Monday - May 10th

Last night, our driver recommended a local restaurant in Mahabalipuram called the Moonrakers – specializing in seafood. We got to pick out fresh lobster which they grilled and served with rice and chips. It was delicious!!

In the morning – we visited the World Heritage Monument which was like a “park” that contained several individual monuments that were each built out of a single granite stone. The Arjuna Penance monument was another representation of the 3 main Hindu gods with a little different twist on the interpretation:

GOD

G = Generator (Brahma)

O = Organizer (Vishnu)

D = Destroyer of evil (Shiva)

Another monument in the park is a natural phenomenon called the Krishna Butter Ball. It’s a HUGE oval rock that is naturally upright on an incline. Our guide told us that at one point, the dynasty had several elephants attempt to move the rock and it wouldn’t budge. It just sits there in perfect balance.

One other monument in the park had a carving of the goddess of money – Laksmi. It was easy to see that many people had come to pray to her because her legs were darkened from the millions of hand that had touched her.

Next, we visited Pattadakal where there are 5 small temples (Five Rathas) that were never actually completed because of a war between North and South India where the south had lost – so construction of the temples halted. They are still magnificent to see because much of the work had been done and it’s easy to see where the construction halted. All 5 temples are carved from a single piece of granite.

Later that day – we left Mahabalipuram and drove to Kanchipuram to visit a temple that is 1,400 years old. This temple was built using granite as a base for all the platforms, but on top of that were bricks and sandstone.

It was extremely hot again today. By 9am the temperature was already up over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. By the time we finished with this temple – mom and I both had wet hair and wet clothes. Next, was the drive to Chennai where we would come full circle since the beginning of our trip. When we reached Chennai it was already getting dark, so we saw some of the sites in that city at night time. We stopped to visit the Church of St. Thomas. It’s one of only three catholic basilicas in the world – since St. Thomas’ body is buried there. The church was marvelous.

We were allowed to visit the tomb of St. Thomas, but no pictures were permitted there. Finally, around 8pm we arrived back at our first hotel – Benz Park – in Chennai. We called Ramiah and our other friends from the wedding.

Ramiah is planned to stop by the hotel tomorrow sometime for a visit and Mathangi is going to pick us up from the hotel on Wednesday to do some shopped before we go home. Only three days left in beautiful India!