A "Rock"y Day in India

On Monday, I took Beth and Diane sightseeing to Mahabalipuram (also known as Mamallapuram). This town is located about 25 minutes south of our house. It is a nice drive down to it as there isn't much traffic. This town is known for it's rock carvings. I'm not big into history, so the historical monuments don't interest me for their background and meaning. However, just the thought that the carvings and such are hundreds of years old boggles my mind. There isn't anything in the U.S. that even comes close to being this old.

The first stop in Mahabalipuram was the Shore Temple. Above is a photo of me and Diane standing in front of one of the carved temples. This temple has seen better days as it is showing it's age due to being weathered by the wind, rain, and sea. Of course, it does date back to the 7th century...I guess when I'm that old I'll probably be looking a little rough also!

Next stop on our tour was the lighthouse. Here is a photo of India that actually shows the beauty of the country. Doesn't everyone want to come see for themselves??? However, the real reason for stopping at the lighthouse was to see the monkeys.

The monkey population was a little disappointing as we only saw 3 or 4 monkeys. Last time I was here, I saw probably close to 15 to 20 monkeys. This little guy was very entertaining to watch. He kept trying to balance on the handrail, but then he would start to fall and have to grab on.

After the lighthouse stop, it was time for lunch. We went to a beach resort and ate lunch along the ocean. Beth and Diane commented that it felt like they were back in Hawaii...they were lucky enough to have went there a few years ago. After a nice relaxing lunch, it was time for more sightseeing.

The Five Rathas was the next place we visited. Once again, this place has a bunch of history and each of the carvings represents a Hindu god's chariot (or something like that). There are two very cool things about this place however. The first being that all of the carvings you can see in the above photo are made out of one piece of rock or stone. It must have been one very large rock to begin with! The second thing that amazes me about this place is that all of these carvings were buried under sand until about 200 years ago when they were uncovered by the British. These monuments also date to the 7th century. So my questions are when, how, and why were they buried in sand? Also, how come they remained buried for so long?

Here is Beth standing by the life sized carved elephant. Unless we end up going to the zoo, it will probably be the only elephant that she sees while in India (sorry Robb).

Our final stop of the day was at Krishna's Butter Ball. Essentially all it is is a large rock that looks like it should be rolling down the hill but for some reason doesn't. I was telling Diane and Beth that this is about as exciting as India gets. They travel about 10,000 miles to see a large rock! However, then we were talking that it is really no different than traveling to see Mt. Rushmore, which is also just a large rock. So, now this is known as the Mt. Rushmore of India.

Beth and I did have fun trying to roll the rock on to the Indians sitting in the shade under it. I'm in the white shirt and Beth is in the pink shirt. Personally, I think they are a little stupid to be sitting under it...if I tried that, knowing my luck, it would be about the time that the rock decided that it wanted to finally roll down the hill, and I would be a pancake!

Even though Mamallapuram isn't overly exciting, we made the best of it and had a great time. By the end of the day, we were hot, sun burnt, and tired! This was my 4th trip there, and I'm sure I'll probably make at least 4 more before I leave Chennai. Every time I go though, I see sometime new or learn something else that I didn't know before. Maybe I'll be a history buff by the time we move...maybe, but probably not.