On the Bay of Bengal

That name has always sounded so exotic to me and it is!




Our road trip took us to the French colonial city of Pondicherry the first night. Located on the Bay of Bengal, it was released from French control in 1954 but the French quarter remains with broad tree-shaded sidewalks, French street names, French restaurants, and hand-swept gutters.

Even the women who sweep with their stick-brooms wear beautiful saris.













The next day we continued to Mamallapuram, with its UNESCO World Heritage temples, about 150 km up the coast in the state of Tamil Nadu. The state had been damaged by the tsunami and they lost over 20,000 people but the buildings and streets we have seen are mostly repaired. The city is famous for its temples carved out of single boulders and its ancient cliff carvings.















Here are Sara, Munier and Rohan and their driver, Nagaraj, climbing over the giant boulders.












And here is the gang cooling off in the hotel pool after the climb.













After a break to wait for the humid 88 degrees to "cool" down, we went to the Shore Temple which was carved from a single piece of stone and has stood for more than 1400 years. It was at one time buried in the sand. We also saw 5 more temples and a lovely elephant, each carved from a single boulder.










This group of children posing by the elephant were fascinated with Rohan and the photo I took.

And after all that temple viewing the evening closed with a giant prawn feast overlooking the beach.















We have one more night in the Mamallaa Heritage Hotel and then we head back to Bangalore via Kanchipuram, an ancient city renowned for it's silk and temples. Oh, wait, that sounds like most of southern India's cities. Anyway, I'll keep you posted.