Day 3: Kanchepuram and Mamallaupram!

5AM: beep... beep...beep... BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!


Since we had to be at the complex by 6:15AM, we had to wake up EARLY.

I'm not exactly a morning person; so as my dad, so it was quite difficult.

But we were up and awake, just because we were in India.

We were ready for a day full of amazing sights!

I'm meeting the rest of the group at the airport tonight.. so I have to pack my stuff now.

I'll be back with more pictures later..

But.. before I leave.. here's the highlight of day 3:

The Government Museum

After visiting the beach, we had lunch at Hotel Rajith; we had chicken butter masala and tandoori chicken.

They were SO GOOD! I don't think I ate that much in a while. Everyone had to wait for me!

We then went off to the government museum.

The government museum in Chennai is one of the most famous museums in India.

Althought its not maintained in a great condition, the collection is simply fabulous.

The following pictures were taken at the museum;

This was the first hall that we entered. It had many sculptures from ancient Indian dynasties like Gupta and Chola.



All of the four pictures above were taken in the second hall. These sculptures didn't really have any explanations; names only.

These four were taken in the first hall.

The red brick building houses the three first halls. It was built by the British several centuries ago.

This was taken in the bronze hall. The government museum is known for its authentic collection of bronze sculptures. In fact, this was the only hall that was airconditioned!

By the time my dad and I got back to the hotel, it was around 6PM. We had some Korean food for dinner and wrapped up the day!

Second Day in Chennai, India

Here we come, India!

Currently, I'm in Chennai, which is the fourth largest city in India.

(New Delhi, Mumbai, and Calcutta are the three largest cities.)

Here is the map of India and Chennai.

So.. yes.. this is what India looks like!

Chennai is in Southern part of India in the state called Tamil Nadu, and it's a port city.

The following map provides a closer look of Chennai:

I'm staying at Chennai for four days only, because Vishaka Valley School is in Vishakapatnam, Andra Pradesh.

As you can see, Tamil Nadu is right below Andra Pradesh.

Since Chennai has the closest international airport to Vishakapatnam (aka Vizag) my dad and I are staying at a local hotel in Chennai.
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So it was our second day of the trip when we visited Tamil Nadu Tourism Complex.
My dad and I signed up for a "One Day Mamallapuram Tour" for the next day.
This picture was taken inside the complex:
Although Chennai is the fourth largest city, foreigners weren't exactly easy to spot.
My dad and I were stared at most of the time: especially me.
I was expecting the attention and it wasn't too bad- I got used to it soon.
In fact, I enjoyed little kids lingering around me and waving at me!
They're simply adorable.

After signing up for the tour, we asked our driver to take us to the beach.
The beach's name is Marina Beach, and it's the third longest beach in the world!
The beach was beautiful; however, it was painful for me to stay there, because the beach was so wide!
It took me forever to actually get to the water..
The sand itself was burning my feet as well.

Then we decided to visit the "Government Museum."

I'm not quite sure but I think Indians refer to national museums as government museums..

This was partly and shocking and funny for me..

In Korea, admission fees are pretty much the same for everyone except for really young kids and seniors..

Please take a look.. you'll know why I was shocked..

People here charge about 20 times more for the admissions and in addition to that they charge tourists for taking pictures.

Later I got used to it because that's the policy that all the places seemed to adopt..

The beginning was rough...

The international airport of South Korea moved a few years from its capital, Seoul, to Incheon, a famous port city.

My grandmother currently lives in Incheon so my family decided to spend a night at her house and leave the next morning.

Everything seemed to be fine until we got to the airport; we were certain that we were well prepared and that we won't have anything to bother us.

We decided to take Singapore Airline this time and we were excited to see if its service really meets the excellent reputation.

The lady who helped my dad and me to check in our bags was nice, and as I've mentioned, nothing seemed to go wrong.

However, my dad and I were surprised to find out that our bags were 30kg overweight.

Since I travel to the U.S. frequently, our standards for the luggage was based on the wrong information - I usually travel with two bags, 23kg (50lbs.) each.

The lady told us that we were only allowed to have 23kg of luggage - which meant 46kg for us, but she told us that she doesn't charge anything up to 50kg.

Our bags were 30 kg overweight.

We ended up "repacking" in about ten minutes, and successfully checked in our luggage.

Then the next obstacle was waiting for us at Singapore Airport.

My dad and I had to wait for 6 hours to get to Chennai.

Somehow we managed to entertain ourselves for 6 hours and fell asleep on the plane to Chennai.

We finally arrived around 10:20, and go to the hotel around midnight because of our luggage that seemed to take forever to come out.

My dad and I took showers and just went into our rooms for the night, without planning much for the next day; we were just too tired to even think....

SeoYeun Choi is HERE in INDIA!