We arrived at Chennai Airport at 8:30am, having flown in from Dubai, and were met by a taxi driver, arranged by the hotel. We bought £240 worth of Rupees at the exchange desk, a relatively easy experience, and soon were on our way to Mamallapuram, or Mahabalipuram, a town on a strip of land between the Bay of Bengal and the Great Salt Lake, in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It’s known for its temples and monuments built by the Pallava dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries.
We had decided not to stay in Chennai, formerly Madras, as we felt that we might be overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of a major city so early on. Our experience of driving around the city on the way to Mahabalipuram seemed to reinforce this decision. Our journey was forecast to be about one hour when checked on Google maps, but lasted over two hours, perhaps because of the time of day.
We passed the hotel that Trailfinders suggested we use, way out of town, modern and international, and also the heritage hotel that was fully booked when we attempted to reserve a room before pulling into the courtyard of Hotel Mahabs, tucked away off the main road.
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| Hotel Mahabs |
This informal hotel in the town centre is 7 minutes' walk from Mahabalipuram Beach and 10 minutes on foot from the 8th-century Shore Temple.
Simply decorated rooms come with ceiling fans, Wi-Fi access, flat-screen TVs and minifridges. Upgraded rooms and suites have air-conditioning, and/or balconies or terraces. Room service is available, though noy used by us.
A down-to-earth restaurant features artwork and a terrace. An outdoor pool is surrounded by trees. Ayurvedic treatments are available, as is valet parking, again, not used by us. There's also a partially open-air rooftop eatery, though we saw no sign of it being used.
Reviews for this hotel are mixed, but, despite the broken paving stones which worried me on arrival, it exceeded expectations. The staff were friendly and helpful and made our stay a good one.
I was wary of the Indian cuisine at this point on our journey, but European was also available. F. however, sampled the first of many curry breakfasts.
After a light lunch, we ventured into the town.
Mahabalipuram
Without any real idea of where we were going, we took location fixing photographs of the immediate surroundings, and we began our exploration of Mahabalipuram. Within 5 minutes, we encountered our first temple. And just beyond that, we arrived at the Pallava heritage site.
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| Part of the amazing Arjuna's Penance carvings |
Adjacent are cave temples, also with rock carvings.
At this point, we encountered a protest march. Amongst the protesters there seemed to be a platoon of female police officers.
Avoiding the sellers of tourist tack, we continued around the temple, arriving at the entrance. It was here that we encountered the friendliness of the Indian people for the first time. Something that was to remain with us throughout our stay.
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| Temple entrance |
Photography is not allowed in the main temple area, but we were given preferential treatment with a full explanation of what was happening. We also met the artist who had painted the lotus.
It was an outstanding start to our stay in India.
The temple is one of the 32 Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram that are declared as United nations world heritage sites, but unlike others that are maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India, the temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu.
We wandered the streets, investigating shops and stone masons workshops before returning to the hotel where we had a simple evening meal, and retired after a long day.
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