9:05pm
Today was our first 100% free day. Our only assignment was to hire a driver for the day and see as many things as possible from sunrise to sunset without any guidance from our professor. This made the day extra interesting. We arranged to have the driver take us down the east cost along the beach and stop at several attractions along the way. First on the list was a boat ride. We showed up at a marina, paid about two bucks a piece and hopped in a motor boat with a local. For a little over half an our, we rode around the bay, checking out the sights of Chennai from a distance. We enjoyed the ride, but it wasn't much compared to the rest of our day. Our next stop was at the Dakshinashitra (pronounce it with an Indian accent, it makes it easier) Heritage Center. This was a bit more interesting than what usually comes to mind when you think of the term "heritage center". It was a large plot of land by the beach with 17 different style houses that represented the different Indian cultures. There was also a large market for handmade goods and an art gallery. While the girls looked at jewelry and made deals with the sellers, the guys and I made our way around the area, stopping into one house after another and learning about the very different cultures of the Indian states.
After walking around in the hot sun for a couple hours, we decided it was time for lunch and headed towards the town of Mahabalipuram (a small town next to the the beach with loads of historical monuments). We were advised to eat at a place called Moon Rakers right on the beach. As we soon found out, this was a very good choice. We gazed over the menu of various fresh seafood options while the waiters brought around platters of live shrimp, lobster, crab, prawn, and fish to prove the freshness of what we would be eating. My dish of choice was the calamari masala. It was excellent, but I didn't realize that someone had already ordered a huge appetizer of calamari so I left the restaurant with more squid in my stomach than I care to admit.
A quick one or two kilometer drive brought us to the world famous shore temple. You can see it in the pictures below, but as the name implies, it's a temple. By the shore. On the way into the temple park, we passed on the opportunity to pay 800 rupees for a barefooted "tour guide" who was incapable of passing on his knowledge of the temple in English. We read the signs around the temple and that gave us all of the knowledge we needed. The shore temple was built in the 7th century and is somehow still standing to this day with almost all of its intricate decorations, carvings, etc. still intact. Yet another pretty incredible sight to see.
We left the shore temple and took about 20 minutes to find someone who spoke English well enough to point us in the direction of the other monuments. Within walking distance we ran into a monument called "the butterball", a lighthouse, and another temple built on top of a massive rock. This is where we had our first encounter with monkeys. Unlike most American monuments, these places do not have security guards telling you not to stand too close to the ledge or huge signs telling you not to feed the animals. The monkeys roamed wherever the wanted and so did the people. From a distance, the monkeys seemed like the cute little furry friends you see on tv. Once you get up close and personal, you realize that they are mean little thieves who will stop at nothing to get your water bottles, snacks, purses, etc. These little critters are so accustomed to human food that I was able to witness one pick up a soda can and start drinking from the mouth of the can with perfect form. As we climbed up to the top of the rocks in order to see the temple, we kept an eye out for the monkeys and watched as other people were relentlessly tormented. Getting to the temple and seeing the incredible view of the ocean and miles of scenery made the journey entirely worth the hassle. If I had the time, I would have just sat on top of the rock and watched the sunset.
Now that the sun was going down, we had only a short amount of time to reach our last stop of the trip, the crocodile bank, before it closed. This was a huge amount of acreage arranged in the form of a zoo with the only difference being that the separate animal enclosures only contained different species of crocodile. As we walked through, we wondered about how many animal rights organizations and safety freaks would have a heart attack about this place if it were located in the US. Several of the enclosures were about the size of a basketball court and were filled with up to 430 crocodiles sleeping next to and on top of one another. Top that off with a lack of high fencing around the enclosures which would allow a very stupid/suicidal person to reach their arm over and be easily within biting distance of 6 or 7 crocodiles. About 20 minutes into our tour of the place, we were encouraged to pick up the pace of our walking because the park had closed and the employees wanted to go home. After quickly peeking into the last crocodile enclosures and looking at some king cobras, we got back in the car and headed home.
On the way back we ran straight into some of the craziest traffic I've ever witnessed which forced us to each give our driver less than a dollar extra. Feeling exhausted and hungry, we opted for the closest restaurant to our hotel and had a good, traditional South Indian meal.
