It got a bit frantic at the last because Wink, Gita and I managed to be left without a driver. We finally arrived at the wedding hall just as the ceremony started, but it's not a faux pas like entering the church after the bride, people mill around all the time.
This afternoon, we went shopping with our new young Croatian friends, Marina and Maja. We turned out not to be half as good as Indian ladies at shopping. Having bought nothing, we wound up at a modern shopping mall. We were open-mouthed. It was huge, filled with Western-named shops, M&S, French Connection, Accessorise, you name it, and lots more besides. On five levels, each of them pretty enormous. There were loads of people, but I have the feeling that more looking than shopping was going on. We wanted to find a grocery store and found a supermarket in the basement where we bought fruit and water for our journey tomorrow. Then we queued. It was supposedly the speedy checkout but nothing is speedy in India and it took an age. We were all hot and bothered by the time we left. There was a guard on the door to check your receipt. We also found a bureau de change, which actually gave a good rate of exchange, so I changed another £100 - not that I've spent much of the first lot, mind you, as yet, but that'll change in the next few days because we have been guests since Friday. Anyway, none of us cared much for the mall.
Tonight, we're back to our friend's house for dinner again - the wedding eve caterer, who is a friend of the bride's, owns a couple of restaurants, one of which serves Thai food and that is what we will have this evening. Wink has taken off her sari (she's wearing a dress, darlings, do get a grip), I know the guests will have changed but I only brought the one sari and have few chances to wear it, so I'm keeping it on. I received a lot of compliments, some from charming unknown women in shops, saying that I look very natural and wear it well, and I do enjoy wearing it.
I'm pretty confident of free wifi in hotels, so you'll probably hear from me again. I can't sleep much, five hours a night would be the most, but I'm having such a good time. And it's lovely to have Wink here too, we're having fun together.
Sent from my iPhone
9 comments:
You go all that way and end up in a shopping mall?
Still, glad you're having fun.
Bit spooky as you've now decided to follow me on Twitter. I only tweeted to say we had bluebells in our garden in response to a survey. Don't expect much else.
A shopping mall on holiday?! Get a grip, Z! xx
Wasn't my choice, the girls had been told about it. They didn't like it either though.
mall or not - I am glad to learn that you are generally enjoying your travel. I will catch up next weekend and hope to find you al well and kicking!
It's weird walking into very Western shops in very un-Western countries but what fun it all sounds.
Just waiting for the car, then off to Pondicherry
Another lovely day in sunny Chennai.
Ooh, Wink told the girls about my blog. Maja is reading it Right Now. Eek. I feel quite shy.
Still waiting for the car, btw. 11 o'clock is a fluid time. No problem.
You suit a Sari Z. You need to adopt it on a permanent basis
Good idea, Rog. I'll bear it in mind for my return home.
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