On Saturday, July 28th as soon as I got home and some rest,
I posted a post letting all of you know that I am officially back.
This is officially my first ever entry to my "Travel Journal Series".
I posted a post letting all of you know that I am officially back.
This is officially my first ever entry to my "Travel Journal Series".
Now to begin my series from the begin,
I need to start with Chennai, India,
since the wedding occurred there.
I need to start with Chennai, India,
since the wedding occurred there.
On June, 27th at one in the afternoon is the
moment in which my travel began. The air travel was more than twenty-four hours
long from Toronto, Canada to Chennai, India (my birth place). It was
exhausting, but I landed there on June, 29th at one in the morning. Sadly, it was the day of my cousin’s wedding so without anything
further to do, me and my family spent the night being all wide awake. Since, in
Hindu tradition there are some particular rituals that must be done before
sunrise. Due to that my parents didn’t have a choice and well I didn’t really
feel sleep due to the time change. Overall, the wedding day went extremely fast
with tons of joy, laughter and for me it was filled with all that and also with
sore feet and sleep eyes. Plus, the heat and humid made things even worst,
wearing a sari is hot wear is just crazy. After the wedding all I remember was
that I went straight to the place we were staying a crashed down straight to
the cold marble floor and went straight to my dream world. In Chennai, India my
family and I spent only seven days and trust me the days felt as if they were
going so slow. The heat just kept getting into my head and ended up having some
minor heat strokes. However, in those seven days about three to four days were
taken up by the wedding and the Hindu traditions event. One day was spent by
walking around the crowded market places and stores.
During the
seven day stay in India, my dad travelled to take us to Mahabalipuram. Mahabalipuram
is the “seventh century port city of the South Indian dynasty of the Pallavas around
60 km south from the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The name Mamallapuram is believed to
have been given after the Pallava king Narasimhavarman
I, who took on the epithet Maha-malla (great wrestler), as the favourite
sport of the Pallavas was wrestling” (wikipedia). To learn about the history of this historical
place my dad and mom hired a tour guide, the guide literally took us to all the
historical places and he didn’t miss a thing. Here are the ancients structures
that I saw; Thirukadalmallai (Lord Vishnu’s Temple), Descent of the Ganges,
Shore Temple, Varaha Cave Temple, Pancha Rathas, Light House, elephant, monkey,
snakes and many other creatures carved in granite, Tiger Cave, Krishna’s Butter Ball and etc.
Also, not only did my family and I get to see the historical structures, we got
to walk through those places and actually touch each of the structures. I ended
up feeling so energized that I snapped about two hundred photos of the place.
Only a small amount of photos are used, when I created the collage.
As soon as, all the sightseeing was done, I literally ended
up having an empty stomach. At that moment, my dad took us to his favourite
restaurant and oh man the food was to die for, it was so mouth watering. The
restaurant is called “Blue Elephant Restaurant”. As soon as you walk into the
restaurant you feel as if you travel so some ancient museum, as decorative
items they had some unique pieces up of their wall. On the wall they had placed
some extremely priceless artwork with the history behind Mahabalipuram. Also,
the food serve there is fresh; when you order your food the serves bring out a
huge tray filled with fresh fishes, shrimps and etc. From there you can choice
which pieces you want. Since, I was so hungry, all I remember is that as soon as
the food was cooked and was served, I just stuffed them all straight in to my
mouth without a word. The food was extremely delicious especially the huge
tiger prawn; even now it makes my mouth water. Plus, the service was awesome
and plus the owner of the restaurant was extremely kind enough to serve us our
meal as a token of respect. Overall, the
restaurant is now a memorable place will eventually go there again the future.
During the road ride back from our destination, we stopped
at VGP and Golden Beach. VGP Park is a famous park in India, since childhood I
remember going there. This specific park hold a memorable moment that only
becomes to my sister, this park was first stage my sister ever performed on and
trust me at the young age of five she rocked the stage. At that time my parents said I was shy,
whereas my sister just wanted to have fun.
Plus, the park has changed a lot from the last time I went which was in
2010. This time, there were having a “Kollywood” shooting during our visit, it
was cool to see a live film shooting. The
Golden Beach have always been the same as it was in my old memories, but the
weather just made me want to running to some cave. Even though, it was boiling
hot we all ended up dipping our legs into the water, it felt good. Plus, my
aunt and grandma enjoyed the dip in the water more than the kids did.
After that one day of road trip to an amazing historical
places, the rest of the days few fast and on July 5th, I ended up saying my finally goodbye
to India, since I rarely know when I will be going back there again.
Well, this is first chapter on my travel story and don’t you
worry there are many more to come.
Until next time, take care and enjoy the
warm weather.
Love,
Harija Ravi
(Quick info: The photos above were taken
by me - except for the one with me in it - also, please remember, if
anyone would like to use my photos...
please contact me at mylyfemystory@gmail.com
I would really appreciate it!)
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