Wed 22nd February, 2006 We had not be
sure which bus station we were going to arrive at, our guide
book showed at least 15 different bus stations in Chennai, and I
was fairly sure we would arrive at a different bus station than
the one we needed to get the onward bus to Mahabalipuram.
So we were pleasantly surprised to find they've gone and built a
huge new central bus station, and we only had a walk to the
other side to get a local bus to Mahabalipuram. The only
set back when we were dropped outside the bus station was the
elderly, officious, security guard with a big stick, who spoke
no language we could recognise, and who seemed to be insisting
that we could not take our bikes into the bus station.. A
helpful soul asked us where we wanted to go, and passed it on to
the guard, who then stopped ranting and let us go.
Strange, really.
Only two hours to Mahabalipuram, bit of a rough
bus, and I had to climb onto the roof to load our bikes, but
quite a pleasant journey really, especially as the bus had no
glass in the side windows so we had a good breeze to keep us
cool. We tried the Tina Blue View Lodge first, had a
fairly good write up in our Footprints guidebook, but it has
obviously gone down hill since they wrote the review. It
was getting on so we ended up taking a small room at the Shiva
Guest House, only 300 rupees, a bit claustrophobic, but it will
do until tomorrow.
Quite pleasantly surprised by how quiet the town
seems, traffic wise anyway, and there are a lot of foreign
tourist here, with quite a few restaurants catering to their
whims. We tried one, with an upstairs balcony, The Galaxy,
but had a
disappointing veg curry, and the worst rotis I've had in
India. They did have some beer, although I wasn't allowed
to leave the bottle on the table, had to stand it on the floor
next to the table, obviously they dont have a
licence.
Thu 23rd to Mon 27th February, 2006 Very
hot here over the four days we stayed in Mahabalipuram. Didn't
get up to much apart from eating, drinking and relaxing.
We changed hotels after an uncomfortable first night at the Siva
Guest house, moved on to the posh (by our standards) Mammala
Hotel, nice big room with a/c and mini bar! Only took an hour to
drink the mini bar dry, of alcoholic content, but don't be
impressed, there were only two beers in it! I found a
"wine" shop down the road that was 20 rupees cheaper
for a bottle, and replaced what we'd drunk and stocked up with
more. This is the first fridge we've had in our room while
we've been in India. But at 1050 rupees a night, its also
one of the most expensive rooms we've had.
We did manage a walk around the temple / rocky
area around the back of the town, one of the main attractions,
and a cycle ride around the extremities of the town.. The
food in the restaurants we tried around the town was a little
disappointing, we liked the relaxed layout of the Blue Elephant
restaurant, but was disappointed to find a couple of dead flies
in my meal. Still, it was ok for a relaxing beer or two in
the afternoon.
On the Sunday, Rita arranged for us to take some
kids from one of the orphanages in the town down to the beach
for a couple of hours. Thanks Rita. I was a little
disconcerted when Rita said the orphanage had 49 children, do
they want us to take them all? Luckily, we met two new
friends at breakfast that day, Sally from England and Alfreda
from Canada, and they agreed to help us. Luckily there were only
ten kids for us to take out. Few! They (the kids) were
extremely well behaved, called us auntie and uncle, and hung
onto our hands all the way down to the beach, where we
entertained them with a few simple games, and they also joined
in with a game of cricket between two of the orphanages in the
town. Definitely a highlight of our stay in the town.
On the Monday morning we packed up and cycled
down to catch a bus to Chennai, but finding no bus for an hours
or so, opted for a taxi at 700 rupees. Well, I suppose
we've got to get used to paying through the nose when we get
back to England in a couple of days. Checked into the
adequate Paradise hotel, next door the Broadlands hotel that we
stayed in when we were last in Chennai at the end of 1996.
In the afternoon we walked down to Higginbothams book shop on
one of the main shopping streets in Chennai, where I bought a
few recipe books (watch out!) and Rita bought a few books as
well. Had a nice Chinese meal in the Spencer Towers Mall
food court, and spent several hours declining offers to have a
look around gift shops.
Back
to Itinerary
Tue28th February, 2006 Our
last day in India! Our fight back is at 4am tomorrow
morning, so we're going to keep our room until late tonight and
get a taxi out to the airport for midnight. Mixed feelings
about going home. Home? We dont have a home! We've
really enjoyed most of our time in India, and despite the
problems we've had on the roads while we were cycling, we'll
definitely be back in the future for another long stay.
Not only because its so cheap, the food is great, most of the
time, and we like almost all of the people.
Back
to Itinerary
Wed 1st March, 2006 Arrive
back in Heathrow at 9:30am
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