We fled the Raj Res with little sentimentality, but a lot of relief and vowed to inspect all rooms from that day forward. On the heavily littered street we threw our packs into the deceptively spacious "Tardis" Auto-Rik-Shaw (ARS), and headed to the terminal. We scored a friendly driver, which is apparently very rare in Tamil Nadu who was in good spirits and heading home to his village mid-morning due to the Gandhi holiday. Finding the correct bus at ...

Sardine Air delivered us, complete with twisted limbs and pins and needles, safely to the runway in Chennai. The airport was surprisingly subdued for the 5th largest city in India. (Population over 64 million in Tamil Nadu) We passed the swine flu test in flying technicolour, with patches of sunburn glowing deep luminous red on the screening monitor, and moved swiftly through customs, and along the red-carpet exit route, lined with happy head waggling family memb...