Mahabs!

This weekend we went to a place called Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram in Sanskrit).  There are all these temples that are over a thousand years old carved into huge boulders. On of the temples is even underwater in the ocean because the water has slowly come further and further on shore.  We were lucky enough to have Dr. V, an amazing old Indian man, with us. He is an expert on temple architecture, and knew so much! He was also just a really funny and cute person. 

We were only there one night, but on Saturday evening we were able to go get dinner on our own. I went with a few other people to one of the cafes on the beach, Shanti Cafe. The guys that worked there started talking to us and then taught us how to play this game that’s kind of like pool. You have a square table that you sit around, with little pockets in the corners. You flick a round white chip with your finger and try to get it to hit either black or brown chips into the pockets. They kept wanting to play more and more games, but we were exhausted!

one of the temples!

my teachers Bindu, Jivan and Dr. V singing in one of the temples

beach cave

playing games at Shanti Cafe!

On the way there, we went to a sort of museum of houses and the lifestyle in southern India. The had different traditional houses from the different states in South India - many were just picked up and brought there! They also had traditional crafts and other exhibits. I got henna done on my hand along with a couple other girls - the woman was so creative, and did completely different designs on each of us! The hardest part was not using my hand for 2 hours.

Henna!

On the way back, we stopped at a crocodile bank (click for more info) where they protect crocodiles and other reptiles. Some of the crocodiles were huge! We got to see some of them be fed, too.

crocodile who wants to be fed