Escape to Mamallapuram

A couple of weekends ago I took off down the coast a couple of hours, to the village of Mamallapuram. Famous for it's ancient, big-scale, rock-carvings, it still has a very active stone-carving community, though now mainly for things that tourists can take home with them. It's main attaction for me though was that it had some air that could be breathed without a mask.
I checked into a great little hotel just back from the beach. 300 Rupees a night (4 quid) No a/c, but it did have lots of fans and a gorgeous terrace with an extra double bed under mosquito netting.
I was determined to sleep outside, but actually got beaten back inside by the nighttime heat. The standalone fan could only ever cool one side of me, the other got broiled in the thick hot air! Roof fans rock.

The beach looks great, but like this whole coast it has very dangerous rips. There weren't many takers, and I wasn't going to chance it either, especially not when I got up early one morning and saw the fishermen doing what they have to do before going out in their boats (you can see them in this pic! with the "shore" temple behind them)

There are several good seafood restaurants right on the beach (I hope they catch their fish a LONG way out...). The routine was basically: Up early, walk the beach, nap, breakfast, nap, massage, nap, lunch, nap, read, nap, check out the carvings, nap...you get the picture.

The massage was interesting - Ayurvedic, which I am guessing means "very oily"...naked and battered with an oiled mallet thing ("panchen"). Sounds bad, it was actually pretty good. Very weirdly the guy asked if I wanted the oil, er, down there. I didn't fancy the panchen treatment down at all, as you can imagine, so skipped that.

Check out the pre-and post-tsunami fishing boats below. No, the wooden one isn't damaged, that's the old style - open-backed. They then bolt a motor to that back end (closest the camera) and they're off. The new ones were mainly donated and the feeling is that they are not as sea-worthy! The carvings are incredible, the elephant here is life-sized.