http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , India , Tamil Nadu , Mamallapuram en-us Sat, 12 Dec 09 11:14:23 +0000 Sat, 12 Dec 09 11:14:23 +0000 Early morning bike ride tooday. Was fun being on a bicycle had a good bell We visited the Shore Temples and the basrelief rock carvings known as Arjuna's Penance. We had a very enthusiastic guide which was nice but even for early morning it was just so so hot that by the end everyone was desperate to just get back and laze by the pool. Got nice pics including of the lovely beach.It was rea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-440235.html I moved on rather reluctantly from Puducherry to Mamalappuram. Noone seems to have bothered to abbreviate this name possibly because it is itself a slightly shorter version of Mahabalipuram which is its other current name Nothing to do with Mahabali or Bali the demon king tricked by the dwarf whose annual return to earth is celebrated every year in Kerala. The obvious abbreviation is Mam http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-434039.html Woke up normal time ate then threw up breakfast...not sure why I bothered. I took at bus to Mamallpuram from the central bus station it was 2 hours journey... The road down the west coast was very odd. The whole area was still recovering from the Tsunami so there were only new buildings everywhere and lots of open fields with no trees just grass.I checked into the first hotelGuest house I saw http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-409385.html So it's been a while since our last blog but surely you all realised the early excited momentum was bound to drop off at some stage....All that aside this tale of adventure takes place in mamallapuram home of dave jen's brother and rob an old friend of ours and therefore one of the driving forces behind our visit to india in the first place...Our train trip to mamalla was the last one of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-403210.html David met me in Chennai to travel the south of India together for the next 2 weeks. After a couple of nights in Chennai doing absolutely nothing but hanging out with couchsurfers we headed south on the East Coast Road towards Mahabalipurum. It's a small fishing village that seems to be quite popular with the hippie backpackers. The entire village caters to the tourist but on a very laid back note http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-395949.html It has been a few days because I have been too busy having fun to be tied to a PC in this gloriously fascinating place called India. The sun has shone on the righteous as it should but its cooler in the shade for us mortals so I don't mind that at all.Vatta Kanal was magically mystically and remotely crazy I had a breakfast tea with a village family i was up at 630 and out in the clouds 10 mi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-384018.html Pondicherry when we arrived was quite different again to the other towns visited on this leg of the trip the riksha drivers tried to charge well over the going rate and there seemed to be more people begging. The Park House hotel belongs to the Sri Aurobindo Society the body formed to run the Auroville project.Our room and the hotel proved to be an oasis of calm by the sea after haggling and batt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-377256.html This small town 2 hours outside of Chennai is the home of the world famous Shore Temple with a population of 13000 it's no bigger than Maynooth Village. The shore temple was a beautiful building. Although we had expected to find the sea lapping at the base of the temple we learned that since becoming an UNESCO world heritage site a sea wall has been built to protect the site from further coas http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-376934.html HiLets start already then. I'v been in India for two days now and its been another interesting experience and completly different from the north which I was not expecting.I left Heathrow pretty much on time on Saturday morning and landed at Chennai jusr before 1 on Sunday morning. After clearing a surprisingly busy airport for 1 in the morning I got a taxi into the city. However a boy showed me wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-371847.html Mamallapuram was next on our list as it is famous for its ancient rock carvings. The world Heritage site has a solid days worth of carvings to explore most of which were completed in the 7th and 8th Century. Cool little town. Only spent 2 nights here but are on a schedule so must move on. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-367559.html Admittedly since decided that we would spend some time in India before heading onto Europe Danielle and I have had moments of anxiety and nervousness about travelling to a country that we really did not know that much about. Our preconceived notions of India was that the whole country would be littered with pollution smell like shit be uncomfortably hot all of the time we would be hassled by http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-367554.html Hi GuysI just want to share my experience with u so that u can take care of these thingsWhile visiting Mahabalipuram if u r staying in any hotel be it luxury or budget one does not forget to carry u r Mosquito Repellent Lotion. It is advisable to carry it with u whenever u visit any restaurant in the evening coz without applying Mosquito Repellent Lotion it is impossible to enjoy u r food or the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-361098.html Srecno novo letoTokrat se oglasava ze z druge strani indije namesto arabskega je indijski ocean. V varkali se nisva opekla in sva se po parih dneh odpravila proti svetem mestu Madurai. Za voznjo sva si izbrala najslabso spalno klaso no v bistvu nisva imela izbire pa se to sva morala dodatno placat za takoimenovane taktal karte ki jih sprostijo 5 dni pred odhodom vlaka. Te kupijo vecinoma http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-359320.html Mamallapuram Back packer's havenThis town lies between Pondi and Chennai and it is pretty much a back packer's stop off on the way to Pondi or other cities around Tamil Nadu. The environment itself lacks the Indian hustle and bustle of Chennai r even lifestyle we saw in Pondi. It's aimed mainly at tourists. We used the time we spent here to sort out all our train tickets soak in a little more s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-354025.html Mardi 3 decembreNous sommes allees au village Sathya Nagar ou l ecole est en construction deja les murs ont un metre 50 de hauteur..les ouvriers travaillent sept jours sur sept parmi eux deux femmes.Leur salaire est de 100 roupies par jour soir l equivalent de 1 euro 50.Les enfants du village sont heureux ils vont jusqu ici a l ecole dans un village situe a 3 kms et n assistent aux cours qu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-350511.html Les animaux sacres En Inde les animaux en particulier les serpents et les vaches font l objet d une vnration depuis les temps anciens. La vache reprsente la fertilit et l abondance.Le taureau plus agressif inspire un immense respect.Vaches et taureaux circulent librement dans le pays ils se confondent dans la circulation frntique.Les serpents plus spcialement les cobras sont galemen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-349644.html Habitudes vestimentaires Le Sari est l habit traditionnel fminin et sans doute le costume le plus gracieux du monde et constitue d une seule pice d toffe de 5 a 9 mtres de long sur 1 mettre de largeIl se porte sur un Choli une blouse a manches courtes ajuste prs du corps faire tenir son sari sans aucune attache ncessite tout un savoir fairehellipLe vtement porte habituellement par les http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-349642.html Aujourd hui 29 novembre les travaux de la maison pour le couple de personnes agees sont commences.Nous etions au village cet apres midi et le toit est presque termine demain les ouvriers entament le sol et les murs en parpaings. Nous avons vu la femme elle est transformee le sourire illumine son visage.Nous avons lance un appel a une amie qui a repondu ltpresentegt ce qui permet de constr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-349639.html 26 novembre.Distribution des uniformes et cartablesAvec la vente des livres donnes par les lves des coles de Boissise Orgenoy et les dons d amis et voisins nous avons pu acheter 14 uniformes et 24 cartables ainsi que diverses fournitures scolaires.Les enfants ont reu ces cadeaux avec une joie qui fait plaisir a voir quelques uns on chante et tout le mode d applaudir. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-348992.html Les dgts causes par un mini cycloneCe lundi nous sommes retournes au village constater les dgts causes par un mini cyclone qui depuis cinq jours provoquent des pluies diluviennes presque discontinues nuit et jour avec des vents violents et une mer dmonte.Quand pendant la mousson s ajoute un mini cyclone comme nous sommes en train de le vivre les villageois se retrouvent dans des situati http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Mamallapuram/blog-348988.html