Trip to a Diferent World - Chennai (India)

Yesterday I left home for the longest trip I have ever made until now. And also my first business trip ever. I have traveled around 8000 km over the course of 16 hours and went from winter to summer. I left in -2 degrees Celsius, and arrived at 28 degrees (by night even). I went from one of the smallest countries in the world to a huge and densely populated country. From a city that becomes quiet and calm after working hours, to a city that never sleeps. Luxembourg city and Chennai are different in so many ways. I feel like I have arrived in a completely different world.

First we took the tiniest plane I have even been in to fly to Frankfurt in just 40 minutes. Our second flight was with the biggest plane I have ever seen (there were even 2 floors!) and was also the longest flight I ever took. Spending 8 hours in a small seat is not exactly comfortable, but at least there was good entertainment. Especially the "Flyrobics" was hilarious.

 The hotel is really a bubble of luxury where you barely notice anything of the real surroundings. You do not hear any of the noise and you don't feel the heat and the dust. Everything is controlled by one Ipad and lights, television and AC start working as soon as you enter the room. It smells like flowers everywhere and it is so peaceful and quiet. 

The city however, is the exact opposite. I is crazy and loud. If you thought rush hour in our part of Europe was bad, you have seen nothing yet. A taxi ride in Istanbul is nothing compared to this.  I can say that the ride to the office during rush hour is quite an experience. No driving lanes and no rules. Just ride wherever there is some space. And definitely honk at least once a minute.

 We only had Sunday afternoon before we would start working, so we decided to just walk around and visit a national park. Until now, I cannot say Chennai is a beautiful city. But it is a fascinating city for sure. Also bizarre and surrealistic for that matter. There is so much going on that you would never see in the Netherlands. There is just so much going on all the time.I even saw a man getting out of a bus that was still driving, on the middle of the road.

 

The wiring is really as it is in movies about India. Just attached to anything which happens to be available. It even gets worse in the small streets.

 

Each Brit would get a heart attack from all the health and safety issues going on in this city. Sidewalks are blocked randomly  by all kind of things that are not supposed to be there. That is if there are sidewalks at all.

Crossing the streets is where the real fun comes in. There are barely any traffic lights and if they are there, cars just do not stop for the red light. So basically you just have to find the right moment to zigzag your way through the scooters and cars.

What I liked a lot, is that Chennai has so many funny (and random) signs!

I think this park was not even accessable by cars, so why the VIP parking?

This sign says to wear a helmet. I have seen about 2% of the scooting drivers actually do that.

This one has "Merry Christmas" written on it.

There are not many public bins around. But the ones we did see looked like big plastic animals with "use me" written on it. Why?!

Most of what was parked on out map as the National Park, has guarded entrances which we were  not allowed to enter. The part that was open to the public, was only small. But it was nice.

 

They seem to have a thing for statues in a shade of very fake looking gold. You see many of these throughout the city.

At some point it was all just too much of everything for all of us, so we went back to the hotel or some swimming and chilling. All these impressions require some good relaxing and getting ready for more craziness to come.