To the Beach...
Happy Labor Day! We guess you can say that we celebrated the end of summer last weekend by going to the beach. We'll probably keep going to the beach though, since the summer here isn't ending anytime soon.
We drove to the clean and tidy Ideal Beach Resort about an hour south of Chennai. With its palm trees, hammocks, thatch-roofed beach cabanas, and generous helpings of white people turning embarassingly red in the sun, we could have been anywhere in the world! Adjacent to Ideal was an active fisherman's beach, with its constant activity of boats emerging from the crashing waves to the sandy shores. Thanks to this, we treated ourselves to a rare taste of seafood. There are fish markets in Vellore, but their lack of refrigeration or ice in this climate makes us feel ... like not going there.
Ashok, our driver for the weekend, welcoming us to Ideal Beach Resort. The frosty effect is the condensation on our lens after emerging from an air conditioned car into the soggy, hot air near the beach. The sign welcomes the "Lufthansa crew", "Ajith", "Ravi", and "Jacqueline Park." Gosh darnit, kinda felt special!
Fisherboys on the beach
A Kenny G.-style walk along the sand. The universal language! (Yes, it's all over India).
We had ourselves some good clean family fun. We visited a traditional Indian crafts village, complete with representative dwellings from various regions in South India, as well as a Crocodile Park. We asked our driver to join us inside for some reptilian memories, but he declined, telling us that he visits it twice a month with his family.
No, this wasn't just idle crocodile watching. We did learn a thing or two!
Really? Over aah'rhuh ma'nneh ?! Sweet Shiva!!
Tourists at the Indian Folk Village
Adjacent to Crocodile Park was "Dizzee World", the requisite developing-country, depressing budget incarnation of Disney World, with faux Mickey Mouses which leave something to be desired. In this case, the Mickey Mouse imposter made us want to run and hide. We can't get this tiny dancer out of our minds. Watch the video, and you'll know why!! (Footnote: This is a small (and scary) man, not a child).
"Come hither!" First, he emerged out of the shadows and walked briskly towards us as we gasped in horror. He cast a spell on the security guard, who was powerless to do anything. Wait. No spell necessary.
It was even less cute up close. Looks like the Indian Post got their hands on the mask.
"If my rap's soup my beats is stock...
Our tiny dancer put on a bizarre show. Alex was entranced by his private dancer, yet he still cowered in fear.
Creepy family portrait. Is this a bad omen?
Happy Labor Day! We guess you can say that we celebrated the end of summer last weekend by going to the beach. We'll probably keep going to the beach though, since the summer here isn't ending anytime soon.
We drove to the clean and tidy Ideal Beach Resort about an hour south of Chennai. With its palm trees, hammocks, thatch-roofed beach cabanas, and generous helpings of white people turning embarassingly red in the sun, we could have been anywhere in the world! Adjacent to Ideal was an active fisherman's beach, with its constant activity of boats emerging from the crashing waves to the sandy shores. Thanks to this, we treated ourselves to a rare taste of seafood. There are fish markets in Vellore, but their lack of refrigeration or ice in this climate makes us feel ... like not going there.
Ashok, our driver for the weekend, welcoming us to Ideal Beach Resort. The frosty effect is the condensation on our lens after emerging from an air conditioned car into the soggy, hot air near the beach. The sign welcomes the "Lufthansa crew", "Ajith", "Ravi", and "Jacqueline Park." Gosh darnit, kinda felt special! 
Fisherboys on the beach
A Kenny G.-style walk along the sand. The universal language! (Yes, it's all over India).We had ourselves some good clean family fun. We visited a traditional Indian crafts village, complete with representative dwellings from various regions in South India, as well as a Crocodile Park. We asked our driver to join us inside for some reptilian memories, but he declined, telling us that he visits it twice a month with his family.
No, this wasn't just idle crocodile watching. We did learn a thing or two!
Really? Over aah'rhuh ma'nneh ?! Sweet Shiva!!
Tourists at the Indian Folk Village
"Come hither!" First, he emerged out of the shadows and walked briskly towards us as we gasped in horror. He cast a spell on the security guard, who was powerless to do anything. Wait. No spell necessary.
It was even less cute up close. Looks like the Indian Post got their hands on the mask.
"If my rap's soup my beats is stock...I'll stir fry you in my wok!"
(Credit Beastie Boys) Would've loved to stir fry him , tasty thing.
Our tiny dancer put on a bizarre show. Alex was entranced by his private dancer, yet he still cowered in fear.
Creepy family portrait. Is this a bad omen?
posted by Alex and Jeeyung at 2:19 AM
4 Comments:
Ah, the memories. Life in India. You just can't beat it. I am totally loving reading this. You may not be surprised to hear that since coming home, nothing remotely as entertaining has happened to me. It's just not funny in the West.
Oh my god! Terrifying! It seems to be 1 part "Chucky", one part "Wizard of Oz" and a large dosage of 1 part Steven King's "It" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099864/. . . I never realized that Indian Halloween Terror Theme parks started up so early in the season.
My advice is, whatever you do, don't say anything quietly to your mirror three times. . . who knows what might come and get you. . .
thanks - my dreams will never be the same ...
Thank you tiny dancer. I will always be haunted by your "get freaky" dance.
Alex, you've got a future in film buddy.
-F
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