Except for the ancient temples and carvings, Mahallapuram is an awful little tourist trap of a town. I've since heard someone refer to it as Backpackerpuram. There is an entire section of town that is just backpackers and all of the people trying to sell things and services to them. The area around the bus stand caters to locals and Indian tourists. I'm surprised by how many Indian tourists there are. The temples carved out of rock and the relief carvings are pretty amazing though. The area was used for carving in the 7th and 8th century by the Chola Empire. It is thought there was a school of carving and that is why there are so many unfinished works. There are three major sites. The first has a lot of unfinished temples carved from caves with stone added to them. There is one major piece called "The Penance of Arjuna". Arjuna is the human lead in the Bagavad Gita. It is a relief painting about 30 feet tall by 60 feet wide. There are gods, people, big elephants and some cats. Down the center was at one time a fountain symbolizing the Ganges. It's been filled in with other sculptures since then. After that is the Five Rathas (chariots, even thought they look nothing like chariots. They are temples dedicated to the Pandava brothers and their one wife from the Bagavad Gita (Arjuna was one of the brothers). Each one of these say 20 by 20 foot temples was carved from a single boulder or outcropping. The big draw is the Seashore Temple. Having the sea and sky as a backdrop really makes it eye popping. It perhaps 3 stories high with many, many carvings. The carvings have weathered to become suggestions of what they were - it reminded me of Gaudi's "La Sacrada Familia".
Headed to Pondicherry the next day. I still can't believe it was a French colony until the 50's. The coffee was good. It wasn't exactly like real French coffee but some of the best I've had in India. I stayed in something that called itself and Ashram but it was focused on social justice, education and environmental issues. They did a lot with the commune Auroville just outside of town. It's a failed hippie experiment in many ways but they are still trying. Everyone said I should go but I just didn't see the need. I spent a lot of time in the old colonial center. Most of the buildings are old colonial ones which haven't been kept up very well. There is a big park I hung out in on Sunday afternoon watching Indian families stroll and play. I really have come to like the food and love trying out new restaurants - some from the guide book and some that look to be locals only. I find the locals only places are usually much better - and I don't see any Westerners in them. The place I was staying was just outside of the colonial center in a little residential area with lots of brightly colored houses all packed together with lots of kids playing in the streets. It was fun to watch them. They all loved to say "Hi" to me and ask where I was from if they could. I don't think I will be posting more pictures here because this site has a really difficult photo loading process. If you want to see pics they are on Instagram and Facebook
