7:30 Pack our bags and check out.

8:00 We hit the road to Coimbatore. The road down the mountains from Ooty is long and windy. Ember begins to feel sick again. The weather is really clear today. It would be such a beautiful drive if it weren't for all of the pollution. The pollution here is a very big problem. I recall that as we were driving into Ooty, we passed by a group of children walking to school. I remember how sick it made me as a truck drove by them and shot a jet of black exhaust in their faces

10:30 After a little diversion we arrive at the Coimbatore airport. We unload the car and tip our driver with what we felt was a fair tip. He apparently didn't think so. He gave us "the look." The first sign we see tells us that more than half of the scheduled flights have been cancelled. From the looks of it, our flight is the only one leaving today. We are quite a bit early for our flight but its better than being quite a bit late - which might have happened had we run into one of the Indian roadblocks we've become so familiar with. We use some of our extra cash to buy some candy bars they are selling in the airport. The extra time allows me to think about some of the things I need to take care of when I return home. Ember gets a little active again. For some reason she moves the bench all of us are sitting on. This sends a shriek throughout the whole gate. Luckily everybody just looks at us and laughs. Not too long after that incident she gets bored and asks us to draw a pen moustache on her face. Crazy girl!

12:50 We walk out to the tarmac to board the plane. I want to take a picture of the plane but an armed security guard comes after me and tells me not to. I sneak one in anyway. Depart Coimbatore.

13:40 Arrive in Cheenai (Madras) - We are now back in the warm weather. Ember hits up the service attendants for some of the extra sandwiches they served to us on the plane. She scores and walks off the plane with six sandwiches! After picking up our luggage we find a taxi. The driver, the owner of the taxi, and the flagman break into fighting over who gets to keep our money. This goes on for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, I keep yelling at the driver to take us to our hotel. As we drive into downtown Madras I see yet another side of India. This city seems more like a capital city than Delhi ever did. We check into the hotel. K.C. has pulled through again: the girls love the place. And, as a bonus for me, I think the girl at the service desk is beautiful. What a dream. The hotel is nicer than anything I've ever stayed in back home. I would still prefer to stay in something just a little more traditionally "Indian." I feel like I'm in the U.S. when I stay in places like this. I'm not complaining. If I were to do this again I would definitely go through K.C. - I think he has really worked miracles as far as getting us deals: I feel like a king in this place. They even give the girls white bathrobes and slippers (not to mention roses on the pillows every morning.) After checking in I head out to the pool.

16:15 I leave the hotel to walk the streets of Chennai. In so many ways I see that Chennai is like Delhi. The markets are selling the same stuff. The rickshaw drivers are all hasseling me the same way. The pollution is just as bad. But Chennai is different in a few ways - I see a common city park, much like a park back home, filled with people enjoying it. Across the street is a basketball court with about thirty guys playing basketball. None of them are very good (like I'm one to talk) but this just seems like such a happier place. I also experience something I never thought I would in India: I walk into a grocery store. Er, uh, a supermarket actually. I wonder how all of the street vendors will live when the department stores take over.

19:30 Back to the hotel. Wanting some time to myself I head to the coffee shop to get some tomato soup and a milk shake. The girls just happen to be walking down and catch me red handed.