---- SPLASH! I was inside its little pond ( which I hadn't noticed ). Embarrassing to say the least, but more so, when the other blogger started clicking my picture inside the water ( that he posted immediately on twitter before I even had the time to crawl out of the water ); and even more funnier was when the hotel staff ( a lady ) who came to my rescue, in order to comfort me said - "aisa toh hota rahta hai". Another moment to say WHOAH! Since, my phone went along with me diving inside the waters, for a long time it went into coma as well. Hence, I could not click much ( not even the yummilicious food we had *sigh* ), except the following.


The infamous pond :|
From top, the entrance board, the stairways near the lobby area that looks simply superb, The room where I waited while my clothes dried - must say, they did very good job of it. After they ironed the clothes ( taking little time only ), the clothes never felt as though they just had a swim, considering the fact that they were made of thick material too. The restaurant that had the buffet area ( open till 4pm ) was sprawling and loaded with all kinds food that we digged into. Simply yummy it was, and the dessert - Slurp! I wish I had my camera cos' they'd have made a very tempting click. Hope someday ITCGrand Chola invites me to do their full food/restaurant review. And of course lastly, the pond which looks pretty but can be very tricky!


Any idea who he is :-D
After lunch, funnily the waiter brought a bill of Rs.90/- which was too funny, considered there were 8-9 of us who ate almost everything that we saw. They did correct the amount though :-) After the lunch, we headed to Marina Beach which took quite a while to reach. By the time we arrived, it was getting dark already.

ITC Grand Chola, Address: 63, Mount Road, Guindy, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600032
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CHENNAI ( MADRAS ) CITY - A DAY IN PICTURES

Photo Travelogue :
Read first part - Here!

After checking out from GRT Grand Hotel, we had some time before we were to meet the Indi-Team for lunch, so decided to tour bit of the city in the meanwhile, since it was quite early yet.


Driving through the busy Chennai traffic, our first stop was the famous temple right in the middle of the city. We also passed by a beautiful church and of course did some lungi-chase too later esp the guy in orange lungi riding a bike whom we chased for quite a while. South India has lots of temples, and they look distinctly different than North-Indian temples. Their architecture, especially the dome with all the intricate carvings and figurines, makes it look very extravagant and colourful. For a visitor, it looks quite stunning though they may not be believer ( like me ).


I'm not a religious person, hence, I didn't have much interest going inside the temple. Also having heard that photography was not allowed inside, I decided to hang outside and click pictures while the others went in. I saw a coconut man near where the people kept their shoes and remembered a task we had. While waiting for the others, I met this dumru-guy who kept pestering me to buy his drum. I decided to distract him by asking him from where he was ( as his hindi didn't have any tamil accent ). Once he started talking about himself, he forgot about selling his dumru. He said, he was from UP and on twitter/facebook etc and I told him to watch the #ChennaiExpressAndYou hastag to follow what we were doing. After quite a while, the rest came and we did the task.


There was an antique shop near the temple premises and we went inside. It mainly had all kinds of religious items. We hung around pretending to buy ( clicking pictures too ), while actually we were enjoying their air-conditioning from the unbearable heat outside. I felt bad for them, cos' they were really expectant that we'll buy something.


After chasing lungis all over Chennai during the day and counting innumerable 'Amma' posters ( a task given by R.R. ), we headed for lunch at ITC Grand Chola. Do read what happened there - Here and our time at the Marina Beach - Here!


After spending time at Marina Beach, we headed to collect food from the crowded and famous Murugan Idli shop and Thalappakatti restaurant - and bought some idlis, vadas as well as some yummy fish, biriyani etc. Next, we headed straight to the railway station to catch our train to Rameshwaram - this time the right station! Phew!


Read next part - Here! Stay tuned for all my road, rail, flight, cruise & walk trips.
( Images - ©Mine. All rights reserved. )
Our Rating Scale is : 1 to 5 = ◕◕◕◕◕ - It was Awesome!

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