Day 52 - India Day 5

Our last day in India wasn’t nearly as adventurous as the first 4, but it was still crazy different from a regular day in the US. After sleeping in for the first time since we got to India, 5 of us guys headed to the big shopping mall to get some stuff. I didn’t have anything in particular that I needed, so I was basically just along for the ride. We took 2 rickshaws from the ship and told them we wanted to go to Spencer’s Plaza again. Of course, they first tried stopping at a local shop first but we just told them no and refused to get out. We’ve gotten used to this little scam by now and know how to get where we want. After that, our driver told us that Spencer’s doesn’t open until 1pm and the other driver told those guys it didn’t open until 4pm. Lies, lies, and more lies. We just told them that we wanted to go there anyway because we figured that the big shopping center would be open on a Saturday.

Right when we got to the front of the place there were hundreds of people running out of the building. Then about 2 minutes later a ton of people ran back into the building. We really had no idea what was going on, but things seemed to be calming down in front of the mall so we decided to go inside. We noticed that a majority of the shops were closed, and then some guy told us that they’re closed for lunch and will be back open in half an hour. So we walk around a little more and see a big group of people run towards the railings and looking down, there was also loud shouting from down on the first floor. By this time all of the shops were closed, and the place was crawling with police/military (they both wear very similar uniforms it seems like). So apparently what happened was that there was a fight between two mobs or groups of people. Then one group got mad and started a store on fire, so that’s why all of the shops closed down – because they didn’t want their store to burn down! The commotion went on for another half an hour or so while the police tried to clear everyone out and calm the two groups down. We were 3 floors up from where this was happening so we had a nice birds-eye view of the whole thing. I only got a sight of one pissed off bloody guy as he was being escorted out by the police.

We decided to eat in the food court and wait for the stores to reopen. They had a Pizza Hut in the food court and pizza sounded awesome so we decided to get some. This wasn’t your regular Pizza Hut though, the toppings had a heavy Indian influence, the only meat available was either chicken or pork and most of the pizza’s were vegetarian. They have 3 sizes, but the medium is like a personal pan and the largest, ‘family size,’ is like an American medium. They had this delicious garlic crust that they put on a few of the pizza’s that was amazing. We found a small shop that had DVD’s for 100-150 Rupees each. They had a lot of good and recent American top sellers as well such as I am Legend and the new Rambo. I didn’t but any because I’m against the distribution of illegal movies (ha) but the other guys bought a few. I’m sure we’re going to be able to find them even cheaper in Vietnam as well.

After an extensive day at the mall Chris and Jim wanted to go to some crafty shops because they hadn’t been to any yet. So we found 2 rickshaws and told them we wanted to go to some shops, their friends shops, which I’m sure just made their day. We went around to shops for two more hours. I was just along for the ride because I vowed not to spend any more money on souvenirs while in India. This was hard though because some of the stuff is so cool.

Once we were done with that we headed to another hotel for dinner. Once again, the food and service was amazing. I had to ask for them to make my meal spicier again though. I always thought that Indian food was really spicy so I’m not sure if they just thought that since I was an American I couldn’t handle the full spice or if their food really isn’t as spicy as it’s portrayed.
By the time we were done with dinner we had an hour to get back to the ship before we had dock time. We were all a little worried about this, especially since we had no idea where exactly we were in Chennai. Luckily, we were able to find 2 rickshaws right outside the hotel who I’m pretty sure decided to race each other back to the port. Swerving in and out of traffic, crossing the middle line and playing chicken with the cars coming towards us, going excessively fast for being in a small little rickshaw just to name a few of the traffic violations he made. We made it back to the ship and swiped in with about 10 minutes to spare. Once back on the ship we had to go immediately up to the staff lounge to have a ‘face-to-face’ with India customs officials and check back our passport and customs forms.

Once back on the ship we decided to watch one of the movies that we bought. There was one that none of us had really heard of that won a couple of Academy Awards. It’s called ‘There Will Be Blood.” It’s about an oil man in the early 1900’s who starts his oil drilling business and how he builds everything up. It’s really not a good movie and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. There wasn’t a solid plot. I have no idea how it won any awards. So if you get the chance to watch it, don’t.