“On vacations: We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the sun off our skin, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sand out of our belongings.” Erma Bombeck
Are back from Chennai down in the South of India, where it was baking hot…& yet we had a great time. For me, obviously anything to do with baking had to be good!!! Thanks to great leads from Arundathi @ My Food Blog, Rachel @ Tangerines Kitchen & Divya @ Easy Cooking, all wonderful Chennai bloggers, I knew just where to head. Arundathi has pre-warned me that kids in Chennai for 1 week was asking for trouble! Spot on…but we managed pretty well. The hotel was beautiful…Raintree, South India’s First ECOTEL Ò Hotel, which importantly had a lovely rooftop pool – which was the perfect answer for bored kids!
Famous Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram/Mamallapuram
Right on top of the must-do’s was a visit to the ancient port city of Mahabalipuram, a classified UNESCO World Heritage site, an hour’s drive from Chennai. We left Chennai at 5 in the morning coz we wanted to catch sun-rise on the beach. Unfortunately, it was slightly cloudy so we missed the sun-rise, but the waters & the beach were absolutely glorious.
We descended on a sleepy village called Kovalam in time to catch the sun, & were enthralled by fishermen setting off in fishing boats, star fish & coral brought in by the tide, crabs scuttling along the beach & roosters giving wake-up calls. The village was far removed from reality…rural to the core, with people who looked like they’d walked out of last century, laid-back & in slow-motion. Wonderfully surreal!!
The downside (much to the kids horror), was open air loos, but it was the fishing village & their land. We quietly watched dawn, collected a couple of shells, starfish & corals that an old man helped us pick off the beach…
…& then set off to see the cave temples on the beach at Mahabalipuram!
Mahabalipuram was highly recommended by one & all, most of all by sis # 1 in Dallas, & it was STUNNING, well worth the trip. Took our breath away…the feeling was unbelievable. To be amidst ruins & rocks from the 7th century was like finding ourselves in another era altogether. The ambience, the peace, the rocks, the architecture, the sculptures…a world in itself!
Mahishasuramarthini cave temple
Bas-relief carving at the Varaha cave
Mahabalipuramwas a 7th century port city of the South Indian dynasty of the Pallavas around 60 km south from the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. It is believed to have been named after the Pallava king Mamalla. It has various historic monuments built largely between the 7th and the 9th century, and has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monuments are mostly rock-cut and monolithic, and constitute the early stages of Dravidian architecture wherein Buddhist elements of design are prominently visible. They are constituted by cave temples, monolithic rathas (chariots), sculpted reliefs and structural temples. The pillars are of the Dravidian order. The sculptures are excellent examples of Pallava art.
An old bungalow below the hotel window…kept the boy intrigued for hours!
Visiting Chennai was a sense of dejavu for me…but not in the true sense. This was my 3rd visit; the first when I was about 11 years old, the next in the early 1990’s…& again, now! Things have changed drastically, as expected, but there was a sense of odd familiarity…a city that held us by its charm. A right blend of simplicity, patience & culture. DH & me loved it; so much so that DH had us in splits trying to conquer the local language, Tamil, going a step further & trying it on the locals. They were perplexed, & then very amused. I tried to brush up the few phrases our housekeeper in Bangalore had taught us many moons ago…but obviously being kids, we learnt all the wrong stuff then…roughly translated into ‘don’t want food, go away, what’s your name, & counting 1-10!! Of very little use now but enough to charm my way!! We tried plenty of local authentic cuisine…got our happy fill of dosas, uttapams, idlis. Chettinad cuisine is quite spicy & though we enjoyed it, the kids couldn’t stomach too much of it. Met Arundathi at a beautiful bungalow, Amethyst, (pictured above) converted into a Coffee Shop, boutique & gallery. It’s preserved as a heritage property & has a wonderful ambience about it. Chennai is very cosmopolitan, so the kids found their fair share of pizzas, burgers, subways etc which kept them satiated!
A shopping we will go…
Impossible to resist local shopping, off I went armed with a list of things I had long dreamt of & handy hot tips from sis # 2 from Houston. FUN FUN FUN!!
You can buy lovely cotton weaves in brilliant colours, handwoven sarees (that incidentally make beautiful drapes too), stainless steel in every possible avatar from one of Asia’s biggest stores, Tanjore paintings. I went nuts about spices etc…stone-flower, cardamom, mustard, garlic powder, garlic-chili powder, cocoa, local coffee, chocolate chips…a dream come true. Mahabalipuram had fabulous stoneware…got lovely pestle & mortar sets there, in granite & marble! Found some coral in a tiny shop too!! Fresh fruit lines streets everywhere in the city…delicious mangosteens, rambutams, mangoes, gooseberries, sapodillas, papayas, jackfruit, plums…
Mesmerised by fruit at a local vender…we had a great time!
