Sightseeing at last

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Mahabalipuram is a small town ( pop. 66,000) south of Chennai. It's a 'resort' town with lots of development along the beach. We have met people on holiday from all over India here. It's also part of what is described as a 'backpackistan' - one of the Indian back packer towns.

Geographically it's flat with a large ( approx 10 hectares) granite rock hill on the western side. It's here back in 9th century the locals mastered the art of stone construction on a large scale. Most of the individual temples are crafted out of a single rock or from a rock face.

We took a wander around the hill monuments on our first morning and then down to the bench in the late afternoon.

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Photos

Daytrippers
A bus load of tourists arrived all with matching sari's and shirts

Butterball
A finely balanced stone. No earthquakes here !

Souvenir shop
There is a big souvenir business in stone work