Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Enchanting Tamil Nadu


The children's summer vacation was coming to an end last week and we planned a quick last minute vacation to Tamil Nadu. We decided to visit the famous temple city of Mahabalipuram (also known as Mammalapuram) and Pondicherry (famous for it's French Quarter - a'la New Orleans). We took a train to Chennai where Mona and the kids spent the day sightseeing while I spent the day at work.

Next day we drove to Mahabalipuram - destination GRT Temple Bay. This is an exquisite beach resort and a must-stay during any visit to South India. The kids absolutely fell in love with our beach front villa and did not want to leave. Game room (X-Box, table tennis, dart board, carroms and more), Infinity pool, fabulous restaurants and organized tours - you name it and they have it.

The highlight of our trip was a visit to see the old and ancient temples built during the fourteenth and fifteenth century. These heritage sites have been well preserved and are quite a sight and experience. The recent Tsunami has uncovered a few more temples under the water and a small boat ride from the resort takes you to close to the spot where you can see the roofs of the temples under water.

We thoroughly enjoyed our 2-day stay here and moved on to Pondicherry. But more on that in a future post.

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