Today we decided that we wanted to check out the beach. We have been very warm since the temperature here is very different than the temperature at home in Michigan. We asked around to see where to go to the beach and how to get there. There are public beaches and provate beaches here. The public beaches are very busy on the weekends and are dirty. The provate beaches are like resorts that have beaches. We debated what we wanted to do and how long we wanted to stay there. We decided on a provate beach called Vivante by Taj Fisherman's Cove Chennai and reserved a taxi through our hotel for eight hours.
After breakfast at the hotel we headed to the beach in our cab. Driving here is very different than at home so the cab ride itself was an adventure. More on that later. It took an hour to get to the resort which was 24km away from where we are staying. As we arrived to the resort there was security guards that checked our trunk and put a mirror under the hood of the car. We are not really sure what they were checking for but it was not a very thorough check. The cab dropped us off in the front of the hotel part of the resort. Security there put our bags through a metal detector and we had to walk through one. They were not very strict though. We discovered later that some of the security here is to make visitors like us feel better but is actually not that intense of security. We simply followed what they told us to do though.
We walked through the lobby area of the resort and thought we may have to pay to use the facilities there but we just walked through and nobody said anything to us. There were guests from the hotel that were white so that was nice to see. We immediately headed to the water! The beach was beautiful and the waves were huge. We ran right to the water and two boys from our group went for a swim. Within minutes two men were telling us that we can't swim and that we needed to move down the beach. This was for our safety because there were huge rocks near where we were which were dangerous especially with the waves. We moved down the beach where the men who were actually life guards pointed us to a canopy that had four beach chairs under it. We put our stuff here and after reapplying sunscreen hit the waves. The water felt so great! The lifeguards stood on the beach watching us. They told us to go out further which seemed odd at first but then we realized that it was much calmer further out past where the waves were breaking. It felt so good to just float in the water. The first time I have actually felt cold here.
Side note-We were told that women dont wear swimsuits and that they swim in their clothes. So Caroline and I wore capri loose pants and a t-shirt. I wore my swimsuit under my clothes hoping it would dry better. The boys just wore normal swimsuits. The t-shirt was nice because kept me from getting too badly sunburned but the pants were annoying once we got out because didn't dry fast and stuck to our legs.
After a while of dreading water and moving around the waves we decided to head in. The lifeguard who was swimming with us saw us move toward the shore. We told him we were heading in and he said ride the wave in. So we rode the wave but were not very successful and started to swim but another wave came right behind the first wave and took Caroline, Bob and myself under. The wave took our feet out from under us and we were rolling underwater in the undertow. It was slightly scary but we soon found the surface. Caroline and I walked away untouched with just a little shock and Bob scraped his elbow on the sand. It was like a rug burn from the sand in the water. The lifeguards immediately tended to his injury with soap to clean it and tissues. It was not Lake Michigan swim but it was fun and refreshing.
We grew hungry from swimming so headed to find food. After much debate we decided to go the restaurant near the water at the hotel. It was a bit pricy than what we have been paying on campus but comparative to prices at home in the US. Caroline and I decided to split ravioli and french fries. The portion sizes were very small but it was good. We headed back to the beach after lunch. As we settled back into our chairs, a white guy walked by so we said hello! He said he was from America! We replied with excitement "We are too!" He is from Massachusetts and is here on business for two weeks. he joined us in one of our chairs and we shared stories and advice for about an hour. He had a week of experience here which was nice compared to our three days. He was staying at the resort and had his own driver which is much different than our accommodations.
Later we saw a group of white people down the beach so meandered over to see where they were from. They were here on business for a year and from France and one from London. They had some good advice and stories to share. It was great talking to the two girls in the group because since we have been here the only women we have talked to is the women in the store at the mall who had no personal bubble and was overwhelming. The french girls were wearing normal bikinis and when we asked them about it they said in a large group they just dress normally. We exchanged contact information so that we can possibly meet up with them again.
We headed home after a great day but we were tired and hungry. When we returned to the hotel we decided we wanted to eat in and upon seeing that Dominoes Pizza delivered we decided pizza sounded great! Turns out that pizza delivery and ordering is a bit different than at home though.
The whole getting pizza was a struggle and took over two hours. We had dominoes number from the website so we decided on our pizzas and called them to order. They hung up on us twice then the third time they said we will call you back because they were too busy. So we went to front desk and had them call thinking it was because we were Americans that they were not helpful. They hung up on front desk guy too when he tried to order for us! So the front desk gave us a Pizza Hut flyer so we decided on pizzas there and called to order there. They said they will call us back twice. We getting very frustrated at this point and about ready to give up. So we went to front desk for them to order from pizza hut. He called and they said call back in five minutes. So he suggested dominoes so we had him call dominoes again and after five minutes on the phone he was able to order from there. We had finally ordered some pizza! He said it would be delivered to our room in a half hour. So I went to the ATM for more money and we waited. After about an hour of waiting we went to front desk to ask if it was still coming. He said it is on its way and they will bring it to our room. So we went back to room and ten minutes later the front desk called our room and said our pizza was there and we needed to pick it up at the front desk. We went to the front desk once again to get it. Finally we had our pizza! We were starving and dug in. The piza was not even that good after all that waiting. It did not have that much flavor but we were hungry so we ate most of it. We were full and tired and headed right to bed even though Lion King was on TV.
Tomorrow we are headed to the lab for our first day of research. They said to arrive at ten am. I am hoping to upload pictures soon but the internet in our hotel is not very fast so it may take awhile to load them! I hope everyone had a great weekend!
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