To Be Sorted: New Year's Eve at Mamallapuram + lots of pictures!

We have made it to the East coast!

....And the little guy is all straightened out (read accident update below)

We are spending New Year's Eve in Mamallapuram, a town well known for its stone carvings, both ancient and current. The beach is beautiful and is lined with fishing boats pulled up on the sand. They are powered by stripped-down engines that simply have a loooong driveshaft with a propeller at the end.

We've come 700 km so far. We passed some fascinating temples on the way.

Yesterday was a long haul with some dicey driving. Today was pleasant, though Susan was still ill. She is feeling better now but not fully well. She's been drinking 7up to settle her stomach. I am happy to see they have truthful labeling here:

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ACCIDENT UPDATE
We got the rickshaw fixed - you can see that they used very primitive but effective methods.

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Rules of the road for animals are unclear

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Remembering the Western Ghats

They are behind us now (as is the bus squash) but not forgotten. We travelled through some breathtakingly beautiful country. High, high country tea plantations, waterfalls, colorful snack stalls (note our tiny little guy in the background!!) and harrowing, narrowing roads.

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Wonderful people everywhere.

This is beautiful girl is the niece of our rickshaw "driving instructor" in Chochin (pictured below). He welcomed us into his home and was very kind and, more importantly, honest. I made a previous post about the my frustration with the people who approached us in the heavily toured areas. That is not the case now as we find ourselves in rural India. Kindness and helpfulness are the norms.