My Trip To Chennai, India (Part 4)

Motorbiking around Chennai, India

If you haven’t noticed by now, India has a lot of motorbike riders.  Motorbikes are less expensive than cars which is why you’ll see them in abundance all over the streets of India.  We were able to borrow a bike from someone so I could briefly ride around town on one for fun.  I wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of NOT having a helmet on my head but I took a chance.  Even though I survived the ride with no problems, I highly suggest wearing helmets before getting onto a motorbike—especially with the crazy driving that goes on in India.

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My Trip To Chennai, India (Part 3)

Me in an Indian sari

This day we left at 6:00 in the morning and drove all the way from Chennai to Tiruchirappalli (otherwise known as Trichy).  It was about a 5-hour drive.  We left early because we were only going to be in Trichy just for the day then planned to return to Chennai later that night.

I had no idea that later that day I would eventually be wrapped in a sari while I was there.  It was a pleasant surprise.  As a girl who loves clothes, I was all for it.  I never realized how much material was involved and how complex a sari could be.  It was gorgeous.  And after she finally got me into it properly, we topped it off with a bindi on my forehead.

She was sweet to give me the sari as a gift.  I totally did not expect that.

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My Trip To Chennai, India (Part 2)

Thiruvanmiyur Beach food vendor

For this part of my trip, one stop we made was to Thiruvanmiyur Beach.  (Thiruvanmiyur is like a suburb of Chennai.)

We ate cotton candy and kulfi ice cream (yummy) while beach strolling and passing by many food vendors—some of which had the most pretty and colorful food.  But eating from ‘street’ vendors is not always the best idea.  It’s just a chance you take.  It’s not always a bad idea—but you sometimes might pay for it later (if you know what I mean).

It was fun to watch all the waves and people surfing.  I have to say—the beach could have been a little cleaner though.  It would have been a much nicer beach had the locals not trashed it so much with litter and such.

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My Trip To Chennai, India (Part 1)

India luggage

This post is a long time coming.  My trip to India was actually back in July/August 2016 but due to many different circumstances, I am only just now getting around to writing about it.

This trip was planned one month in advance unlike my trip to Dubai that was planned within 24 hours—so I’m getting better at giving myself more time to travel these days.  But, who am I kidding?  It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t live life so spontaneously.

I traveled alone again.  It took me about 32 hours to get to Chennai, India with three different planes and the super long layovers (5 hours, 9 hours, 3 hours)—but I stayed in India almost three weeks.  And with those kinds of layovers, I had to keep myself entertained somehow—and usually it was with food.  No surprise there!

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My Trip To Dubai (Part 6)

Me

I just loved waking up every day in Dubai to my next adventure.

I had no idea today was going to be a doozy—but a doozy it was!

Desert Safari

I had SO much fun on this 6-hour safari.  Here we had the pleasure of meeting a couple from Canada and a couple from America as we all piled into the land cruiser once the driver picked everyone up from their prospective hotels.

The safari carried on from about 3:30pm-9:30pm and I loved every minute of it—well, almost every minute of it.  There was a bit of dune bashing that threw me for a huge loop.  I was NOT prepared for that, I can tell you.  What started off as a smooth ride soon turned into chaos.

I had absolutely NO IDEA we would be in a land cruiser with our driver tearing across the sand hills like a freaking maniac!!!  What was that about?!  At first I thought we were just going over a few bumpy parts to get across the desert, but NO—apparently, it’s all part of the safari adventure!  They actually hire drivers to drive around like nut jobs across the desert on the way to camp.  What?!

And my date and I were sitting in the very back seat which made the experience that much worse for me.  You can feel everything in the back seat—all the bumps and everything!  I swear I don’t know how many times I thought we were going to tip over and go rolling down any number of those hills.  Geez Louise!

One of the guys in our group took an excellent video of some of it and was kind enough to send it to me.  But in the video below, yeah, you can hear me carrying on in the back seat—but not nearly as much as I really was.  This is because the video is only 30 seconds long but our maddening ride on those hills was 30 minutes long!  And the video doesn’t make the ride seem nearly as rough as it really was.  Trust me.

[wpvideo GqDOGDqK]

Video courtesy of Scott McQuistan

It was all I could do to keep myself from getting nauseous, dizzy, and throwing up vomit in the back seat—considering I noticed there was absolutely no way to let the windows down in the back seat just in case I had an accident.  Seriously?!  Is this really happening right now?!  My date tried to help me through it all best he could, bless his heart.

Somewhere along the way to camp, we stopped at a local store for about a 5-minute rest break.  We grabbed some snacks to eat the rest of the way to camp.

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My Trip To Dubai (Part 5)

Me

Ready to go on a dinner cruise in the Dubai Marina.

I couldn’t wait to get on the boat and sail down the Marina while having dinner buffet-style.  You know I love food.

The Dhow Cruise

When we arrived to the boat, there were fresh sweet dates waiting on a platter before we even stepped onto the boat.  I can’t begin to describe how sweet these things were!  Omg.  I couldn’t eat just one.

I finally had to pull myself away so I could board the boat because my date kept encouraging me to try another one and another one because he saw how much I liked them.  I’m telling you—I could have eaten the entire platter myself.  Which means there’d be none left for the rest of the crew—but such is life.

This cruise was one of the most beautiful and romantic ever!  I loved looking out the window at the water and all the beautiful buildings.  It was a sight to behold.

Me

 Me and my dinner escort.

The buffet-style dinner was lovely.  Of course, I had to get one of everything which required more than one plate.  And since I don’t have eight arms, I could only carry one plate back to the table.  But my date surprised me by bringing me a second plate with food from the other side of the buffet—which I hadn’t made my way to yet.  But you knew I was headed there, right?

For someone that’s only known me a short time, he figured me out pretty quickly when it comes to food!  He was such a gentleman taking care of me.  Ahh, I just absolutely loved meeting people in Dubai.

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My Trip To Dubai (Part 4)

Me

I’m all ready to go see the famous Burj Al Arab hotel.

Now I’m on my way to Jumeirah to see the Burj Al Arab.  Ohhh, my goodness gracious I’m so excited.

The Burj Al Arab

What can I say about this magnificent creature?  I’m speechless, I tell you.  Totally speechless.  I can’t even begin to describe its beauty.

I was on my way to have lunch at the Al Muntaha restaurant.  First of all, you’re not even allowed to go up the long drive that leads directly up to the hotel without having a reservation either at the hotel or at one of the restaurants at the hotel.  You have to show security at the gate that you actually have a reservation or you’re not getting anywhere close to that bad boy.  No siree!

The taxi drivers will even ask you when you first get into the car if you have a reservation there because they already know they aren’t getting past a certain point if you don’t have one.  So don’t even try it!

I found this interesting video on how the Burj Al Arab was built.  It totally blew my mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGzSNZudEHw

I did some sightseeing outside the hotel and wandered around the inside of the first floor.  Then I made my way to the restaurant’s personal elevator/lift that goes directly from the first floor straight to the restaurant.

And, oh my goodness, what a view of the sea from that glass elevator ride!  I wanted to ride it all day long like a little kid—up down, up down.

The view from the restaurant windows is even more fabulous.  You look directly out the window and all you see below you is the beautiful Persian Gulf/Arabian Sea.  Pure gorgeousness!  You’re literally out on the sea in this hotel!

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