It has been a while since I'd done an England away test match, New Zealand March 2013 to be precise and was getting increasingly jealous reading on Facebook my mates were all there.
My new job meant I had to cancel my hotel in Visakhapatnam (Vizag), but I had 4 days annual leave so I could squeeze a long weekend in Chennai for the last test just before Christmas. My inflexibility of flights (needed to travel after work on the Wednesday and be back Tuesday in readiness for work again Wednesday) meant I paid over the odds on flights, which pained a budget conscious traveller like myself.
I arrived mid afternoon on the Thursday, still in the clothes I went to work in the day before tired after a, restless at best, sleep on the train.
I'd read about the money situation in India, after an overnight withdrawal of all the 500 (£6) and 1000 rupee notes a few weeks back. I'd read of huge queues at ATM's and everyone struggling to get hold of the replacement notes.
I naively thought that arriving at an international airport I'd be ok to use the ATM there and get sufficient to last me my stay....WRONG!
Every ATM was "Out of Order" the money changers only had new 2000 notes at poor rates. I'd read the 2000 notes were near impossible to spend because no one had change, so decided to not bother.
I had 60 rupees from a previous visit, a taxi from the airport was 500, oh dear. However budget conscious Phil, walked to the train station and caught a train to Chennai main station, at a wallet saving price of 5 rupee (6p).
The train was fairly hardcore, no doors and cages separating sections of the carriage. Indian Railways have a novel solution to the train debate in the UK over who is going to open the doors by simply removing them!
I then had to catch 2 further trains for a further 5 rupee. The station I got off at was down a dodgy alley from the main road. I had to paddle through mud, puddles and litter whilst been attacked by goats, chickens, turkeys and dogs...still in my work clothes, and it was hot!
Onto the main road, every ATM I passed had no money, what was I going to do?
My hotel had no money to change. I caught an uber taxi to my mates hotel for a quiet few drinks before the cricket....WRONG (I knew that hotel would allow me to pay by card).
This hotel allowed me to change £30, a friend had sorted my a ticket for the cricket so settled in at the bar. 10 pints, a few shots and a 16,000 rupee bar bill for the 3 of us, £70 each. The fancy bar only had premium lagers, I was looking forward to a cold kingfisher.
Armed with rupees I got a tuk tuk home, the driver got breathalyzed on the way back.
One thing I haven't mentioned is the fact Chennai is a grim old place. The city wasn't helped by a cyclone that had ripped through the city 2 days earlier. Huge trees laid everywhere was evidence of the devastation.
The cricket was tough going, as had been traditional I left at lunchtime to seek out that cold kingfisher....WRONG. A tiny pub I'd frequented during the 2011 world cup near the ground were only selling 6% British Empire beers. It turns out, due to a dispute, Kingfisher is banned from Tamil Nadu state.
The pub was full of my mates, I love the fact you can be in the middle of nowhere more.then half a world away and meet up with your mates.
I did see an ATM that was working, but didn't fancy the 100+ queue to get to the front.
Another day another beer. This time at the hotel bar of the place I stayed at on my last visit. A dark fairly modern underground bar with a loose aquatic theme called the submarine bar.
This place only had 8% fosters. Yes that was 8%! It was drinkable with a dash of sprite but got you way too drunk. Sadly this place at 8pm turned unpleasant when the music started blasting out beats, but by then it was almost time to go home as the effect of the drink had kicked in.
The next few days followed a similar theme, poor England cricket and strong beer.
A blog I posted whilst travelling mentioned that you can tell how good a place is by the number of photographs you take over the trip, I took 8 in 4 days!
In my way home I changed planes in Mumbai, where I finally got a kingfisher, and if I'd wanted to could have withdrawn some money. To finish off the trip, the bus that takes you from the departure lounge to get onto the plane broke down on the short route.
It was literally a flying visit into India, not one I particularly enjoyed. This was my second visit to Chennai, and would definitely be my last. Was it worth it? Well yeah it probably was, after all you can't beat a few days of cricket and beer with your mates.
