particularly those who are just getting out of worship as I write this. I'm thinking of SLMF this Sunday.
Rachel and I just got back from Mamallapurim, a small town about 1.5 hours south of Chennai on the Indian Ocean (or Bay of Bengal, to be perfectly accurate). It was a lovely adventure. The best part of Mamallipurim is you can walk everywhere-the town is about 2 miles by 1 mile, with the core covering just a few city blocks. It takes all of the noise and traffic and trash and chaos of India, and consolidates it into one neat manageable package, and adds a beach and several ancient temples.
We arrived yesterday morning, after a taxi ride with Michael and Aimee, Caroline, Whitney, and Roseline, a Malaysian woman studying in Australia, who is in India for study abroad like the other three. We grabbed lunch at a place that had omelets and crepes (those who have been here a month were craving western breakfast) and headed out to the temples. The Shore Temple is from the 7th century, and is known for a large sculpture of 'reclining Shiva' resting on the waves.
It is fascinating to see carvings from so many centuries ago, that remain vibrant and sturdy and communicate emotion and passion. These are all UNESCO world heritage sites, and its good that people are paying attention to this kind of history.
After a long hot day of exploring, we returned for naps and the first of several food adventures-a home cooked meal of prawns and small crabs in an amazing curry sauce. Our taste buds are slowly adapting to incredibly spicy food, and we retired completely satisfied.
Today, after shopping for more clothes for Rachel, (one of her previous tops ended up being too tight) we had a seafood lunch (also amazing) and wandered the streets of Mamallapurim seeing the sights and watching our friends barter for gifts. Our favorite bartering story involves a desperate stone carver, who negotiated in the shop for 15 minutes, then when we walked away first chased us down on his motorcycle to drop the price another 2 dollars, and hours later accosted us again in a completely different part of town on our way back to our hotel.
The afternoon was spent eating prawns on the third floor of a beach restaurant overlooking the ocean, watching the silly western tourists (like us) dance in the waves in very inappropriate swim suits (India has strong cultural norms against female nudity, which speaks to some complicated gender issues, but which the women try to follow as representatives of Western culture).
Finally, after supper we headed back to Chennai, braving nighttime driving past a huge political rally and other chaos before doing our first major laundry work and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow is our last day in Chennai, which seems crazy, since we just got here. Hopefully Rajmundry will be as wonderful as our time so far, though internet is likely to be less available.
Oh, and I forgot, but on Friday, Michael did this:
We're thinking of everyone at home, and send our love and greetings.
Samuel and Rachel
No comments:
Post a Comment