28 December 09 Chennai

On Monday, Vijaya signed us up for a Chennai tour. Krishna stayed behind.


Our first stop was Snake Park, a park full of reptiles and snakes. It was pretty depressing. Small cages for everyone and very little water for the crocodiles, etc.

Snake Park gate

Our bus and some fellow passengers (in white)

Next, we went to a museum featuring stone and bronze artifacts and statuary.

Another stop was the Valluvarkottam where Gopal and I had been several times

We also visited Kapaleeswarar Temple again, this time actually going in.

Marina Beach where Gopal and I had already been, but not when it was so crowded. These guys were on the tour with us.

Vijaya

There was one couple on the tour for whom we always had to wait at each stop. Then the tour operator added another temple, the Ashta Lakshmi Temple (http://chennai.clickindia.com/travel/ashtalakshmitemple.html). We went in there too. I have to add that at both temples and at the museum I was stopped as a foreigner, and they tried to throw me out of the temples. My status is actually "Person of Indian Origin", and I am a resident of India, so we had to work that out many times during the day.

We returned back to the Theosophical Society two hours late, at 8pm.