Hi everyone!

Well sorry yesterday was so short, the internet cafe shop shut and we had to go straight away. So I will carry on from yesterdays entry.

After the fantastic South Indian Classical Dance, we had a very average dinner, and then headed home. I chatted to Claire for a couple of hours about various things - our Indian experiences, nursing in Aus, and other things. After a couple of hours sleep, we woke up again to face another day.

On Friday, I went to the zoo with Lizzie and Wally. It is called Anna Zoological Park, and is about 1 hour south of Chennai. Well, it would be about 15 minutes south if it were Australia, but Indian roads do not allow the luxury of short, simple trips! It is the biggest zoo in South East Asia, and cost a whopping 15Rs (50c) to enter.

At the zoo, we saw many animals, including lions, zebras, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, chimpanzees, the good old emus and kangaroos, and other things. I didn't enjoy myself that much, like, it was good and all, but maybe I have seen too many zoos. And I think the amazingly high standards of Australia have made me a little spoilt!

After the zoo, we rushed back as fast as we could to the hostel, as Deepa was due to pick me up at 4.00pm. When we got back, we had Subway for lunch. It was fairly average too, nothing like Aus. Again, I have been spoilt too much at home I think!

So I said my good byes to Lizzie and Wally, paid my account, and headed off with Deepa and her son Yohan. Getting my now massive and extremely heavy suitcase into her tiny car was our first adventure!

She took me to San Thome Basilica. This is a huge, catholic cathedral on the beach. It is so amazing and beautiful. St Thomas the Apostle's body is still buried here, and we went underground to the chapel where his body lays under the altar. There was a wedding going on, so we couldn't get too close, but it was still very interesting. We also had a look at the museum, and then went into the actual Basilica. There is so much history here, we could have spent hours just looking at it all!

Following this, we went for a walk looking for a specific jewellery shop. We found it but didn't buy anything. We then went for dinner at a restaurant, Deepa ordered for me, and man it was nice! This was the first time that I had to eat with my hands. She said I did very well, so good, she thought I'd been doing it all week! I have found out why there is no toilet paper in toilets. They use their left hand to wipe. Literally. Now I know why they only eat with their right hand! Pretty gross hey? I'm carrying tissues with me everywhere I go!!!

After dinner, we went to Kapaleeshwarar Temple. This is a huge Hindu temple in the middle of Chennai. The history here was also very interesting.

After this, Deepa bought some fresh flowers that the ladies sit and tie together all day and put them in our hair. We then went to the Le Meridien Hotel. This is a huge hotel, that looks like it came straight from the scene of Titanic. It is 5 star with 4 restaurants. Now, Deepa's husband, Manuel, is the executive chef here! He has 400 chefs working for him. What an amazing job! After meeting Manuel, we went back to their apartment, which is not far from the hotel.

I had my first wash out of a bucket, and then stayed up chatting with Deepa and later Manuel until about midnight. It is so interesting, the things that they do here! I still can't get over the arranged marriages. Oh, and the Hindu funerals. The dress the corpse up and sit them up on a carriage, breaking their legs if they have to, and then have a huge procession down the street. Deepa said that they spend way more money on their funeral then they ever spent on them when they were alive. Wierd, hey?

The next morning, Saturday, we drove to Mahabulipuram. This is a small village 1.5 hours south of Chennai. We visited the Shore Temple. This is a temple built in the 1500's, by the Hindus. There are actually 6 of them, but the other 5 are now covered by the sea. When the tsunami came, the water went right out at first. For the first time in hundreds of years, the other 5 temples had become visible. All of the town people ran to the shore, as it was a miracle to see these temples. And then the water came back in a huge wave and took everybody out. Thousands were killed. The whole shore line is pretty well rebuilt now, but the memories remain, and it is still a very sombre place.

When we got back to the carpark, another car had parked directly behind our car, and Manuel had a meeting to get to. He tried to get out, and ended up scraping the car next to us. It only had rubber, it was not scratched. Then the other man came back, and there was a huge fight! We got quite an audience by the end of it. I felt sorry for Manuel and Deepa! They didn't mind though.

After this, we went to a restaurant for lunch. Deepa ordered me North Indian Thali. This is like about 7 dishes around the outside of a plate with 2 different breads in the middle. It was really yum!

Manuel then went to his school reunion. We went shopping in T Nagar. This is the biggest shopping area of Chennai. First of all, we went into a sari shop. There were thousands and thousands of saris here, ranging from 200Rs ($6) to 1 lakh = 100 000Rs. I bought an orange silk sari, similiar to the colour of my formal dress. It has real gold sewn through it! It is really beautiful, and I am wearing it for Fr Thomas' jubilee on the 26th December. We bought an underskirt and material to have sewn into a blouse for me to wear also. This shop took almost 2 hours!

We then went to gold shops. Now the gold here is 91.6% pure gold, which is as pure as you can get. 22KTS by Aus standards. The shops are enormous! They are like 50m wide and 100m long and 3-5 stories! All of pure gold! I bought... aaah... a couple of items here. It is very cheap for such excellent quality. I bought a ring for myself, with 7 rubies in it (real ones) and pure gold. It only cost about $120AUD. Pretty cheap for the quality!

Following our shopping, we returned home about 9pm, had dinner which was a lentil curry and rice, also some fried fish. Very delish! Then Deepa and I chatted again until about 1am, when the boys kicked us out. I really enjoyed talking with Deepa - she speaks excellent English, and we got on so well right from the start.

The next morning, Sunday, Deepa took me to St Thomas Mount. This is not far from her place, and is the place where St Thomas lived and was killed when praying. It is very inspiring place, and I touched the stone that St Thomas himself carved 2000 years ago. It was amazing.

After this, we rushed home for a quick, but beautiful lunch of Dosa, a type of bread with a mustard type curry. They then took me to the airport with just 30 minutes to go before my international flight! Eeek! Oh, and then they flight got moved forward 20 minutes. Just what we needed! I rushed through, like running the whole way, got abused for being so late, and jumped onto the plane just before take off. I was so close to missing it I don't even want to think about it!

When I arrived in Cochin International Airport, Fr Thomas met me with his brother, John and a driver that they hired. The trip back to where they live was about 3.5 hours, it was very long but the scenery was interesting. Very different to Madras!

The next day, Monday, yesterday, I met lots of Fr Thomas' family and friends. His mother and brother John live in the house where I'm staying. John's wife also lives there, but she is in Saudi Arabia at the moment. John's son, Kevin, is 13. He speak very good english also which makes things a bit easier! Communication is a serious effort here!

Yesterday and today we just stayed at the family home. Fr Thomas' sister, Elsie, came 60km on the bus to meet me. She stayed the night last night and went home today. I also met Preethi, Priya's sister (Priya lives in Toowoomba), Priya's mother Theresa, and Priya's father, who I have forgotten the name. Fr Thomas' brother Jose, and some cousins came around also. Fr Thomas has been busy signing and sending invites for his jubilee. He has sent about 1000 invitations!

Tomorrow, we are going to Kottayam, which is 33km from here. That should be good also.

I hope you are all doing well - thanks for the messages Alex and Damo - it's good to know people are still out there! I am having a good time, but I am looking forward to coming home - it is a completely different world here.

Deepa is coming to Kerala on the 27th. I can't wait to see her again. My few days with her has been the highlight of my trip so far. She is just the most beautiful person. She has begun the process of moving to Aus. She hopes to be there in 18 months. I can't wait - I'm so glad that we will be closer together.

Love you all lots,

See you in 3 weeks today!

Love Melody

PS. I have uploaded some more photos!