I’ve decided to take a break from Night Clubs, Bars and Hotels for a bit, but I can’t quite find the heart to turn my back on my beloved Chennai(don’t say ANYTHING rude about that!;). Let’s go shopping? Spencer Plaza, anyone? No? Aha! That’s right there’s a new mall in town and it’s called City Centre! What joy! A NEW shopping experience, and believe me I was excited to be going somewhere new that Saturday afternoon.
Another journey and an uneventful one and I arrived. I was surprised, delighted and over the moon to see a building that wasn’t externally grimy, dirty or damaged. It was magnificent, bright and beautifully ornate sandstone. Bet you didn’t know I knew words like that! I’m edjookated you see! I paid the taxi and skipped my way across the patio and into City Centre.
One inside, I was faced with another revelation, most of the clothing shops were up market and many were designer outlets and neat cafes and, and, and.; this just wasn’t another Spencer Plaza! Up a floor(or two, I can’t remember) and there was Landmark and this was a great place; a shop with more books than I have seen for sale in one place, combined with toys, music, films, accessories and fragrances! I tried to track down some authentic books on Chennai but all I ended with was a decent map with a small tourist guide in the front of it. Sadly it seems that you can buy many books on Rajasthan, Goa, Kerala and the Taj Mahal but poor old Chennai gets ignored(and I think unjustly if you are looking for the’real’ India outside the tourist places). But that’s not Landmark’s fault, it’s the same in most book shops I went to in Chennai. In full I spent over an hour in Landmark.
There was also an Inox cinema as part of the complex, the first really modern cinema I had seen in Chennai, although I wasn’t keen on seeing a movie when I had exploring to do. There was also a department store(Lifestyle), electronics stores etc…. And everything lacked the shabbiness of Spencer Plaza. And another thing none of those stupid trinket stores! You know the type? Handicrafts, carpets, carvings, gemstones and all that stuff that they think that just because you’re from Europe that you’ll be bound to buy. You know what? After many years of traipsing through Spencer Plaza on a weekend it was refreshing to go to a shopping centre where the sales staff(NOT "traders") don’t hassle you. So that’s a BIG plus from me!
But upstairs was interesting too, there were pretty high class restaurants up there as well as KFC(obviously aimed at my class of person, the KFC that is & not the nicer ones… joking!) and a supermarket….
Then clambering even further up, I found another great revelation…. A roof top restaurant and a really nicely presented buffet one at that with great views over the city towards Marina Beach. But I didn’t try the food as I was now on a mission… it was 3:00pm… 37degC… could I with a map in hand, WALK from City Centre and get to Spencer Plaza? More in Part 2….