27TH Sat. Early start. 5am drop off at airport for 0730 flight to UK

Oops something went wrong here ... I seem to have cut a part of yesterday's post out ...  I think this is it recovered (plus a few photos)

I really wanted to visit Ranganathan Street in Chennai which is said to be the busiest lane in the World based on footfall.    Its a market area about 1/4 mile long and 40ft wide with around 500 shops and trade stands.   1.2 million people walk there every day and we read that basically once you enter the street you just get pushed along to the other end with the flow of the crowd.

David was reluctant to go as he hates crowds more than I do.   But, being in such close proximity to this famous area I felt we had to at least take a look at it so we compromised and went by Tuk Tuk on the basis if it looked too scary we'd come straight back to the hotel.

We'd read that the crowds swell on public holidays so feared the worst but in fact the roads are all relatively quiet (by Indian standards) and the market no busier than many we've visited before so we were able to walk up and down, make a couple of purchases and just generally get a feel for it all.   its a great atmosphere with some very cheap prices!  I reckon the locals must all have gone to beaches or family attractions today rather than the market which was good for us of course

Even the smallest of displays (on the pavements or on trailers) is beautifully presented ... I guess with so many 'small' businesses around its important to make your wares look as enticing as possible.   

These were jackfruits opened out like large flowers,  coconuts (and some I can't identify)

Although it was crowded, the main street wasn't as intimidating as we'd feared based on what we'd read online.    Many of the stalls and shops had 'fixed' prices shown although I'm sure we could have haggled.    David bought a belt and a credit card holder for 'next to nothing'.

There's a definite flow of pedestrian traffic - walking on the left side.   Apparently on 'normal' days once you step into the throng you just get carried along with the flow and so many children get separated from their mothers who are busy looking at all the goodies on display that there are extra policemen on duty for the sole purpose of reuniting them (after giving the Mums a suitable lecture about good parenting)!

Indians of all ages have this wonderful flexibility and ability to sit cross-legged for ages.   Even our Tuk Tuk driver was cross-legged on his seat - I tried to get a photo but it was an awkward angle ... however, I do seem to have captured David in the Tuk Tuk's mirror (not intentionally though)!

One other thing we noticed throughout our travels is that we rarely saw people smoking.   I spotted just 3 people (except for Pondicherry where lots of locals and tourists were smoking.  I guess that's because of the French/European influence - most visitors there were French).

Joshy told us that it is illegal to smoke in public places and police will fine anyone caught doing it.  Tobacco is relatively cheap but its not something that many Indians do.    So you don't see lots of cigarette butts on the streets - just plastic which is the scourge of the earth these days, and not just in India.


Well, we're back home in the UK now.     We had a brilliant flight with BA on one of their new Dreamliner 787s - very comfortable even though it was 11½ hours.   We didn't sleep (hadn't expected to as it was a 7.30am flight) so we were pretty drained by the time we got home.      Apart for doing a food/grocery shop today we're just chilling and recharging batteries.

I may add a post or two as David took a few short videos along the way which I couldn't add in India as we were a bit restricted with internet time - downloading/resizing photos and writing posts probably took up 2 hours per day on average.  There is never really enough time to think the posts out properly - just a case of  'knocking them out'  as quickly as possible.   But its worth doing as everything soon blurs in the memory and we can barely recall what we did in our first week in Rajasthan.  Handy to have these posts to refer back to and trigger memories.