January 15, 2015
CHENNAI to MAMALLAPURAM, 66km
Hotel Sea Breeze Annex 1000Rs ($16) double fan room, w/o breakfast

Oil Leak?

Turns out Dave pulled a boner;)

Surprisingly we didn't lose any sleep over the oil leak and we both managed to sleep soundly. At 10 am, Dave searched and found a place where he could buy oil and with the assistance of an eager and helpful rickshaw driver he poured a quart down the reservoir. Then he left to meet with Balajee, the guy we bought the motorcycle from. 

I busied myself with packing and emailing. We are feeling good about being able to store our excess luggage at Hotel Pearl International until we return in 80 some days. Our "bare minimum" still turns out to be more than we had hoped. We had to include some bulky warmies since we'll be making a stop at several hill stations. 
 
Dave returned at 12:30 with a sheepish grin on his face. The oil reservoir he thought was empty had in fact been sufficiently filled and after Dave and his rickshaw buddy got through pouring another quart in, was over full. He paid 100 Rs to take the excess out.

• The black oil Dave saw dripping down his kickstand must have been put there by the tinkerers - remember how they did a weld repair and wanted the stand to work correctly?
• Fresh oil is a translucent amber, not black. When Dave did not see black in the inspection window, he erroneously concluded there was no oil to be seen. Balajee had changed the oil as part of getting the bike ready for sale.
• No way around it. Dave pulled a boner.....

 
We laughed it off and were happy to finally get on our way at 2:30. We had a short day planned anyway so getting such a late start was no biggie

Dave had picked up some big rice bags to protect our smaller bags inside from dirt and dust. We'll be going in style. Nice touch Dave. 

 
Mad Chennai Traffic

After a few days of running errands on the motorcycle in Chennai, Dave had become an old pro at skirting the mad Indian traffic and it was just me who suffered nervous fits and fear of our imminent demise. Hopefully, that too will subside after a few days of buttpuckering. 
 
The beautiful Chennai beach was filled with thousands happy Indian holiday makers because of the 3-day Pongal (or harvest) festival. The traffic never seemed to let up. Two hours later, we were still in the thick of it. 

We took a lunch break at Domino's Pizza when we spotted one. Air conditioning and margarita pizza without chilies. 
   

Mama What?

Soon thereafter, the traffic lightened up considerably. Occasionally we could spot a strip of sea and passed signboards pointing to ocean-front hotels and resorts. And around 5pm, we arrived at our destination, Mamallapuram. And judging by the many westerners we ran into, a popular place to be and I should be able to find some food choices besides Indian. 
 
We followed the signs to Sea Breeze Annex which was suggested to us by a Japanese traveler we met in Puri. It had sounded like a solid choice budget place. We got the last room.(Darn the Pongal crowd.) It was reasonably clean, had fan clean linens and top sheet without having to ask for it. Wifi worked and we even had small balcony. All for 1000 Rs. Super. 
 
Soon we were sitting behind a cool drink, lime soda for me and a kingfisher beer for Dave. He had to keep the bottle under the table because "Nautilus Restaurant" doesn't have a license to sell liquor. It was a lively place, a nice place to unwind. Dinner of grilled garlic squid turned out to be a hit pick too. After dinner, we walked the 300 meters to the beach. Admiring the colorful chalk drawings on the pavement in front of the houses and businesses to commemorate the Pongal festival.  

At the beach, wooden fishing boats filled the broad strip of sand like beached whales. It was time to turn in for the night. 

Dave's question of the year: When we started traveling (some 30 years ago), were there this many old people ?.... or are we meeting the exact same people.... just thirty years later?


January 16, 2015
MAMALLAPURAM - ANCIENT TEMPLES 


8th Century Shore Temple

We spent the better part of the day exploring the many noteworthy temples around Mamallapuram. We started via the beach towards the Shore Temple where we joined the hundreds of worshipers and holiday makers. The UNESCO designated temple is built of granite blocks dating from the 8th century AD.
 
The temperature soon rose to uncomfortable for me and being in the middle of the slow moving crowd made me claustrophobic. I had had enough and b-lined to the hotel while Dave continued on to see more temples. 

About two hours later, he made it back and had picked up some fruit and cold drinks. We sat out the hottest part of the day. And at 4PM, we ventured out again. Dave was eager to show me Krishna's Butterball and all the temples surrounding it...


Krisrhna's Butter Ball

Krishna's Butterball turns out to be a giant round boulder precariously balanced on a granite hillside.

 
A Chariot

From there, we made it over to a 7th century carving of a chariot.


Varaha

Varaha cave has been carved out of rock. It contains the carved image of Varaha avatar of Vishnu with a human body and head of a boar. The figures surrounding Vishnu are always interesting.


Trashy Unfinished Rayar
  
We went to the top of the hill to the unfinished Rayar Gopuram. Many Indian families bring food and picnic on the grass. We are again amazed, that even in this site, they feel it is okay to discard their trash everywhere. Other ancient temple sites could be seen in the distance.
 
 
Grand Finale - Decent of the Ganges Relief
   
The piece de resistance of Mamallapuram are massive carvings in the bedrock known as the Descent of the Ganges. 
 
The detailed carvings include a family of elephants and monkeys. It is also called Arjuna's Penance