Day 57 (10-22-10)

 

And I'm back in India. Wow, this place is just as hectic as I remember. We pulled into the port fairly early, but the customs process took much longer than anticipated. Security here is very tight right now, and I'm not entirely sure why. But apparently we're having armed guards stand at the entrance to the ship 24/7, and they're checking our passports/visas/arrival stamps/customs form/ship IDs every time we enter and leave the ship. As such, the line to disembark this morning was horrendous. Some people weren't sure if they needed their passports or not; some people forgot to bring their customs form... and everyone wanted to leave as soon as possible. It was hectic. But after a couple of hours, our group of 5 managed to make it to the shuttle bus and out of the port. And that's where the fun began.

 

The door to the shuttle bus opened and 30 Indian men were waiting for us, grabbing at us and yelling for us to come to their rickshaws and taxis. Oh joy. Here in Chennai, the rickshaw drivers are notorious (even by Indian standards) for ripping people off with their fares. But we negotiated a price for our drivers to take us to a marketplace and we were on our way. One problem... we weren't actually on our way to the market. We were on our way to a commission shop! I'm elated, really. But, worldly traveler that I am, I was expecting this. So I yelled at the other rickshaw driver for a couple minutes (while my friends looked on, shocked and confused) and told him that we weren't going to go into a tourist-trap commission shop and we wouldn't pay the drivers if they didn't take us where we wanted to go. Problem solved. Oh wait. Problem not solved. Apparently "don't take us to commission shops" means "take us to more commission shops" in Tamil. Damn it. At this point, my friends were a bit confused about what was happening, so we all just went inside and walked aroudn the store while I described the situation: Taxi/rickshaw drivers earn a percentage of the profit every time one of their fares purchases something from these select stores. So when people say they want to go shopping or visit a market, the drivers automatically go into these stores, whose prices are conveniently jacked way up to scam the unsuspecting tourists that enter. But hey, I told the drivers we wouldn't pay for stops that we didn't ask for, so it's no big deal to us. After purchasing zero items, we decided against any more useless shopping trips, so we told the drivers to take us to the Hindu temple a few kilometers away. Of course, they didn't mention that the temple is closed. But it's okay. The drivers tell us they'll wait for us while we wander the area, so we just walked away without thinking much about it. If we find them when we're done, we'll use them. If not, they didn't do anything that we asked anyway, so I'd call it a fair trade.

 

On our walk away from the temple, we found a place called Rasi Silks. I was with 4 girls, and they wanted to find Indian clothing (sarees, pashminas, etc). So we walked in and ended up spending an hour inside the 4-story building. They had menswear, but I'm not much for Indian fashion, so I just played bag-holder for an hour or so while they tried on some clothing and bought some things. Afterward, our lovely drivers were waiting for us outside, and they took us to a restaurant for lunch. Luckily for us, it was the only good thing they did all day. Between the 5 of us, we had mutton w/ peas in gravy over rice, chicken tikka masala, some szechuan noodles/soup (because the restaurant served Chinese food too), and some various assorted vegetable dishes. All-in-all, it was a great meal. Time to move on... and so I tried for a third time to tell the drivers to take us to a market place. You know, the big open area with vendors that sell their wares at negotiable prices. Alright, we're on our way.... right back to the first store that they took us to this morning. "This is the marketplace, I told you." Wow. I just wonder if Americans really come across as stupid all the time, or if it's just us. So again, we refuse to cave in to their requests to "just get out and look around; it's free to look." Frustrated, hot, and annoyed, we come to the consensus that it's time to head back to the ship.

 

"No no no, we take you to beach now, then dinner, then more shopping. Ship later."

"No no no. You take us to ship now or we pay you nothing. We'll get out of this rickshaw and walk away without paying if you try to take us anywhere but the ship."

 

And off we went, back to the ship. I know, it's rude and I need to lighten up. This is their livelihood and they're trying to get by squeezing as much time and money as they can from us. But we're paying customers, so we should at least get some kind of common courtesy, right? Oh well. Anyway, we got to the port and paid the drivers a generous amount considering the service we were given (approximately 20% of the laughable price they tried to charge us), and we went on our way back to the shuttle bus. A couple of my friends felt bad about it, but that's the process. And considering the drivers chose not to chase us down and bug us for more money all the way across the parking lot, it can be assumed that we gave them enough to turn a profit for the day. Oy. This place is exhausting.

 

So here's the plan: shower, nap, meet up later to go out for more Indian food for dinner. Ready, break.

 

3 hours later.

 

So here's the NEW plan: eat dinner on the ship, fall asleep by 9pm.

 

Yeahhhhh that was unintentional. But this country is so draining, we didn't even have the energy to leave again. The nap turned into a deep sleep, and by the time I woke up, it was past midnight. So I just went right back to sleep again. Luckily, I'm not the only one. Giggles was as exhausted as me and did the same thing, and Michaella has to leave for a Taj Mahal trip at 4am tomorrow morning, so she passed out as well. I hate feeling like I'm wasting time in port, but I'm going to call this a necessary sacrifice. 5 more days... I'll try to spend them wisely.