Day 12. Mahabilipuram.

Mahabilipuram never ceases to surprise and delight. I wasn’t expecting great things from this leg of the trip, but I have loved it.

This is a small town, with everything within walking distance, so that’s a plus for a start. India isn’t a great country to walk in normally, pavements can be awful or non-existent, you have to be extremely patient or very brave to get across roads so more often than not it’s easier just to jump in a rickshaw. No need here, you can get about on foot.

Mahabs beach, north

So today I went down to the other beach for a spot of lunch, then wandered up to the Mandapas. Built at the same time as the shore temple (in the seventh century), these are a collection of sandstone buildings built into and on top of a very clamber-able rocky landscape. If you’ve been to Hampi in India, it’s very similar except on a smaller scale and not full of stoned, rude Israelis.

A mandapa

Two things really stood out. Firstly it was free to get in. Now, nothing is free to get into in India. Even when I was halfway up the first big rock, I was expecting a man to appear from behind a stone to say “ticket, ticket” and remove 250 r/s from my hand. It didn’t happen.

Lighthouse

Secondly was the joy of being allowed to scramble all over the rocks and get into and on top of many of the structures. In England, they would all be fenced off, no doubt and the rocks would have been deemed unsafe for scrambling by the Health and Safety Executive.

Slap bang in the middle of this crazy, Bedrock-esque landscape is a working lighthouse, but that too is open to the public in the day. I’m awful with heights but determined to overcome my fear, so paid 40 r/s and climbed the narrow winding staircase to the top. It was horrendously high, and with only a small barrier at the top, I couldn’t take more than a minute up there. I somehow took a photo, which was difficult to do while clinging on to the wall with both hands, and got down again as quickly as I could.

Bees eye up hippies

When I got down, I noticed two of the biggest bee-nests (hives?) you could imagine, just below the ledge where I’d been clinging on earlier. Even from 50 feet blow you could see them moving. Swarms of bees not being my favourite thing either, I was especially pleased to be back at sea level.

It took me about two hours to wander around, up and down the various rocks, and in and out of the various different temples and structures. It was yet another brilliant experience on this trip.

Mr Ganguly was soon to bat

To put the cherry on the cake, I not only found a game of cricket going on, on the site, but was actively encourage to get involved too. “Saurav Ganguly,” the boys excitedly shouted, hopefully because of my left-handedness and exciting range of off-side strokes, but equally possibly because I’m a snooty fat lad, and I ripped of my shirt and waved it above my head at the end of the match.

As I was eating my lunch, I noticed a picture of the bar, titled “Beachside bar, before Tsunami”.

This coast was the part of India that was worst hit on Boxing Day 2004, and according to my guidebook, over 8000 people were killed in Tamil Nadu.

We’ve all seen the pictures in the news, and I have a million questions I want to ask the locals. But, I don’t think I will. It must have been the most horrendous experience, and I doubt there’s anyone in the town who didn’t lose a friend or a relative. The town has rebuilt itself and has clearly moved on.

Apparently, Mahabilipuram escaped the worst. The Shore Temple, which sticks out into the sea, was largely untouched, while towns just a short distance down the coast were utterly decimated.

As I wandered around, genuinely lapping up the Mahabs experience today, it was strange to think that seven years ago, this great little town was part of the worst natural disaster, hopefully, of our lifetime.

Got back to my hotel room to see the West Indies 58-1. Slow start, I thought, but at least Gayle’s still in. We’ll kick on and hopefully set Bangladesh a decent target.

I then saw that it was only the 12^th over. It must have rained in Mirpur, I thought, late start.

Then the commentator said, “ One to win”.

Eh?

For the second match in a row, the unlikely new ball pair of Kemar Roach and Sulieman Benn had skittled the opposition, and the Windies had romped to a commanding win.

There are signs the good times are coming back.

I hooked up with my friend Phil last night. He’s out here for the whole tournament, with a few of his mates. He shares a love of cricket, India, Indian trains, curry, and lower league football so it was good last night to catch up over a beer.

But the beer we ended up drinking was possibly the rankest ever. Golden Eagle (or “Golden Shower” as it became known) was actually undrinkable. Luckily, it was Skype time for me, so I made my excuses and left leaving Phil and chums with my half bottle of Shower.

I’ll find out later whether Phil managed to finish it, or whether it finished him.