Life is a Curious Quest

Mahabalipuram

After having it recommended repeatedly by coworkers throughout the week, I decidedly to spend my Saturday visiting the nearby town of Mahabalipuram to check out some of the old temples located there. We set out on the hour and a half drive at around 10 and arrived shortly before noon. It was a nice change of pace to get out of the city and into some more wide-open spaces.

As we arrived at the town, my driver told me that he would arrange a guide for me to avoid the tourist tax, "You do: 2500. I do: 750". Fair enough. I wasn't planning on getting a guide, but in the end I'm glad I had one. Instead of being a single complex as I was expecting, the monuments in Mahabalipuram were fairly spread out, and the guide also did a good job of explaining the various history attached to them.

The monuments were all attributed to the Pallava kings around the 7th or 8th century. All of them were impressive in their own way.

One of the largest bas-relief sculptures in the world.
According to my tour guide, in order to split the large granites stones that make up all these temples, the builders carved holes like these into the rocks and inserted wooden planks. They would then soak the planks by pouring water over them, and as the planks expanded the rocks would fracture.
"Krishna's Butterball". The Hindu god Krishna is said to be a huge fan of butter. Next to the rock, children are sliding down the smooth slope.
Inside one of the nearby cave temples. The guide described this as a servant of Krishna gathering milk to make more butter for his master.

After exploring the first area, we we off to see the "Five Rathas" just a short drive away. This group of small temples was most impressive due to the fact that all five were carved in place from the same giant piece of stone.

Intermixed with the temples were a few large animal statues.
Children visiting on pilgrimage swarm the temple.
The lion, symbol of the Pallava kings, watches over the temples.

After the Rathas we were on to the shore temple, but first I needed to stop by an ATM. We drove over to the nearest one (me in the car with my driver, the guide following on his motorcycle), but since there was no place to park nearby my driver continued on to our next destination as I got my money. When I came back out, the guide told me to hop on the back so we could continue on to the final temple.

After experiencing Chennai traffic first-hand, the thought of riding on the back of a motorcycle in India with no protective gear didn't seem like the greatest idea. However, after a second of hesitation I figured it wasn't worth the trouble of turning down the offer and hopped on. The ride was short enough, but I was still privately terrified. I figure the experience should at least be worth some street cred.

The shore temple was the largest of the monuments, largely because it was constructed from rocks brought by elephant rather than carved in place from a single stone.

The basin to the left had been buried in sand until just recentlywhen the Archaeological Survey of India discovered it.
Cow statues line the walls surrounding the temple entrance.
A lion among the cattle.

The temple itself is surrounded by a high wall, but the corners have eroded away. This made for a very cool feeling as you step through the walls into the small walkways within.

After exploring the last temple I decided have lunch. The restaurant my driver had in mind turned out to have shut down, but he asked around for suggestions and we ended up at a place called "Moonrakers". The restaurant was open-air, but they had enough fans blowing that the it was still a nice respite from the heat. I sat up on the second floor, which provided a nice view of the surrounding area.

The view from my seat.
When I saw shark on the menu I had to try it. It was served in a butter and garlic sauce, and turned out to be pretty good.

After lunch we started heading back to the hotel, but our path back took us by another famous exhibit that I wanted to see: Crocodile Park. As the name might suggest, the park is a zoo primarily focused on various species of crocodiles. The park charges extra if you want to take pictures so I don't have any of my own, but you can get a good idea from  Google Images . It was pretty awesome to see that many crocodiles in one place and up so close. Definitely worth the 35 rupee price of admission.

At this point in the day I was exhausted and mildly sunburnt (someday I'll remember to wear sunscreen...), so I napped through the remaining trip home and spent the rest of the day chilling in the hotel.