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Shore Temple
Only looks harmless from afar. Okay, so we didn't actually go to Dehli. Sorry to disappoint, but we, as in Yaozahs and RCoch (YES. RYAN COCHRAN IS FINALLY HERE AND BANG-BANG-BANGIN') still have an exciting tale to share. Listen up, children.
THURSDAY: Bonzai and Bollywood
So our adventure began back in Bangalore on a Thursday morning in the bacteria-churgling belly of the next victim... EMILY GORE. Two Emilys down, Justin was sent to do fieldwork in the city with Vikash for some more potential client market research due dilly. Jelena and Eyao went to Central Bangalore for some errands (money exchange, ticket purchases, and SHHSHH secret surprise for Yuko’s birthday!) Through the power of The Internet and some white lies, Jel and Emily stealthily snuck the surprise from the office to the apartment- all under the acute, spice-sensitive nose of Yuko Teramae!
At night, the girls decided to cook food from scratch for their very first time in India. What better Indian dish than Spaghetti! Improvising with a microwave, tomato paste, sugar cubes, dry pasta, and mineral water bought from the local convenience store, they treated Vikash and Justin to a hearty meal of food and laughter. One longggg blackout later, we surprised
Happy Birthday Yuko!
23-year-old and her young plotters. Yuko with a delicious arrangement of petite tarts, an exotically painted miniature elephant of Karnataka descent, several "Happy Birthday" songs, and multiple "BONZAI" waves in honor of her Japanese heritage. No Anime characters this time though.... We spent the night head-nodding to some Indian MTV Bhangra beats.
FRIDAY: We’re being bugged!
Friday was not eventful. We woke up, tried to cook rice (seemingly easy since we're all Asian) but failed. (Actually, it’s because there were buggies in the rice.) Egore went to do urban fieldwork, interviewing potential clients, and we went to the office, but were unfocused since we were too busy excitedly anticipating Ryan's arrival!
SATURDAY: The Druglord Arrives…
On the crack of 5am, we were up, packed, and on a taxi headed to the airport. After some heavy searching and ruffled eyebrows, the girls and Ryan FINALLY found each other- and true to a dramatic airport scene fashion- ran towards each other in passionate embrace. He smelled really bad. We then headed on a 45 minute flight to Chennai, where we took a "one hour" taxi ride of sweat to Mamallapuram. Once we began to see the shores and feel the thick wetness of humidity, we
knew we were close.
Mamallapurum is a quaint beach town south of Chennai, known for its beaches, Shore Temples, sea food, and small shops, and aggressive beggars. While we saw more foreigners (Swedes, we think) than we've ever seen since we’ve been in India, there still weren't that many visitors because 1) it's off-peak season and 2) tourism hasn't been the same since the Tsunami scare. We settled for a resort called Siva's Guesthouse (recommended by Lonely Planet!), which was very cheap (only 1,100 Ru/ $30 a night for five people) and very comfortable (aka "The best night's sleep in India ever!") It was then, our very own Pharmaceutical Santa Claus, Ryan Cochran, unzipped his suitcase and shook it like a piñata, showering a rainbow confetti of Drugs! Drugs! Drugs! onto the bed spread- Cough Drops, Sudafed, Hydrocortisone Cream, Cold-Eeze, Pepto Chewables, Diareaze… Emily Y, the most inflicted of all, was in…. ecstacy…
At a wonderful French-influenced café across from our hotel (recommended by Lonely Planet!), we grabbed a delicious breakfast of french toast, poached eggs, honey toast, boiled eggs, fruit crepes…. It was here we realized in the magical land of Mamallapurum, all stomach problems subside and
the appetite becomes a ravaging beast!
Sweat-soaked, we spent the day walking around town and shopping for beautiful skirts, shirts, dresses, bags, and shawls of beautiful Indian fabric. Some of us even got special tailoring ordered! We exercised some more bargaining skills, and through practice, developed a collective “bad cop/ good cop” approach to purchasing items. Teamwork! Afterwards, we took a walk on the beach, where Ryan was quite “the catch” with the ladies of the sea… who really just wanted to sell him shawls and bracelets. Ryan put his MGMT 291 Negotiations knowledge to use with the local fishermen, negotiating a boat ride down from 150 to 100 to 70 to 65 Ru… but, as we found out “only for you!” and not the girls. He refused the offer like a team player. After a lunch of grilled fresh fish and chips at a seashore restaurant, we decided to spend our afternoon relaxing on the beach. We split off- Yuko and the Emilys back to the Hotel for some scandalous beachwear; Jel and Ryan on the hunt for an ATM. We were supposed to reconvene back at the room after half an hour… but two hours later… Jel
and Ryan were still nowhere to be found. The girls concluded that the two were either terrible friends, tanning on the beach and feeding each other cocktail shrimps, while laughing spitefully about the fun they were having all by themselves, or… something must’ve happened to them.
Turns out on their failed mission to withdraw money, Ryan and Jel found themselves sitting in an unfamiliar living room of a stone-carving shopkeeper’s home, being served what seemed to be a strange, dark liquid, or what the man with streaks of white painted on his face called “coffee”. …Or was it? After being pressured to drink some, Ryan feigned a sip, while Jelena downed it.
It was coffee. And as they made hour-long conversation, the shopkeeper beckoned them to sit longer and longer, as he carved them some special necklaces as special souvenirs. He was also the first Indian to be heard with a British accent, and used language in a Western way. We think he watched Monty Python films and practiced the accent.
