Day 55 & 56: Chennai (in the state of Tamil Nadu), India

Day 55: I arrived in Chennai(which was orginally called Madras till 1997), which is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, which is in South of India. Tamil Nadu stands for the 'land of the Tamils'. It is the true heartland of South India and is considered to be the cradle of the Dravidian(the orginal inhabitants of India) civilisation. Many of the city names and streets were changed after the British left India in the 1947. The verbal and written language is not similar to Hindi at all, so I was at a complete loss when trying to talk to people in Tamil. As I toured around I noticed how more laid back the people are compared to most areas I have visited in the North and they also have many colleges and universities here. I went to a couple of the Hindu Temples and noticed how different they were to the North. They are much more colorful, bright blues and yellows, and the statues are much more detailed and defined. These reminded me of the temples in Kuala Lumpur and Fiji, where most of the Indian are of South Indian descent. Then headed to the snake farm, where we saw pytons and cobras, not my favorite creatues. Then we headed to Marine Beach, which is the 2nd longest beach in the world, the first being Rio De Janiero. For lunch I headed for the ever so popular 'dosas', which are a rice based pancake with potatoe filling and then you get a couple of chutneys and sambar(soup looking) bowls to dip the yummy dosa in. The south is more known for it's rice dishes. For dinner I tried the popular 'uttapam', which is a rice based pancake with the same yummy dippings on the side all on a bannana leaf.

Day 56: Today I tooked it easy and relaxed a bit. Tried some food from the state of Andra Pradesh, known for it's spicy food. The food was quite tasety and spicy. I got rice with a couple of vegetable dishes.