2) Mamallapuram our first contact with India

After bribing the ticket controller with the equivalent of 1 EUR (which seems to represent a fortune for him) we managed to get 2 seats for the 50 km up to Mamallapuram(also known as Mahabalipuram). It took almost 2 hours, but considering all the vehicles on the road (including cattle and a wide range of other animals) this seems to be a good average.

In Mamallapuram we selected the Sea Breeze Hotel, chose a room with a fan and no air condition. What attracted us was the huge swimming pool. However, we were so tired that we slept until 4:00 PM. In the afternoon we found an internet cafe, which was not difficult as there are plenty of them in town, and tried to solve our final problem in Frankfurt.

Mamallapuram is a nice little town on the sea side, which was not damaged by the Tsunami, with some really impressive monuments. The town specialises in sculptures of all sizes, which can be found on literally every corner.

On the second day, Klaudia hurt her left leg badly when trying to climb over a fence. So we spent the rest of the day by an in the pool, what a loss of time! Thank God (or maybe it was Vishnu) she recovered quickly after some exercises in the pool and Stephan's good care. In the end we managed to visit the main attractions of the town.

Our next stop will be Chidambaram, if we manage to change busses in Pondicherry within the same day.

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Part of trip: Asia Tour 2005

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