Mamallapuram

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Fortunately a short drive to Mamallapuram brought us to the GRT Temple Beach Hotel which is a little too posh for my tastes (could be a beach resort in Maui) but was fine for getting over jetlag, etc.

Chindi Varadarajuli, the owner of the Chutney Village in Vancouver who is our host had a food cooking demonstration with Nathan Fong who has a food show on Global TV and is also along on this tour. They were joined by a famous chef from Chennai who runs the culinary institute there. We were fortunate to watch the proceedings being taped and taste the results.

And at the GRT buffet they had my favorite dessert in all the world - galub gamun and yoghurt for desert! Got our feet wet in the Bay of Bengal before taking a morning touring the 3 major temple sites that make Mamallapuram a World Heritage site.

However as a street/people photographer we kept passing so many things that I would have stopped to photograph! India is a photographers paradise with all the bright colors and wonderful people doing so many things we just don’t see at home.

We had a wonderful multi-course banana leaf lunch hosted by the owner of Hi-Tours which is the actual Indian company that is conducting this Culinary Tour of South India for Indus Travels. To my mind he has a much more fun looking hotel - the Mamallapuram Heritage Hotel in the heart of town that caters to the GAP crowd etc and would have allowed for a lot more street shooting!

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Photos

Chindi
Chindi Varadarajulu our host on this tour and owner of the Chutney Village Restaurant in Vancouver