Mamallapuram

We went all the way to Mamallapuram from Chennai in a rickshaw. This was a lot of fun - I love riding in rickshaws and the coastal scenery was beautiful. We fought off some particularly aggressive touts on arrival (where are you from - blank- can't you even make conversation?- in my experience that question's always followed by where are you staying? fine get by on your little book!!!) and made our way to our first choice of hotel - Tina Blue Lodge. We got a great room with our own porch where over the next couple of days we had a lot of fun drinking rum and playing cards with other travellers. I now know the ubiquitious backpacker card game - Asshole.

Arjuna's Penance

Mamallapuram is rebuilding itself after last year's Tsunami. There is a sense of people just getting on with things after tremendous loss that is really humbling. I've checked on the internet and casualties were lower here than in other areas of Tamil Nadu but the beach was hit and a lot of people lost fishing boats and possessions. The Catholic church seems to be doing a lot to help as the beach was filled with new fishing boats from an international mission. There's that quesion of how tasteful it is to return to an area so soon after great tragedy. But all the people I spoke to said that they needed the tourists to come back ASAP.

Me at stone carving

Joe and I spent an afternoon on the beach although I must admit thoughts of the events last year were never far from my mind. The sea also seemed at least as fierce as at Chennai (where swimming is banned) despite the lovely sand and generally idyllic atmosphere. We stuck to the extreme shallows. Later we got talking to a couple of backpackers from New Zealand who seemed pretty nervous about going into the water at all. They had the latest addition of the Lonely Planet (we're cheapskates and have been getting by on the 2003 edition of the Rough Guide bought on special offer at Sheffield Waterstones). It turns out that there's a warning about the sea at Mamallapuram in there -apparently the current's really strong and there have been several drownings recently. With that in mind we didn't spend any more time at the beach.

I wouldn't want that to put people off visiting though because there are a lot of other things to do. The town really does want tourists to come and pretty much everywhere is affectionately geared towards the independent traveller. My favourite restuarant was Dreamland. Joe and I walked up the stairs to the sounds of Shaggy and Dr Dre, quite happy to hear any Western music. As soon as they saw us they switched their excellent sound system to Tracey Chapman - perfect! We got to know the owner Swami and on our last night he marinaded some fish for us and served it with perfect potato mash. That's customer care! Our own hotel restuarant was also really good and we had an utterly delicious fresh seafood platter for lunch one day. In all the restuarants they bring the fresh catch out for you to see. This is fine when it's dead, but in my hypocritical way I still don't like the thought that a lobster or a crab I've seen wriggling is being chucked in the pot on my behalf.

I also went for an Ayurvedic massage at Sri Chakra (14 Othavadai Street, Fisherman Colony). It was a very relaxing experience although I'd recommend the more modest woman to either find a female massuer or just go for a head massage. Full back means your entire spine and they do your inner thighs and chest area. The guy was a real professional and at no point did it become sleazy though.