Mamallapuram

The Shore Temple.

People washing and cleaning.

The Five Rathas.

The were posing for dad.

The Cave Temple.

The bas relief carvings.

Krishna's Butterball, a marvel of nature, how did it get there, why does it stay there?

The very touristy town of Mamallapuram.

The fishermen.

And families.

Tuesday, February 27^th.

We had breakfast at the hotel and then paid our hotel bill, which included charged for the local calls I made to get my computer fixed, tacky.

We met Thoufeeq our guide in the lobby and he told us the itinerary for the day and then took us out to the bus where we met the driver Ravi and his assistant. The bus is very luxurious and has plenty of space. It there are only 10 of us and there are about 20 seats, so we all get a window seat. There is lots of leg room, overhead shelves for our day bags and the big luggage is loaded underneath the bus. Very comfortable, which is suitable as this is classed as a comfort tour.

We drove for a couple of hours along the scenic East Coast Road to get out of Chennai and into the countryside. We stopped at the fishing village of Mamallapuram. There are some significant historical monuments there. We picked up a local guide and took a tour of three sites. The first was the Shore Temple (named because it is on the shore, there were three others here that are now rubble as the ocean overwhelmed them over the centuries). This is an  incredible 8th-century temple and with beautiful mandapams (carved pillars) where the faithful pay their respects to the deity Lord Shiva. The structure is carved and built from blocks. The second one is called the Five Rathas and contains of five structures that were carved out of a big rock hill. The extraneous rock was chipped away or broken off by placing wood between rocks, wetting it and waiting for the swelling wood to break the rock. The worked top down and left the five structures. They whole complex was never finished completely because of local wars. The third was the Cave Temple, where people carved a temple and nomadic rest place into a large rock. Attached to it is a huge bas relief carving of over a hundred figures. It is the second largest carving of its kind in the world, the largest being at Ankor Watt. It is 28 metres long by 9 metres high. So four different types of carving from about 800 years ago all in a very small area.

From there we walked to the fishing village of Mamallapuram and the Santana Restaurant on the shore of the Indian Ocean. We ate our seafood lunch on the third floor overlooking the fishing boats and the ocean.

After lunch we loaded back in the bus and drove for three hours to our hotel in Pundicherry. We checked in and had a couple of hours to ourselves before gathering again for dinner. Thoufeeq took us to a local vegetarian restaurant were I had a great meal, a garlic naan and aloo govi mutter, which is spiced potato, cauliflower and green peas.

A number of us tried to go for a walk just to stretch our legs a bit, but it was really difficult. There are just too many people, way too much traffic, mostly on motorcycles and the sidewalks, if there are any, are virtually impassable with parked bikes and stuff all over them. There is just a sea of humanity. So, after a short effort we gave up and returned to the hotel for a nightcap. It was our first beer in India as our last hotel was dry.