You say Mahabalipuram, I say Mamallapuram

Frankly, I can't say either of them!  Jacob says people sometimes just say Mahabs.  Either way, this is where we went on Sunday.  All the people I knew who were planning on running Chennai Marathon decided against it.  You have to get a check up by a doctor in order to participate and after standing around for hours in the heat with no food or water, they decided just to scrap it.  So we (Me, Jacob, Sathish, Shyam and Hamsa) took a little road trip to Mahabs.

Mahabs is the site of a cluster of rock carvings and temples from the 6th and 7th century.  It is a little over an hour South of Chennai, down that same dangerous road (ECR) we drove last weekend to get to Auroville.  I'm not the biggest fan of ruins, and even though we left early in the morning (I got up at 545am!!!), it was still pretty damn hot while walking around.  But it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so I'm glad I saw it!.  After a little bit of walking around and eating pickled gooseberries and ice cream (not together), we decided it was best to go to have some beers in an A/C bar.  Beers before noon, like it.

After attempting to go see a movie, we decided just to get some food and go for a picnic.  We were on the hunt for fish fry, but had to settle for parothas, sambar rice, and curd rice.  But we were able to get more beers!  The boys knew a nice picnic spot that was cool and shady.  As we were eating, we watched (and laughed) as some fellow picnic-ers tried to get their car out from being stuck in the sand. Karma's a bitch though, 'cause when we went to leave we were also stuck in the sand!  Other people were nice enough to help us, but we weren't successful until the police came to dig us out.  The girlfriend of one of the guys who helped us out asked Hamsa what company we were with.  She thought that I was a client and they were entertaining me for the day.  Why else would Indians hang out with a white woman?

We stopped for tea to recharge ourselves and let the car have  break before driving back to Chennai.  Some Indian fellows wanted to take a picture with me.  They told my friends to take good care of me and to make sure I had a good time in India.  Again, my Indian friends were apparently in charge of entertaining me!  They also said I need to get some saris.  So Hamsa and I made a shopping date for next week.  I can't wait!

Here are more pics