Day 121: A quick stroll through Mamalapuram & Pondecherry

We were in Chennai for two nights and quickly moved on to Mamalapuram and Pondecherry, where we spent one night each. The pace was noticeably slower than Chennai. Mamalapuram has two nice small temples – Five Rathas and Shore Temple. You purchase a combination ticket (Rs 250) valid for both temples, but is only for that specific date. We bought our ticket at 4pm, and kind of rushed through both temples before the closing time at 6pm. According to the Lonely Planet, the elephant stone carving at the Five Rathas is the most realistic one in India in terms of size, color and sculpturing details. There is also a huge stone carving on the way to the Five Rathas. You get a fine view of the town from the top of the stone. There is no admission charge.

the elephant at Five Rathas

the Shore Temple

the free stone carving on the way to the Five Rathas

Pondecherry, on the other hand, does not have well-known temples, but people come here for the French colonial past and cheap wine (according to our taxi driver). It was interesting to see the street signs in the local language and French. Some of the buildings are very French – mustard yellow and lavender blue – just like the houses in Provence. The promenade along the beach was packed with locals taking the evening stroll.

Gandhi's statue by the beach

look at me eyeing at the local food stall

good pizza at Pondy

We decided to take a train, instead of a bus, to our next destination, Trichy. It was our first train ride in India, so we were a bit anxious. We checked with the ticket lady and double-checked with the chief ticket inspector about our platform number for boarding the train. We were patiently waiting on platform 1 as told. Strangely the train did not show up at the specified time. We checked with the chief again and were reassured to wait at platform 1. A short while later two men walked past us and asked where we were going. It turned out that our train was already waiting at platform 2. Thank God, the train was still there. Similar incident happened again in the following days. One lesson we learned in India - always need to triple-check about these kinds of things.