Temple Ruins

Mahabalapuram. It is probably our 3rd time in this city but today we went to actually see the temple ruins. We knew it would be an all day event and there was so much terrirory to discover and explore around so we left early. The temples and ruins were amazing being so old (as early as 7th Century) and here we are walking through them and touching walls that existed from so long ago. The detail in the rock left over all this time was incredible. Many of these monuments were carved from one massive rock. (how the heck is that possible?)

There were stunning details carved into the rock face.

These school children were on a field trip for class that day. They were so excited to pose with Miles. See the sweet giggles on their faces? So cute!

I got "mobbed" as well with lots of "hello's and handshakes. These sweet girls made me smile.

This is Krishna's Butter Ball, We have mentioned this huge ball before. We are still unsure what holds this rock in pace. ? It is balancing so precariously on this cliff face. We had to do the trourist thing and stand underneath it and pretent to hold up the rock. We laughed at oursleves because we have so far just made fun of those who did as we were worried about this giant thing rolling off the cliff crushing the dumb tourists standing and posing as we did beneath this massive rock. Oh my!

Look Mom, one foot!

This video is of school kids sliding down the slippery rock. It has been slid down down so much that the face of the rock is incredibly smooth as you will see, incredibly fun to slide down on your bum.

Can you see the fish face? There was a litle boy who was taking us on a tour around these parts to practice his English and he told us that the carving of the fish face was never finsihed do to unrest in the area "war" (lots of years ago).

And oh yes, we saw many monkey! Lots of monkeys. Oh it was fabulous! They were so close and came right up to us. They are very familiar with tourists and are often fed fresh fruit from the vendors set up all over the area. These monkeys bascically have the run of the place.

This little baby monkey was very fascinated with me. He looked very closely into my eyes, staring me down. It was so cute! I have never been so close to monkeys before as my experience has been monkey who are locked up in cages in a zoo.

I love this shot. This little monkey followed us around for a while and got very thirsty before heading up one of the walls. He had a spectacular view I am sure. A friend of mine, Elissa commented on my Facebook post of this picture that it reminded her of Jungle Book and King Louie's Palace. It is so true.

These tiny baby newborn monkeys certainly put on a show for us. They tacked eachother over and over again and played. We were mezmerized for a long time.

This elephant was carved so perfectly and precicely it really did look real! I was very impressed.

This little boy was so excited to pose with Miles. The rest of his group was well on their way to leaving to another site but he had to stay and have his picture taken.

This was such an interesting day.