Greetings from Mamallapuram! We find ourselves in absolute paradise these days . . . I don't know if there's another way to put it. We took our 27-hour train ride from Mumbai to Chennai, which essentially crosses the entire continent. We were fortunate enough to book passage in an air-conditioned car, and shared a nook with 2 men from the area we are currently visiting. One was a conservative holy-type-man and the other a former railroad director and cricket guru. Everyone was so very pleasant and made the journey something special. We really enjoyed their company as much as the gorgeous Indian countryside. We stopped at many places along the way, and saw everything ranging from shanties, deserts, mountains, giant rock walls, polluted and unpolluted waterways, farms, villages, and many, many, many cups of chai. We decided that since we didn't have a nook to ourselves, these very kind and helpful Indians were excellent coincidental roommates. We slept on bunks, read our books, visited new friends, and zipped across a very vast and diverse country.
As it stands now, we are in a small seaside town known as Mamallapuram. The town is much smaller and way more laid back than the rest of the places we have visited. We took a two-hour bus ride south from Chennai just this afternoon, and immediately fell in love with this place. The area was wiped out hard from the tsunami, but has recovered nicely. We are staying just off the beach, seen below . . .
. . . and have already enjoyed some fresh seafood and a quick walk of a bazaar. This little village is known for rock-carving, silks, fishing/cuisine, and shrines. Our dinner was a whopping Rupees 200. That's about $5.00 US for an "out of the net" fresh plate of curried mackerel with rice and some prawns with fried rice. Not too bad. Out hotel costs Rupees 300 for one night, or $7.50 US. We'll update again soon, and to answer a question some of you may be asking - YES. I do plan on climbing the pressure crack up the west face of the sea rock in the picture. The rock is gritty and is just begging for an ascent. Time to go . . . there is an 11:00 pm curfew and we have a few things to do yet tonight. Cheers!
-John
3 comments:
Hey guys, glad the seaside town is going swell and glad john is climbing. Seems like a fab time. I checked out the little coffee shop in golden with alterra coffee. Num. just like home. The buddies are all getting along now. They play and chase each other and sleep under the same stuff (gracie sleeps seperate but by them). They chase each other around and get all excited about girl pee. It's kinda nauseating. Bijou follows her and Farny sings. She only gets pissy if they follow her too much and then she swats (normally at Bijou). the buddies have figured out that they can get up the scratch post if their hind claws are attached and front paws wrapped around. but then they get scared and jump down before attempting the bookshelf. They were all napping with me yesterday. Gracie was by my feet, bijou on my knee and farny by my face (then he farted and we all left, but yeah).
love and kisses from Denver!
An exciting update and all of the pictures are great...perhaps you will be writing a book about your travels and the individuals you meet......your movie outfits are quite dashing and this may be the start of your new careers...the small village sounds like a nice change from your earlier setting....snow yesterday in Colorado...nice sunshine today....check your e-mail for info needed on your Playstation 3...have fun and thanks for the interesting updates...love...Dad & Mom
Hay Guyyyzzz! (John), Looks like you've tanned quite a lot from that Rickshaw picture! wow!
Looks like you two are having a blast in your Asian adventure. My adventures as a corporate misanthrope hardly amount to anything as awesome as what you two are doing! I'm super jealous! Hope your adventures continue to be stellar!
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