Sometimes when a travel plan just pops up in your mind and suddenly you find yourself on the road to this destination. Exactly this happened with me recently when I was on a business trip to Chennai (South India) for an exhibition. The exhibition was for five days and got finished on Saturday. We were all tired with my colleagues left early on Saturday to be with their family on Sunday.
I was unlucky as I was directly responsible for the exhibition and found myself working till 11 pm on Saturday with 2 other guys who had similar fate like me.
We reached hotel at around midnight from the trade centre, tired and hungry, but had lot of planning going on our mind as we kept Sunday for some small trip to a nearby beach. We started watching “Don’t Mess with Zohan” with beers in our hand and decided for Mahabalipuram in between. It was a sudden decision to visit Mahabalipuram which is also known as Mamallapuram, a small town in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu state. It is around 60 km south from Chennai. It is an ancient historic town with lots of beautiful spots.
We started our travel in a rented taxi from Chennai early morning and it took only 45 minutes to reach the historic town of Mahabalipuram as the roads are pretty good. There was a bike racing going on which we realized when a fancy bikes zoop passed us in a flash. The 7th century port city is famous for its rock-cut shore temples. A lighthouse built on a hill from which you can see complete city over a group of temples below.
There are nine monolithic temples found in Mahabalipuram, the most important are Five Rathas known after the famous five Pandava brothers of the Mahabharata. These monuments are carved out a single rock and are huge. You can watch them with unbelievable look in to your eyes. Just see yourself in the below pics.
If you are looking for a place for a weekend fun and adventure along with some historical sights-seeing than this place is ideal for you. We were more than happy to be in this place as it was a great relief after a week of hard-work. With beer in our hands at the beachside we were feeling relaxed and peaceful. This prepared us for the tough week that was coming ahead and we were ready to fight again.
Mahabalipuram also has some great cafes that serve good sea food. A backpacker’s delight you can find economical accommodations with plenty of activities to do specially surfing in this part of India.
Prashlive 