Lost in Chennai

November 12, 2006 1:19 AM

A friend and I are planning to go to Chennai in search of adventure (we're from Singapore) in March '07. Any advice?

This'll be a 2 wks long trip and we wanna rough it out and make some friends and basically have a good time. How does one 'go off the beaten track' in Chennai?

We'd like to do all this cheaply so we're thinking of getting a room in a motel somewhere and survive mostly on roadside foods. I understand India's already a pretty cheap place to visit & all but we're recent graduates and we don't have too much money, so any tips to cut on costs would be great.

We're also thinking of travelling down to Pondicherry or Goa for a couple of days.

Thanks for the help MeFites!

posted by mordecai to travel & transportation (2 comments total)

A few things:

Goa isn't "down" from Chennai, it's "down" from Mumbai, on the other side of the country. Time for a map.

If you're in Singapore now, why not pick up some Tamil lessons from any Tamil-speaking neighbors you might have? Maybe a class? That'd go a long way, probably.
posted by mdonley at 3:31 AM on November 12, 2006

If you want to chill out on the beach with other backpackers and gorge on delicious and cheap seafood, Mahabalipuram has the goods (about a two hour bus ride from Chennai), as well as an amazing collection of rock carvings and temples.
posted by AwkwardPause at 10:45 AM on November 12, 2006