Kivela

Yesterday my colleagues and I went to Mahabalipuram to see the temples.

Our driver however knew some great Wildlife park we should visit first. And so we did. The ‘Park’ is called Crocodile Bank and is nothing like the zoo’s you can visit in Europe. If they say they have snakes, they have an owful lot of them; if they say a lot of crocodiles they mean there piled up on top of each other.

In terms of safety they do their best to make sure the crocodiles cant climb over the wall, but you better not lean on them neither

In this park is another section (for which you will have to pay some rps) that contains 4 extreme venomous snakes. But a lot of them, all in jars and they take them out, tell you something about them and then start teasing them with his red hankerchief and long stick. Problem is that when somebody asks about another type of snake he just grabs another one and forgets to put the first one back in …
Crazy if you ask me. Their job is to make a snake quite pissed off, take them (bare hands ofcourse) and make them bite in a small glass and then puts them back in the jar he came from. … To sell to laboratory later …

We also saw some amazing turtles there.

The Mahabalipuram temples are really nice but be prepared for begging and looky-looky sellers. (coming up to you, showing their goods and if your eyes wonder off to whatever he is carying, you’ll never loose him again)

After our visit to the temples we ate at the fishermans cove which was truly an amazing fish restaurant. We had the pleasue to be able to sit at the bay view point, be sure to take a look on their site for an impression. The fish we ate was called red snapper and we decided to go for the less dangerous sauses … which can surprise you none the less.

Since some of us got burned quite well (sun was really hot yesterday, even the Indians said it) we decided to call it a day and go for a shower. Our pants contained more water and salt than one can imagine.

Around 20h we went to Zara’s a Tapaz bar in Chennai which was also pleasant, and cheaper than the lunches in the hotel. Quick tip: If a dish has the name Garlic in it, it isn’t always mild, it can even be spicy as hell!

Some quick things that I’ve learned in the last two days. India for beginners course 2

TIP 1: Tissueless toilet
Not all restaurants have toilet paper, this is because the local people (some of them anyway) have their own way of cleaning up…

A tissueless existence

Once you have mastered the squat toilet, you may want to try to give up that wasteful, environmentally damaging practice of using toilet paper. This is where most Western visitors draw the line, and spend their trip lugging rolls of expensive toilet paper around with them. Perhaps their early potty training was too vigorous.

If you do feel adventurous, here are some basic tips. You’ll need about a litre of water. All Indian bathrooms have a little mug and a tap or a bucket of water. When you have finished, reach behind you and between your legs with your LEFT hand and, holding the full mug of water in your RIGHT hand, pour the water slowly into your left hand. You can pour from the front or the back - which ever feels most comfortable. Use the water in your cupped left hand to wash yourself. Repeat as many times as necessary. Air dry. When you are done, wash your hands well with soap.

Text by indax

This is also why most Indians eat with their left hand under the table and look at you as if you are eating shit when you have your sandwich in your left hand

TIP 2: Improving the rikshaw thingy

Another thing that might help you out is the rikshaw thingy. I decided to beat the system (*cough*) and walk away 100mtr from the hotel before calling in a rikshaw, hopefully to get a better price. The first guy that stopped took my paper, spend a minute staring at it, than said: please step in and give directions, he didn’t want to give a price up front so I was already walking away when the second guy stopped, took the paper from the first guy, said that I should read the paper next time because not all can read. (no offense) He than said he didn’t know the street and would use his meter to tell me the price afterwards. A no brainer ofcourse. The third guy that stopped said: yes sir, no problem, I know where it is and he gave me a very decent price (40rps). To bad he didn’t know where it was, so he stopped at a police officer for directions, stopped again a few roads ahead. The rikshaw ride that normally is about 10 minutes took 25 this morning

So I think I will stick with the guys hanging around the hotel…

TIP 3: Indian beer

In Chennai they have one beer that I’ve seen so far named King Fisher, which is in bottles of 650 ml. Keep this in mind when you order 3 bottles when you are with 3.
At Zaras they also have King Fisher Strong, which looks the same except for the color of the label (red instead of white). The beer is really heavier but you can’t tell how much because the label says: More than 6%, but I truly think all bottles differ here and there is no way of telling before you open up.

When you order a bottle they will put the bottle before you and keep standing there until you pick it up to say that it is cold enough. Then they will open the bottle for you. This is strange the first time !

You can find the complete photo album of yesterdays visits here.

Filed under: Chennai on August 16th, 2007