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Published: October 2nd 2011
Mamallapuram
Street view from the Buddha CafeMamallapuram 02 October 2011
Arrived in Mamallapuram from Chennai on Friday after catching the Tamil Nadu Tourism Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus. Except that it wasn't. Hop-On-Hop-Off that is. Well it is on Saturdays and Sundays but not...... Well we got here anyway.
It is really quite a comfortable little place in a 'backpacker'sort of way. Once again our hotel is not of the 'rave over', luxury type but will do for 3 nights. It is in a very
clean street that runs parallel to the beach and is surrounded by restaurants, yoga rooms, shops selling Tibetan stuff and Indian garb that no Indian would ever wear (but backpackers do). M is famous for it's stone carving industry which for safety reasons has been relegated to the outskirts but has retail outlets in the town itself. The carvings range from trinkets to giant 400,000 rupee statues of Ganesh, Vishnu, Shiva etc.
It has a fisherman's beach and a town beach but is mainly noted for the most amazing temples carved from solid hunks of granite. The Shore Temple is fascinating but more so the 5 Rathas which are temples resembling 5 chariots. At the back of the town there are loads more
temples a lighthouse which you can climb and get great views of the sea and the surrounding countryside and a huge lump of rock precariously balanced as though about to fall at any moment, called the Butterball. Altogether a really nice village with loads to do and see which makes it a very popular day-trip/stay sort of place.
We had feared that food-wise we had probably peaked too soon with the great food at Woodlands in Chennai and that may yet be the case..... hope not.
On Saturday night we met up with Muthu who is to be our driver for the next 2 weeks. He seems very nice and has good English so he will be invaluable in the next few weeks we hope. On Sunday we set off at the crack of dawn for Kachipuram which has several notable temples and very little else so it was a day trip then back to Mamallapuram for one last night here. The 2 hour ride through the countryside, mainly rice and sugar cane, was good but we were floored by the numbers of people out on the streets and the TRAFFIC in a couple of towns on the
The Butterball
Sit under here at your peril way, and as it was Sunday it was quiet! Welcome back to the axle breaking speed bumps, no signals hand or otherwise and the inability to approach another vehicle without constantly honking the horn!!! No way would you drive yourself here.
Like idiots we fell at the first hurdle, at the first Temple in Kanchipuram, when a Brahmin priest spotted us for suckers (I mean foreigners) and dragged us off to the ticket sellers then immediately launched into a guided tour. He was actually quite amusing and took great delight in pointing out the Kama Sutra carvings to Ann!! He also knew English words that no self respecting priest should know????? David wanted to know what magazines the gentleman subscribed to but I told him not to ask! Of course, at end, he was NOT happy with our Temple offering but I suspect whatever we gave would not have been enough.
Next time we will be prepared ......except for the popcorn lady at the next temple who thrust a handful of popcorn at us to feed the fish in the Tank. "Free, Free" but then "Donation, Donation... not 10 rupees 100" Noooooooooo!!!!!
On a more positive note, Muthu is
Ajanta's Penance
Incredible rock carving a good driver and we felt safe in his hands. Also david was served the biggest massalla dohsa in the world at Hotel Saravana Bhavan. Roll on tomorrow!
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shankar
non-member comment
dirty priets
Hi I am sure that person is not a priest. South Indian Priests won\'t wear shirts. He is a fake and you have been taken for a ride :). regards Subbu