Day 46: Mamallapuram

We had another early start to the day with a bicycle tour of the town. As you can imagine, us three were struggling the whole morning, for some reason exercise, a hot sun, and a throbbing headache isn't a good combination.

Our first stop lead us to the Shore Temple. This was just an old temple on the Mamallapuram shore. All these temples generally have the same purpose with the same background just different engravings, rulers, purpose. We can all agree... We are a bit templed-out. The only thing I found different was this large stone with a hole in it. This whole was were they used to put the head of someone who was about to be sacrificed.

Afterwards, we cycled over to the Old Five Rathas. The purpose of the construction is unknown, so the history is somewhat blurred. It was rather small and, personally, I didn't find it that interesting.

We then visited the Tiger Cave and Butter Ball. The Tiger cave was okay. Just some amazing carvings on this large pieces of stone. The best part of it was watching the goats try to climb down the side of the rock engravings. The Butter Ball was the best thing of the morning. It is this massive boulder that sits perfectly on the edge of this large slopping rock. On the slopping rock, there is a smooth part that is used as a slide; of course, we had to take a run at it. After that, I laid down underneath the Butter Ball to try and make it look like I was about to be crushed. I will admit, it was pretty scary With the clouds moving slowly behind the boulder, it seemed as though it was slowly moving towards you. Took the photo and got outa there.

Our afternoon goal was to find and rent mopeds to cruise the town in. After lunch, our goal ha us searching high and low to find enough mopeds. After an hour or so of searching, we were able to find enough. What you are thinking of as a moped rental place, is not what it is. The guy calls around to his friends and sees who wants to rent their mope out for the day. My moped guy had one arm. I wasn't to enthused about renting a moped from a one armed man in India. Luckily, I didn't lose an arm and we had an amazing time exploring the more rural outskirts of Mamallapuram.

Later that night, we found ourselves back in the sweet spot of Mamallapuram, Buddha Cafe. I ordered the exact same thing as did the rest of us. Not a complaint all night, closing down the joint two night in a row. Our journey continued on to Masala Cafe. While it wasn't as popular as the night before, the friendly staff and cool music kept us company.