Finally we managed to do some sight-seeing. Mamallapuram is also one of the best places to do that. Just by walking through the city you see a lot of temples, rock-cut caves and reliefs. So yesterday we decided to do the whole package: We took some water, the travel guide and off we went.
At first we went to see the 5 Rathas, which are monolith-temples discovered by the Britains. While Nina learned the guide book by heart and tried to find all the details about the different gods, and the facts about a vedic story (the Rathas were named after the 5 brothers in this story), Simone took her camera and discovered the place. It had a strange atmosphere. You stand there and you know how incredible old those stones are, but still it looks like somebody had just built them some days ago.
Another strange thing we experienced is, that we are also some kind of attraction for Indians. During the whole last day we made about 5 pictures together with Indians. Or they took photos of us, to say the truth. At first they just stare and smile at us, and then they take their mobile phone and try to take some secret pictures, but, of course, this is very obvious. And they can't take really good pictures where everybody can see properly, that (believe it or not) they are REALLY standing next to white people! So I wonder on how many tourist photos were are going to end until we leave India. Perhaps we become some local celebrities?!
After the Rathas we made our way to the Shore temple, which is directly at the sea side. This place was even nicer than the first one. Between the actually two temples you can watch a big Shiva sleeping on a stone bench. And the whole temple complex is guarded by around 30 very terrifying stone bulls.
To come to an end, we went to see Arjuna's Penance, which is a huge stone carving. This carving has a touch of irony: Beside Arjuna's penance you can also see a cat making the same position as Arjuna, and a crowd of mice looking at it.
So that was it. Pictures are coming soon!!
Today we made our way to Pondicherry/Puducherry, where we are going to stay until Monday. We wanted to stay in Mamallapuram and make a bicycle trip today, but as nobody told the south Indians that it's dry season now, it was pouring down the whole night and morning, and it didn't quite stop until the afternoon. So now we are here. This is a former french colony, why a lot of street signs etc. are still in french. I like that. À bientôt!
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