Trip to Mahabalipuram

We (my Russian flatmate Sasha, another Colombian trainee Karol and me) decided to go to Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram) on Friday evening. It is a little ancient town 60 km south of Chennai that is considered to be an important tourist attraction in the region. It is famous for its ancient temples, monoliths and stone carvings.

Of course, we didn't know how to get there...or better said: we knew which bus we should take and from where (big bus station with many buses going all around in a quite unorginized way) but this is usually not enough in Chennai and maybe in whole India. We asked many local people (you can never ask just one or two because they will send you to completely opposite places) to find a right bus stop. But all buses going to Mahabalipuram just passed by and didn't stop - this happens here quite often but when it's 19:30, it's dark and you don't know how long the journey will take, it makes you a bit nervous. However, we were very lucky! A guy with big car asked us if we wanted to go to Mahabalipuram. We were a bit suspicious (girls shouldn't get into a car of a complete stranger, especially not at night!), but also tired of waiting for the bus. And since he proposed a very reasonable price (it was even cheaper than a bus!!!), we decided to take the risk and go with him...GOOD DECISION! It took us only 30 min to get to our destination a the guy was really nice.
When we arrived we were very lucky again: normally, hostel in this little turistic town is Rs. 300/person. But already in the first hostel we came to, we were proposed Rs. 500/room for three persons and we (well, not we but Carol - she's really tough) were even able to bargain it to 450! Gosh, that's sooo cheap!!!

Since it's a very touristic town, streets are full of western people, stands with suvenirs are on every corner and their owners and beggars are even more importunate...Our plan was to do some sightseeing in the morning and go to the beach after. It was terribly hot (finally, we left the hotel at 11 am which isn't the best part of day) so our sightseeing was much shorter than I expected...but stil it was so nice! There are several temples and many ansient monoliths (huge stones) with detailed carvings. You really feel the breath of history. I think the folowing photos prove this pretty well.

Arjuna's Penance bas-relief - a huge rock canvas with with statues of Gods,demi-Gods, human beings, birds and animals

Krishna Mandapam - recreates one of the episodes from the life of Lord Krishna. The scene depicts the Lord liftingthe mountain to protect the shepherd community from the anger of Varuna, the rain God















Sasha, Karol, me ;o)




































Varaha Cave - depicts the story of Vishnu taking the form of a mighty boar and plunging into the ocean to rescue Bhoodevi, the Mother Earth.












































Krishna's Butterball






























temples

































































miscellaneous





























trained parrot telling one's future





























stone statues of Gods made by local people

After this sightseeing, we wanted to go to beach. I didn't know that it wouldn't be a normal beach but a luxurious resort for western tourists. Well, I wasn't happy at all that we were going there (we had to pay entrance fee and morover, this is not a face of India that I want to see), but finally it was quite a good experience to see this paradise where tourists pay Rs. 12000/day to lie on beach, swim in swiming pool and drink wine while local people are dying of hunger behind its walls. One one hand, I was a little bit ashamed that I was lying by the pool and sunbathing with those tourists; one the other hand, it was very agreeable...but of course expensive as well :-(

























































Well, even the most luxurious beach is still open for cows ;-)

So, this was my first trip. I really enjoyed it and I think I'll visit Mahabalipuram again because although it's a very small town, there are still nice places to see.