From Dakshin Chitra on the first day we proceeded to Mahaballipuram -? I had been there as a child, almost 25 years ago. The first thing that strikes you is that? the roads are brilliant. Not a single bump or pot hole in the entire journey from Chennai. None of the suburbs of Chennai felt the way that a Andheri or a Goregaon do – especially with the level of incomplete roadworks in progress here. The second thing that strikes you is the cleanliness – it is so incredibly neat and clean. No littering, no junk. The streets of Mahaballipuram are chockablock with sculpture workshops. Artisans and craftsmen create and their work from here.? A good piece of advice that i got in Chennai was to visit Poompoohar check out prices, and try and get atleast 40% lower here. But, i didn’t really go to Mahaballipuram as a shopper. Lot’s of places to catch here – The Pancha rathas, Arjuna’s Penance, The Shore Temple, Krishna Mandapa … and of course the thriving street life. When you see Govardhan Giridhari as a relief in single wall – the mind marvels at the artistry and the love that the sculptors had both to the material and to ‘God’. There is so much to do, that it will probably take a week to just explore as a tourist. As a mytho and history buff … probably a whole lot longer…