By this time, we were all hungry, and all headed to Moonraker’s Restaurant (also recommended by Lonely Planet!) where we tried SHARK steak for our first
time! It was quite “a bite” if you know what I mean! By evening, the air was much cooler and we took another walk around town to pick up Yuko’s sari and Ryan’s shirt from the tailor’s. We also made friends with an adorable 3-year-old Bhangra Boogyin’ daughter of the drug store man, who retaught Ryan how to use a razor.
SUNDAY: The Shore Temple Paparazzi
We had a lazy Sunday morning the way it oughta be done: full of sleeping in, more shopping, and more breakfast food. In the afternoon, we headed towards the Shore Temples for an… unanticipated experience, NOT forewarned by Lonely Planet. The Shore Temples was a very touristy area for both domestic tourists (admission price: “Indians- 5 Ru”), and international tourists(“Non-Indians- 250 Ru”). Outrageous, no? Our adventure began when a large family approached Jelena- the blond- for one photo. One photo with the grandparents, one photo with the kids, one photo with two parents and a kid, one photo with the other parents and their kids, one photo with just the parents… and finally… one photo with the whole family! (Which probably now hangs on their living room wall) As we continued walking, we
saw two teenagers pretending to take photos of each other (but really of us in the background). Silly Kids! We’ve tried that trick before! Their mother eventually approached us, asking if we could take a photo with them, in which we cheerfully agreed to. Little did we know, this would open up a FLOODGATE of Shore Temple Papparazzi. Soon we were taking photos with groups of teenage boys, little children, more families… at one point a father stuffed a wailing baby awkwardly into Emily Y’s arms. Keep in mind this was all BEFORE we even entered the temple. At one point, a gang of Air Force men with buzzed cuts and crisp uniforms approached us. The man who was undoubtedly their leader, clad in super shades and an attitude, began to talk to Ryan, perhaps to ask permission. But as their small talk developed, we rushed into the temple. Sorry, guys. We’re in high demand!
In the temple, madness ensued. Sliding along the crevices of the stone labyrinth, we were asked to be in more and more photos, and at one point we were smiling in front of a camera with over 20 Indian IT men with mustaches. At
"The Shore"
No... the cooler one. one point, Emily Y’s newly bought sarang skirt began to unravel, and as she searched for a surreptitious corner to fix her bottoms, we realized ALL EYES WERE ON US! The gang created a stealthy blockade around her, and in a jiffy, all was well. Teamwork! By the time we finally escaped the Shore Temple, we had taken photos with at least 30 different groups. …and were we surprised to see Ryan STILL at the entrance, chattin’ it up with the Air Force Boys like ol’ pals! “We’re about to leave!” we told Ryan, and he sprinted through the temple in a speedy minute… the same route which took us… an hour.
We split up once more- Yuko and Yaozahs for their 3:00 massage appointments, and Ryan, Jel, and Egore towards the other shore temple. We had our massages at the masseuse couple’s house, which turned to be an oily and… interesting… experience… with mixed reviews... As Yuko and Eyao went out, Ryan and Egore went in for their 4:00 appointment. All dripping in massage oil, we uncomfortably walked back to the hotel. The sun beating down only made our drenched shirts tighter and heavier on our already-sticky skin.
Ryan and his Ladies
Ryan being bombarded by women selling jewelry and scarves on the beach. Waddling on the streets, it didn’t help to have a rabid dog (and beggar) barking, following, and looking at us like we were some succulent barbeque.
Meanwhile, Jelena strutted to shore like a confident, independent young woman in zebra-print, out on a hunt… a hunt for some good swim and tanning that is! Despite warnings from Lonely Planet, Jel learned the hard way about Mamallapuram’s infamous tumultuous waves as she rocked and rolled in the waters.
By 6, we were all packed and back in the cab, farewell-ing to Mamallapuram, and heading towards the Chennai airport. Entering the plane, we experienced, once again like on the bustop from Mysore, the sprint of the Indians… as we waited to board with the mob of other passengers, men, women, and little children pushed and cut in front of us without mercy. As one entrance closed, and another opened, chaos broke out and soon everyone was SPRINTING in a stampede to be number one on the plane. The King of the Kingfisher! (just kidding, that wasn’t our airline) On the plane ride, friendly Ryan made another friend: a really nice IT University student named Aditya, who told us about the
hot discos of Bangalore and let us know that IT guys really know how to party! He told us that Bangalore used to be the city of nightlife, awakening at 11pm and sleeping at 4am. But because of a new ban made two years ago, Bangalore parties must end- by law- by 11pm. Party Pooper! We were back in BangBang by midnight, where we had yet another frustrating and scary experience with a prepaid taxi driver demanding more money. Ummmmm… we hope he’s not still waiting outside the gate for us…
Ryan and Vikash bonded all night until 3 in the morning! (aka Ryan kept Vikash up by talking to him because he couldn’t fall asleep)
Meanwhile, Justin spent the weekend explorin’ BangBang with his dorm buddies from UPenn. But his weekend went for an ill turn, when he devoured two sketchy burritos from McDonalds on Sunday night. Poor kid’s had to go to the hospital twice to get his leg checked up too. THREE DOWN. …Now the question remains… WHO WILL BE NEXT?
Just kidding! We got the meds from Dr. Cochran, remember?
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Misha
non-member comment
Only the south?
Arent you visiting Goa? I mean, you really should if you havent yet because thats a much better run for your time and money. Just my opinion.