A Cyclone, Rathas and Photos

Some random details...

We arrived at Chennai (just go with the names, they're relatively unimportant) on a night bus to find that a cyclone was hitting it. Having never been in a cyclone I have no idea what they're meant to be like but this one was just a whole lot of rain. We were walking in it for perhaps 10 minutes and we were absolutely soaked through. Luckily my bag is vaguely waterproof and so most of my stuff stayed dry. The roads, however, were another story as at one point we were wading through water that was about half a foot deep which makes keeping your flip-flops on your feet a whole lot harder...

We were in Chennai in transit to a place called Mamallapuram which is by another beach. Due to the cyclone there was a load of dead, and therefore rotting fish, on the shore and they smelt... interesting.

Mammallapuram is a World Heritage Site because of the Shore Temple (self-explanatory) and the Five Rathas. These are temples that are all carved out of the same stone although for many Indians it seemed that three white people were far more interesting. I had my photo taken with some random kids, and it isn't the first time. They're all so friendly and good-natured though and you quickly stop caring about being stared at. When we were our kurtha shuluwars (the clothes we wore for school in Nepal) it makes so much difference to the amount of respect we get.