The Chariot Beach Resort

The events in this post take place on Oct 5th. We have gone on a road trip to Mahabillipurim, have seen some sights and are now heading into town.

After the heat of the Tiger Cave we were ready for maybe one more sight, but the driver took us straight to the hotel. Now, I spent some time fretting about the hotel I had selected for us. After the disappointment of the hotel in Pondicherry, I was concerned. I knew that I would be ok with whatever, but I didn't want Ro to be in an uncomfortable place. All I had to go on was online reviews and they were mixed and hard to judge from. 

I needn't have worried. 

The Chariot Beach Resort was exactly what we needed. After check-in they golf-carted us off to our bungalows all Fantasy Island style. The rooms were fairly big, clean and featured private outdoor showers. Yes, please. After a refreshing splash it was out to see the grounds and perhaps a fresh lime soda by the pool.

Then its back in the car and off to see sights. The hotel got its name because it is literally right behind the Five Rathas site which I wrote about before here. 

What did we learn differently this time? Well after some thought, I did engage a guide. He was interesting if somewhat of a know-it-all. He would quiz us on things that were a little out there and then laugh that we didn't know the answers. Well, the story he told was that these were created by the Pallava and that there was some sea-based war going on with Sri Lanka. Or maybe they were from Sri Lanka and the locals were fighting them out. I don't think I was clear on that. Anyway- that's why some of the sculptures and such are unfinished; they needed resources elsewhere for the war effort and civic projects like these got put on hold. 

The other spin he had on these were that they weren't really connected to the Panduva brothers at all. They were really about the core gods and the Panduva associations got added later after the place became less directly religious. He underscored the point that these were historic sites now and not active Hindu places of worship. He also pointed out the different styles in each of the buildings. Some scholars believe that that is consistent with the location actually being a sculpture school. In any case, the place is pretty awesome and was nice to revisit. 

But now the little bald guide wouldn't leave us alone and wanted to take us all around. I didn't care for him laughing at us so I said no thanks, but then of course he starts whipping out the merch.

We went into the shop stalls across the street and bought some nicknacks. We both ended up buying these sandals, which seemed like a good idea, but anded up being slippery and painful. By now we were swimming in flacks and I pulled us out of there.

We went down the road a little to the two lighthouses.

On the way up we ran into some young Swiss (?) girls who were riding up from Pondi with their boyfriends on motorcycles. The had puppies on strings that they had adopted there. Cute enough, but they looked weak and maybe sick and that couldn't end right. We went up the hill and Ro ignored the temple to try and pet goats. This earned the scornful attention of a group of Indian teenage boys. We didn't care for that but now we had the attention of the other tourists. This turned friendly though as people asked for pictures with us and for us to take shots of their groups. By now it was 4:30 or so and the day was cooler. The breezes at the top were nice. 

We legged it down the hill and thought we'd try some light shopping in town. But things were closing and the shills were making it unpleasant. 

So we went back to the hotel. 

We went to the pool and tried a cocktail. We chatted with the pool manager. He was named Harvey and had married his cousin when he was 23 and she was 14. We also saw a couple clowning around as their child was underwater for too long in the pool.

We decided maybe it would be good to walk down to the beach. The sand was awesome and had been recently raked. The hotel was building a new restaurant on the beach and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We waded in the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal. 

By now it was dark and we turned around to look at town, we were treated to an amazing electrical storm over the town. It was low heat lightning with no thunder that lit up a cloud bank with dazzling pink purple light. That was a singular moment in the trip for me; feeling the warm waters in a still temperate night and watching that show.

After a while we went back in for dinner at the hotel. They let us eat outdoors under the stars to continue watching the sky. I slept well for the first time on the trip.