More of India, Mahabilipuram

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I believe when I left off, it was right before Christmas. I've done more shopping at Spencer's Plaza, and done a few other touristy things. Chelsea and I added each other on facebook and realized we knew a lot of the same people (No joke, this world is a small place). Chelsea and I had lunch after Spencer's at the restaurant at Phoenix Mall. This is kind of where the story gets a little awkward. We had been walking around the mall, and came upon Nando's to eat where a line had formed. We queue up and the male host makes eye contact with us and asks us how many. We say two- and he has us jump the entire line to eat at a booth that could have easily fit 4 to 6 people. I felt bad skipping the line but there is not of options to decline.

After we eat, Chelsea and I are walking back and we have to cross that one intersection, so we are stopped at the corner waiting and this older gentleman just looks at us and says "come, come" motioning for us to follow him. He safely leads us across the massive intersection. I told you people were super nice.

I think after lunch Chelsea and I went walking out of the hotel to the right and went looking for a tailor to fix my jeans. It didn't really work but we were able to see a bunch of cool shops. At one of the outdoor "Big Lots" aka "Big Bazarr" I was able to pick up two shirts for 50 rupees each. (...um.. right now 100 rupees is $1.62). Happy about that grab.

Then back to the hotel, where Christmas was had, and what happens at the Westin is staying at the Westin.

Fast forward to this morning, Chelsea and I rode in with Harsha to work so we could pick up Chelsea's dad and head to Mahabilipuram.

Fast facts about Mahabilipuram: " Mahabalipuram is located right on the Coromandel Coast next to the Bay of Bengal. It was a well established sea port during the 7th and 10th centuries of the Pallava dynasty, and has flourished accordingly.

This city was actually the 2nd capital of the Pallavas. It was originally named after the rude, cruel, and arrogant King Mahabali who was killed during a fierce battle by Lord Vishnu at that location. It was named by the people more out of gratitude that the heartless king was killed there than out of respect upon his death for his leadership.

During the rule of the Pallavas, new styles of art and architecture were pioneered. Mahabalipuram is where they tried and then exhibited their new artistic and architectural creations. As a result, the area is brimming with rock-cut caves and numerous temples. In fact, this region is often referred to as an open museum. Some of the temples were even carved out of one enormous rock rather than simply constructed out of rock. Not much pillaging has occurred here over the centuries, since the wealth of the Pallavas was never flaunted, so the temples are well preserved. "



So we initially set out to go see the underwater temples while in Mahabalipuram but today the swells were to high so that didn't quite go as planned, but we were able to go to the park and see the temples. The first thing we saw was a huge egg looking rock that looks pretty cool. You can climb up to it and make it look like you are rolling it, you know, the funny pictures thing. right beside the rock is a patch of slick rock that you slide down. It has been worn down by so many butts over the years that you can actually get some speed when going down. So we are walking around all these temples which were AMAZING. If you want to read more on the temples, there is

As we are walking through this park with the temples, a bunch of ladies with kids and one male wanted to take our picture with them. We hand them our cameras also to get pictures, and I am being grabbed by all directions to stand next to a certain person then everyone would shuffle and someone new would put their arm around me to take a photo with THEM closer to me, same with Chelsea and Mike. So Chelsea busts out her amazing tiny polaroid camera and takes a picture and hands it to the two little boys. That started something with the group and EVERYONE wanted one of those tiny photos. I mean it makes sense, how many times do they develop pictures with themselves in them? I think it's one of those things that I have taken for granted, always having pictures of me or digital copies of myself. Back to the story, they were super impressed and we spent the better part of 40 minutes taking more photos and were only done when the camera ran out of the polaroid film.

We continued walking the park and all the little kids want to say hi to you and say "my name is...". There was this little two year old who followed us and than found a crevice in a rock and sat in it. He did the entire "it fits, I sits!" action and pretended to hide from us. Super cute kid.

And here is the part of the story where the monkey comes in. We had tried to give water to the monkeys before, but it was early in the day and they were completely uninterested in anything we had to offer. Now it was getting later and I was getting thirsty and had completely forgotten about playing with the monkeys. So I'm taking a drink of my water and slowly a monkey just dead locks his eyes on my water bottle and starts coming for it. Not going to lie, I was kind of freaked out so I'm kind of trying to hold on to my water bottle, and Mike had just said not to give it to them in front of people, but this monkey really wants this water bottle and I'm not about to get in a fight with a monkey over a water bottle in the middle of India. So Mike is saying "give it here, give it here!" I hand it to him like its a bomb and Mike sets it down on the ground and we all kind of scoot back and watch as the monkey proceeds to grab my water bottle, go up to the next rock and OPEN IT. (no joke, the friggin monkey twisted the top of the bottle) and sits there and drinks my- (his) stolen water. And that's the day my water got stolen by a monkey. I've got a video, I'll be sure to post the link as soon as it uploads,--

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After the temples in the park, we went to see the main attraction, the Shore temple. We did the tourist thing and walked around the temple, took our shoes off and went up to the alter. That thing was crazy ancient and really amazing to see.

Fast facts about Shore temple

"The Shore Temple

The Shore Temple occupies a most extraordinary site at the very margin of the Bay of Bengal so that at high tide the waves sweep into it and the walls. For this reason their sculptures, have been eroded by the winds and waves of thirteen centuries.

The Shrines In The Shore Temple

There are 3 shrines in the Shore Temple. Two of them are of Saiva and the third is of Vaishnava, with an image of Lord Anantasayi made of live rock. There are Vimanas over the Saiva (also spelt as Shaiv or Shaiva) shrines, but none over the third; it seems to have disappeared with time. Built by Narasimha Varman II Rajasimha, the maker of the Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram in the 8th century, this is one of the earliest structural temples in Tamil Nadu. "





Enjoy the pictures ya'll, and Merry Christmas. We will going to Pondicherry tomorrow for more sightseeing and fun! Much love

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Comments

[grandma g.]

very interesting, keep the stories coming")