Road Trip to Vaitheeswaran Kovil - Part 5 ::: Unwinding at the hotel

While checking in at Hotel Sampoorna, I reminded the guy at the desk about the extra bed. When my mother had confirmed the booking 2 days earlier, she did tell the guy that there were going to be 3 of us and so we would need an extra bed. The person who spoke to her had said that they would provide that at an additional cost.

So, I reminded this guy about the extra bed. He coolly replied that they don't have extra bed. I told him about the phone conversation and he said that their hotel doesn't stock extra beds, only extra bedsheets. Apparently, when they say extra bed over the phone, they actually mean bed sheet.

The worst part, he was going to charge me 100 bucks extra for that one extra bed sheet! I got upset and asked him about the availability of a bigger room. He said there was a family room with 4 beds and would cost 200 rupees more than the room I'd booked. I instantly took that room.

We walked up to the first floor - not because we were full of energy or too health conscious, we had no other option since the hotel only had stairs and no lift - and entered our room.

The room was pretty good in size. The beds were very neat. The A/C was Blue Star. The attached bathroom looked very clean, though the water closet was Indian and not European. There was even a small TV in the room. The 2 double beds were quite big too. For Rs.770 + tax, it came across as a fair deal.

My parents decided to rest. We made quick plans that in the evening, we would first set out to the local temple and then go to Chidambaram temple. But at some point or the other, it was clear that I would have had to drive in the twilight or even later. Based on my earlier experience on that route earlier in the day, I was quite convinced that I shouldn't be driving my car.

I enquired with the hotel reception and booked a local cab operator to take us there and return. Once this was decided, I decided to take a stroll around the hotel to buy some packaged water. You must be informed that I had set out on this trip in my cargos and I'd not changed them.

So while I walked around the main road of Sirkazhi in my cargos, you can rest assured that I got quite a lot of stares from the local residents. I am used to hot girls staring at me in Chennai (sic), but there was no such entity in this town. Every person on the road, in the shops, in the bus, in some vehicle... anyone and everyone did a double take looking at me. I cannot attribute it to any factor other than my cargos.

Anyway, I bought the water and returned to the room. Updated my parents about the proximity of the Sirkazhi temple and confirmed our evening plans. Then I had a minor siesta for 30-40 minutes.

Around 4.15 PM, we all started getting ready for our evening trip to the Sirkazhi temple and later on, to Chidambaram.