Chennai :(

Hello everyone!
I am writing you from the internet cafe right across from our hotel. We got here to Chennai on Thursday night and it has been very different from Bangalore. Bangalore is like the IT capital of India but Chennai is the trash covered, endless traffic, stinkhole of India. Our first night in we got a cab (with no a/c) and it took us no joke at 9:00 in the evening 2 HOURS to get to our hotel covering a distance of maybe 25 miles at the most. Our hotel that Em and I found on a hostel website was (as anyone could guess) not what it was in the pictures. It was a room with a dirty bed, no shower just a hose and buckets, and it was in a sketchy area. We watched some tv and the only thing in English was Disney channel and The Wizards of Waverly Place....yay. We woke early the next morning and set out to find the hotel Emily's dad looked up for us but we were to stubborn to see until after a night there. Oh yeah and someone was banging our our door at 12 AM asking if we needed anything I shouted NO NO GO AWAY.....it was funny, except not cuz I was asleep.
We went to the other hotel and It has been great. On Friday we explored the city...we saw Marina Beach and were followed and had our pictures taken a lot and people ran over to have their kids shake our hands. We got Pizza Hut for lunch cuz I have been craving food from home. We did not do much else except drive around the city in a rickshaw and take pics. I have seen in this city 3 people just doing their business in public: a little girl girl just squatting on the road in with tons of cars going by was just taking a crap right there, a baby boy with his mom holding his thing peeing into the street, and (scarred for life) an old man squatting on a curb and I wont say anymore , it is too scary.
We decided if we were going to survive another full day in this city with something to do that we would take the tour down to the beach temples in Mallampuram. We got up super early and went to wait for our tour bus. I had taken my pills on an empty stomach and the tour was supposed to give us breakfast but I didn't think the it would be well into the tour. At the tour center waiting for the bus I got really queezy....I ran to the bathroom and puked. Yes mommy I got sick and needed you :( But after throwing up I felt fine and have felt fine since then....I think it was just the pills with no food that did it (and the horrible smells of the city)
The worst smell of all time: the smell of them burning their garbage....well and the smell of the river that runs though town!
So we went on our tour and saw cool temples (we couldn't actually go all the way into them cuz we are not Hindi) but it was cool. We did go to this little part where a guy blessed us cuz we are not married and he prayed for us to get married and gave us that red stuff on our foreheads....and then expected a donation. One thing I am learning about tours...it is all a scam to get more money. We had to stop and look at their affiliates saree and silk shop and pay for lots of extras...not much but still! We went to see the Shore temple which is a world historic monument dating really far back. It was cool cuz it was right on the beach and we got some great pictures.
They fed us breakfast and lunch. Breakfast in Southern India is one thing. It is called Idlis and it is yuck times ten. It is white dough stuff you dip in some spicy stuff. And they have donuts that you think are gonna be good but they are filled with spices and super deep fried. I am sitting there trying to force it down thinking of your biscuits and gravy Aunt Linda or my mommy's tiger cakes or John's omelette's. Lunch was pretty good it was rice and spicy gravy and naan...so good.
We made friends with four American girls on our tour bus so that was cool. The last part of our tour was stopping off at their local amusement park here and it was awesome. We were freaking hot so we went on the log ride and got soaked which actually was not cool cuz then we dried just sticky.
Overall this has been an experience.....I would not call it good or really bad just there.
I want to apologize if my typing is getting hard to read, I am getting used to speaking in mixed up sentences so that I am understood but the Indians.
Well we are off to the orphanage with the organization so we will be taken care of for the next two weeks rather than taking care of ourselves...YAY!!!!!
I love you all!
~Michelle