Day 45: Mamallapuram

We had an early arrival at the train station in a costal city called Chennai. We spent the morning in our tour leader's neighborhood, eating breakfast with his family. His family is of the middle class, but the definition of middle class here is much different than the US, and I am sure elsewhere. A friend and I went to where a ton of locals were gathered for their Sunday games of cricket. I would guess that maybe 99.99% of the population has no clue how cricket is played (or what it is) even people from the UK that regularly watch the game, don't fully understand it. It is very complicated and can be drawn out for days, so there can be a lot of complex strategy. We began to speak with some of the locals and watch them play the game. The most comparable sport would be baseball, but it is a thin line of similarity. I regret not popping in for a swing at the ball or getting a picture of us with the locals. While I am on this trip, my mother told me that whatever I do, don't come home with any regrets. While that is a hard statement to live by because time and money are a factor, it is the perfect mentality while traveling. If you want to capture a picture but worry about taking, just do it. If you want to hangout with the locals and ride on the motorcycle with three other people, just do it. Street food looks very tasty in India, just eat it. It haunts me to think back to Luxor and imagine my experience had I just blown off the local that asked for my help.

On our way to Mamallapuram we stopped off at St. Thomas's tomb. Here is one of the only three places in the world where one of Jesus's 12 disciples was buried and a cathedral was built on top of the grave in his honor. The other two are St. Balsalica in Rome and St. James in Santiago, Spain.

We couldn't have gotten to Mamallapuram any sooner. The town is similar to kochi, a slow costal town. The dirt thing we did was take a swim in the Indian Ocean. The water was not as warm as the Arabian Sea was but still enjoyable. We dipped into a bar on the beach to help cool us from the hot sun.

While we have been in southern India, we have been relying on a Lonely Planet tour book for our restaurant and bar recommendations. I will admit that it is rather hit or miss with their recommendations. A great bar that they recommended in Mysore was closed down and the rooftop bar that we enjoyed wasn't even on the list; however, a local restaurant that the recommended was on point. In Mamallapuram we split off from the group dinner a d stumbled upon this restaurant called Buddha Cafe, which was absolutely amazing, but not even on LP's list. I would say that it is the best food I have had since in India. Even the tomato soup was out of this world good. Laid back atmosphere where you sit on the floor, are shoes off at the door, and good music and cold beer help keep you company while you wait on your meal. We tried all of LP's recommendations and nothing compared to Buddha.

After our meal, we asked the guy who ran the restaurant for a good local bar recommendation. He pointed us to a great local dive bar called Masala Cafe. For a Sunday night, the place was rather packed. Good music, nice locals, and a game of snooker kept us there well into the morning. Since we were right by the ocean, we figured we might as well end the night with a good late night swim in the sea.