Boats going out to sea early morning…
Sunrise at Mahabalipuram
So a friend and I drove off to Mahabalipuram last weekend. It was a nice scenic drive via NH4. We started off at 5 am in the morning (after sleeping at midnight, such good children we are). It took us about 7 hours and with Shibs’ awesome display of the Tamil language in Chennai we found ourselves cruising on the scenic ECR.
Mahabs was hot and humid but still not totally unbearable. We got ourselves a nice room with a view. Mostly we lazed, ate (a lot of bread and cheese!), read and gazed at the sea and were most reluctant to return. On Sunday morning, we paid a visit to Mahabalipuram’s most famous monument — the Shore Temple. Shibs had last been there when she was much younger and couldn’t believe there was one temple (there were definitely more of them, she kept saying!).
On the way back we dropped in at this place called Dakshin Chitra — an artisan’s village and there was some nice handiwork of craftsmen from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. We also got a glimpse of a Theyam performance in the premises. If you’re on that road, this is a nice place to spend a few hours. If you like Indian handicrafts, jewellery etc. it might also put you back a few thousand rupees as I discovered.
I bought 3 sarees for reasons I have not been able to figure out yet thus proving that women are indeed mysterious creatures. Then by some stroke of chance (and asking a few people for directions), we got onto the highway again around 5 pm and made our way back. Of course, we didn’ t realize which highway we were on until we had paid toll at 4 toll booths (now that ‘s a heavy toll!) and then realized that this was definitely not the way we had come. This was NH7, the super express highway. But it was a good chance to get onto it since it got us back home by around 9.45 pm.
Sigh. Another weekend gone…
Such fabulous pictures!
Posted by Bangalore Bytes | August 28, 2006, 5:05 pmFab pics Anita.
We were in Pondicherry this weekend n plan to visit Mahabalipuram soon…
Posted by Mehak | August 28, 2006, 5:29 pmlovely! vertical landscapes in fact, any scapes, are so interesting — wonder why we (I:)) don’t think of them more often…
Posted by Charu | August 28, 2006, 7:29 pmOH what Lovely colours of nature..great shots.
Posted by prashant | August 29, 2006, 12:14 amyes lovely pictures! but where is Mahabalipuram?
Posted by kannan | August 29, 2006, 7:29 amNice pics Anita ! Like your food writeups and the travelogue! Keep them coming
Posted by Banana | August 29, 2006, 8:25 amThe colours have come out lovely!
Posted by Kousik | August 29, 2006, 10:41 amthe first photo is nice but it has lost the natural colours…
did u drive & go??
Posted by kris | August 29, 2006, 12:21 pmLovely pics…looks like I need to plan a holiday.
Posted by Abhishek | August 31, 2006, 1:29 pmawesome snaps anita! thanks for letting me about the metblogs code, i just put it up on my blog.
Posted by karthik c | September 2, 2006, 12:48 pmWow…I definitely need to have a holiday and that too a long one! I looked at the amazing pictures, fabulously shot. Anita, I’d like to know which resort did you guys stay at? Looked quite nice.
Gina Kale
Posted by Gina Kale | September 2, 2006, 4:57 pmNice!
Posted by Deepa | September 2, 2006, 7:53 pmgr8 snaps!! Visited Mahabalipuram n number of times during my stay in Chennai. Go there b4 sunrise and back after breakfast. Love that place.
Posted by Prashanth | September 7, 2006, 4:26 pmAB!!
Yet another fab trip for you :-) Cool pics. I just recommended Gokarna to a fellow student here based on the trip we all made.
Keep having fun
Posted by Anshul | September 20, 2006, 11:43 amNice pictures. I have one question why did you go via Chennai? There is road that takes you from Kanchipuram to Chengelpettu to Mahabalipuram. Is this road bad? any idea?
Atul
Posted by Atul | September 22, 2006, 7:07 pm