Today was our first 100% free day. Our only assignment was to hire a driver for the day and see as many things as possible from sunrise to sunset without any guidance from our professor. This made the day extra interesting. We arranged to have the driver take us down the east cost along the beach and stop at several attractions along the way. First on the list was a boat ride. We showed up at a marina, paid about two bucks a piece and hopped in a motor boat with a local. For a little over half an our, we rode around the bay, checking out the sights of Chennai from a distance. We enjoyed the ride, but it wasn't much compared to the rest of our day. Our next stop was at the Dakshinashitra (pronounce it with an Indian accent, it makes it easier) Heritage Center. This was a bit more interesting than what usually comes to mind when you think of the term "heritage center". It was a large plot of land by the beach with 17 different style houses that represented the different Indian cultures. There was also a large market for handmade goods and an art gallery. While the girls looked at jewelry and made deals with the sellers, the guys and I made our way around the area, stopping into one house after another and learning about the very different cultures of the Indian states.
After walking around in the hot sun for a couple hours, we decided it was time for lunch and headed towards the town of Mahabalipuram (a small town next to the the beach with loads of historical monuments). We were advised to eat at a place called Moon Rakers right on the beach. As we soon found out, this was a very good choice. We gazed over the menu of various fresh seafood options while the waiters brought around platters of live shrimp, lobster, crab, prawn, and fish to prove the freshness of what we would be eating. My dish of choice was the calamari masala. It was excellent, but I didn't realize that someone had already ordered a huge appetizer of calamari so I left the restaurant with more squid in my stomach than I care to admit.
A quick one or two kilometer drive brought us to the world famous shore temple. You can see it in the pictures below, but as the name implies, it's a temple. By the shore. On the way into the temple park, we passed on the opportunity to pay 800 rupees for a barefooted "tour guide" who was incapable of passing on his knowledge of the temple in English. We read the signs around the temple and that gave us all of the knowledge we needed. The shore temple was built in the 7th century and is somehow still standing to this day with almost all of its intricate decorations, carvings, etc. still intact. Yet another pretty incredible sight to see.
We left the shore temple and took about 20 minutes to find someone who spoke English well enough to point us in the direction of the other monuments. Within walking distance we ran into a monument called "the butterball", a lighthouse, and another temple built on top of a massive rock. This is where we had our first encounter with monkeys. Unlike most American monuments, these places do not have security guards telling you not to stand too close to the ledge or huge signs telling you not to feed the animals. The monkeys roamed wherever the wanted and so did the people. From a distance, the monkeys seemed like the cute little furry friends you see on tv. Once you get up close and personal, you realize that they are mean little thieves who will stop at nothing to get your water bottles, snacks, purses, etc. These little critters are so accustomed to human food that I was able to witness one pick up a soda can and start drinking from the mouth of the can with perfect form. As we climbed up to the top of the rocks in order to see the temple, we kept an eye out for the monkeys and watched as other people were relentlessly tormented. Getting to the temple and seeing the incredible view of the ocean and miles of scenery made the journey entirely worth the hassle. If I had the time, I would have just sat on top of the rock and watched the sunset.
Now that the sun was going down, we had only a short amount of time to reach our last stop of the trip, the crocodile bank, before it closed. This was a huge amount of acreage arranged in the form of a zoo with the only difference being that the separate animal enclosures only contained different species of crocodile. As we walked through, we wondered about how many animal rights organizations and safety freaks would have a heart attack about this place if it were located in the US. Several of the enclosures were about the size of a basketball court and were filled with up to 430 crocodiles sleeping next to and on top of one another. Top that off with a lack of high fencing around the enclosures which would allow a very stupid/suicidal person to reach their arm over and be easily within biting distance of 6 or 7 crocodiles. About 20 minutes into our tour of the place, we were encouraged to pick up the pace of our walking because the park had closed and the employees wanted to go home. After quickly peeking into the last crocodile enclosures and looking at some king cobras, we got back in the car and headed home.
On the way back we ran straight into some of the craziest traffic I've ever witnessed which forced us to each give our driver less than a dollar extra. Feeling exhausted and hungry, we opted for the closest restaurant to our hotel and had a good, traditional South Indian meal.
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