the lap of luxury

Craig and I are home now, but had an odd adventure that prolonged our holiday for one day, and it was a good though strange day.

Our last day in Mahaballipuram/Mamallapuram was a very nice one.  There was a fresh rain coming in, and we wandered around the granite hills in the center of town that have been set apart from town because they are covered with ancient temples hewed from stone back in the 600s when the dying Roman empire may still have been sending trading ships in the area.  These temple/caves that are fronted with intricate columns hewn from the rock itself and with small 'cameo' portraits that sometimes look European, feel like the parthenon or the roman agora.  There are MANY of them, and to find some you have to walk west around the main known ones and you are suddenly walking through a natural forest, and finding caves, and due to the rain they have inhabitants - people getting out of the rain sleeping wrapped around an ancient lingam sculpture, and in one large pair of these temples, goats! goats getting out of the rain, baby goats butting heads in front of sculptures in niches.  And, even giant pigs in the jungly undergrowth. towards the back of the reserved area next to a large pond, stands a sacred tree of some type and at its base, small sculptures of the naga, the cobra, are covered with red and yellow powder like some kind of pollen.  wrapped in sacred cloth.

Anyway we had a great taxi ride in with a driver who was very curious about everything in our lives, to the Chennai airport which is pretty funky and dirty.... our last contact with Indian toilets that are not kept clean, we think... NO!  we realize there is some problem with the plane and boarding is delayed and then, suddenly, the captain says, no, this plane is not leaving you must all get off and collect your bags. WHATTT!!!!  imagine 350 very tired people at 2:30 am ... half of us have already taken sleeping pills... pandemonium, no one seems to know what will happen. I imagine sleeping in the incredibly filthy Chennai airport waiting rooms and grab a little airline pillow... there are huge crowds luckily we are at the front and they are asking for contact phone #s ... we don't carry a phone, what to do? the nice girl says, ok don't worry you are going to Park Sheraton the representative will appear and get you there.  We are freaking.Well after about half hour, in fact, someone does say, follow me and about 30 of us folks are herded by 3s into vans and driven... where?

Chennai is a busy modernizing city with actual sky scrapers, and lots of street activity ... in the city night glare things whiz by.. suddenly we turn into a driveway that has tire-puncturing defenses, then we get our bags and selves screened, and suddenly.... oh my god 7 star peace and luxury.  The hotel has lofty ceilings, golden details everywhere, absolute quiet, lovely women in blue saris making enchantingly nice comments about how well you look and they take us to one of their rooms.... the room has ten foot ceilings, exquisite molding and decor, the most comfortable king sized bed I've ever seen with soft cotton, your choice of pillows of the hardness of your choice, a massage reclining chair, a sparkling white bathtub., cotton terry robes and foot wear... three incredibly good restaurants written up in The Rough Guide as among the best in Chennai... and all of it is free for us. cocooned in luxury we fall asleep.... periodically, little one page updates are slipped under our door.  "The scheduled departure time for your flight is 045 hrs (24th early morning)" please find below your entitlements your meals are the following and enjoy the pool"...  "further to a call received from Lufthansa, this is to bring to your kind attention that your coach will be ready to leave by 01:00 hrs, requesting you to assemble in the lobby, for further enquiry please feel free to call the undersigned, Regards Shreyas Ladde Duty Manager"... breakfast lunch and dinner are these immense buffets of the very best indian veg, non veg food I've ever had... like going to Ajanta restaurant and getting your absolute pick of every dish.  Dessert is about 20 items: warm chocolate pudding, little tastes of every type of Indian halva like sweet, coconut ice cream, berry ice cream, mango ice cream, chocolate ice cream, creme brulee, and pastries.. During the whole trip I've been looking at little Indian sweets stores and wondering what they all taste like and now, I know...

We sleep, doze and eat the day away and go out for several hours to go to the stores Shubha recommended, including FabIndia where craig gets four soft, glowing cotton shirts and I get a stylish silk top or two, then to Pothy's department store which is crammed with women shopping for the upcoming Diwali holidays... we lounge by the pool in thick terry towels and we in the evening enjoy seeing the rich of Chennai come in to te hotel for engagement banquets or to go to the night club... young couples are kissing and giggling in slinky modern clothes in the quiet dark shadows of the garden... quite a scene!

anyway a little 24 hour taste of the luxury Indian hotels offer to the rich... free for us courtesy of Lufthansas airlines... apparently this is a 'seven star' luxury hotel....  for us, wow! quite a contrast from our 600 rupee room by the sea the night before!