Chennai - June 2012

Visit date: 16th & 17th June 2012

It was romantic of how I had to flew in from Hyderabad on 16th June 2012 to receive my husband in Chennai International Airport. I was in Hyderabad on 11th for the board meeting and flew to Delhi for a technical meeting cum road safety workshop with NHAI from 12th till 15th June. Instead of flying to Vijayawada, I changed my route to Chennai and my flight arrived 20 minutes earlier than his flight but of course I was arriving on Kamaraj Domestic Terminal and he on Anna International Terminal. Chennai Airport at that time was under major renovation.

Chennai, formerly known as Madras in the capital city of Indian State Tamil Nadu seated on Coromandel Coast of Bengal Bay. It is a major commercial, educational , cultural and economic centre in Southern India. We chose to stay 1 night in the city so that we could explore the city following day. That was our initial thought. We saw  a beautiful monuments covered in a floodlights from far distance on our way to reach the city centre from the airport. For information, Chennai Airport is located at Grand Southern Trunk Road, a National Highway 45. We decided to check it out.

It was a Spellbound Seven Wonders located at Island Ground, Chennai. It was charged at Rs150/entrance. The summer fair was showing Taj Mahal, Pisa, Statue of Liberty, Chris the Redeemer, the Great Wall of China, Colosseum and Egyptian Pyramid in their list. So, we thought of exploring inside, having good time of meeting after few months not seen each other.  

Due to unexpected plan, I had left my camera at Vijayawada whilst hubby's digital camera was unable to work properly. Hence, I have a very limited photos to share in this entry. When we drove around the city the next day, we were more interested to stop at numerous shopping mall than visiting historical or other city's attraction. Historically, Portuguese arrived in Madras in 1522 before the Dutch, who came to established later in 1612. The British East India Company obtained a license to build a fort in 1639 from a local ruler. The French captured the fort in 1746 before the British regained control in 1749.  

For some reason, we couldn't find any decent hotel when we reached the city centre. It was mostly fully book. The Taj Hotel receptionist was kind enough to check and advised us that there was a vacancy at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Without further due, we went straight there. The room was very very nice for our time alone, without the Apple Boy, Nasrul. 

Chennai Regency Hyatt is located right in the city centre @ 365, Anna Salai, Teynampet. It received the Best International Hotel Marketing in the world 2012 award by International Hotel Awards in UK. It is only 20 minutes drive from Anna International Airport (I believed if the traffic is low). Chennai is an established business hub and a vibrant cultural destination often called as the Getaway of the South. The hotel is attached to a shopping mall, where we had lunch the next day.  

The only photo that I can share about Chennai is the view from the 11th floor of our hotel room, below. After we checked out, we went to look for other shopping mall and concluded that anything that we wishes to find, can be found in Chennai. It feels more or less like home. We hope we can visit again.