Mahabalipuram

On putting this trip together I had intentionally kept my transfer days free of any theme park visits choosing instead to spend any spare time on those days sightseeing something in the area or just getting to the hotel and unwinding. For Chennai I had chosen to visit Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO listed site on the coast 60km south of Chennai and around 40 minutes away from the hotel. As I try to not just do theme parks when I holiday, UNESCO sites has become something I've begun including in my trips, so this for me was a must-do.

In India the cows get to roam free. As revered creatures they can do what they want although their days seem to be mostly spent aimlessly wandering around looking for the next place to eat...typically at recently dropped landfill sites beside the road.

I'd arrived in India at the end of the Pongal festival celebrations. A 4-day event similar to our harvest festival which is heavily celebrated in the Tamil Nadu state of India. The symbol of the festival is a large clay pot called a "Kolam" in which Pongal, a dish consisting of nuts, raisins and stuff is made. What this meant for me is that the site was going to be pretty busy and we'd have to park outside the site and walk-in. The driver thought this was a big deal and didn't think I'd be able to do the walk, I'm not sure why it was easy. Perhaps a better concern may have been to check I had suncream, which I'd left in my case back at the hotel :(

OK, so it's not quite the Islands of Adventure lighthouse, but this is what you see first as you get close to Mahabalipuram. Clearly a modern addition to the area.

Beside it is the original lighthouse however. Nice that they didn't remove the old to make way for the new.

Within the site there are a number of temples carved into the rock, and some of these go back to the 7th century. That's pretty old. What I thought was odd that despite their age and significance no attempt had been made to protect them from either elements or more worringly people who were had complete free reign to get close to the amazing sculptures that could be found within the shrines.

On the beach a small travelling fair had been set up. Whilst I didn't get to see any human powered big wheels the rides here were still fun to watch despite being aimed at kids. In particular the merry go round raised to 4-feet off the ground which was being spun at such a speed it was surprising the forces didn't send the kids flying out. 

Next time :)

A large gathering had also come together at the beach and suddenly realising on this trip I'd hit both the east and west coasts I did dip my toes in to say I'd been into the Indian Ocean. One thing I'd noticed in walking around Chennai is that my footwear was getting some interesting looks. Where barefoot or sandals is the norm someone rocking up in some all-terrain mountain footwear meant that there was no way I was going to leave them on the beach whilst I waded in so I left them with my driver who was acting as my silent tour guide (his English wasn't good enough to give me a full low down on the site). 

As well as the sandy beach there is a manually built rocky outcrop where I realised I didn't quite have the balance and grip I had when I was a kid, managing to slip off one rock in a spectacular fashion narrowly avoiding hitting my head on another. My ninja skills are deteriorating as I get older it would seem.

From the rocks I got my first view of the main attraction in Mahabalipuram; the Shore Temple fenced off from the masses. The rocks acting as a shield from the sea waves.

In an attempt at resourceful entrepreneurship people were gathering shells from the beach, cleaning them up then selling them to unwitting tourists. She really does sell sea shells on the seashore.

The coast around Chennai is full of beaches and clearly a draw for the locals. 

To get to the fenced off shore temple you have to purchase a ticket from the office 100 metres to the west. Being stupid we had tried entering from the north, squeezing through a hole in the fence then playing dumb to the security that came running out to meet us.  

To enter the site costs locals around 20 pence, for tourists around £2. A huge discrepancy and a pattern repeated at the more popular tourist attractions but as it was not a lot of money I didn't consider it worth worrying about. The rationale for the difference seems to be that the nation has already paid for it whether it be in previous generations in effort building it or in local economies funding it. This makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Why pay twice for something?

The Shore Temple was built in the early 8th century and is one of the oldest structural stone temples in Southern India and the biggest draw in the Mahabalipuram area (this is the only paid attraction here). 

Again it was quite amazing that not only were people walking all over the temple but some were still praying at it, a collection of footwear gathered outside the inner sanctum signifying this. People were respectful though, and perhaps that's why it was allowed

The Perumal Temple was my first introduction to the Dravidian style of architecture which are abundant in Tamil Nadu. I loved the intricacy in the carvings and I loved how the larger ones would dominate the sky-line. I gave Chennai the nickname of "Temple Town" because of the amount of these that I passed in exploring the area.

More rock shrines and some stunning rock carvings. The elephants were easily my favourite.

This is one of the older shrines called the Varaha Cave Temple and it has a date of the 7th century. Again the carvings were still in great condition despite the people posing against them for selfies and family group photos.

This physics defying rock is called the Krishna's Butter Ball and whilst there have been many attempts to move it, it hasn't budged. This has become quite a draw as people sit beneath it so they convince themselves they cheated death I guess. 

Cows get to roam everywhere in India and are most prevalent of the wild animals wandering free where 'er they be. Goats were the second. These two were settling a dispute as goats do.

After a couple of hours walking the area and with both jet lag and sun burn kicking in it was time to head back and get some rest in the hotel ready for the next day. Time for some Indian theme parks!

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