I Make Special Price For You

We left early this morning to go to Mamallapuram, a beach town 2 hours south of our village. We got to play tourist for the day and hike around the temples, do some major shopping, and hang out at an awesome resort. Everything is sooo inexpensive here that I might have gotten a little carried away but the stuff is beautiful and I'm obsessed. The first store I entered was run by a young man from Cashmere. I could tell he was from Cashmere because Jenny warned us about how beautiful they are. He was literally the most beautiful man I have ever seen. I couldn't even barter with him, he was so beautiful. Cashmere people have lighter skin than southern Indians and gorgeous eyes. Too bad flirting is illegal here.

I loved shopping here because every shop has something different to offer. I literally could have bought everything in the cashmere boy's shop, but I figured I should probably not spend all my money in the first store I set foot in. A little while later, Jaclyn, Corin and I came across an art shop. The owner's name was Masi and he graduated from the university with a degree in iconography. He had so many beautiful paintings and my little heart just melted. He had a large 5' by 4' painting of 2 lovers in a peacock garden. It was so gorgeous and way out of my price range but I couldn't help but compliment him on it over and over. He insisted that I buy it, but seeing as I did not have 10,000 rupees on me, I told him he was out of luck. He told me that he would make special price for me. I gave him what I had: 3,400 rupees. Best. Deal. Ever. Thank you Masi.

We took a rickshaw to Ideal Beach Resort where we paid the equivalent of about $7 for access to their private, hammock covered beach and swimming pool. We paid an additional $7 for a massage. I love India. Before getting in the pool, we ate lunch. I thought it would be funny to get what they called the "Polenesian Pizza" and yes that is how it was spelled. It was trying to be a Hawaiian pizza and it wasn't that bad. Diving into the pool felt sooo good. The water wasn't cold, it felt like bath water, but it was wet and thus amazing.

I took a break from the pool to get my massage, and it was definitely my favorite part of the day. Indian massages are different from American massages in two major ways: there is no real massaging involved and no strategic sheet folding. I have thereby renamed the Indian massage "the naked rub down." She saw all of me within five seconds of meeting her, and for the next thirty minutes she basically just rubbed warm oil on my back (and bum). At one point, I started to get extremely ticklish to the point that I was trying to think about sad things so I wouldn't laugh. I couldn't hold it in though and eventually she stopped and laughed too. "You supposed to be sleeping, not laughing." I apologized, but there is something about being tickled by an Indian woman while I am lying naked on a table that just gives me the giggles.

Corin and I walked down the beach a little while to see the boats up on the shore and everything. We took some super cute pictures and waded in the waves a little bit. The Indian ocean is like bath water too. It is so warm it is ridiculous. I loved it though. As we were walking back toward the pool to meet everyone before we left to go back to Rising Star, I could feel myself getting sick. I'm thinking it was the pizza. I probably knew before I ate it that I should avoid meat and cheese in India and ate it anyway. Bad Michelle. Needless to say it was a long 3 hours back. It took longer because it rained and for some reason, people here can't function when it rains and there is lots of traffic. We also stopped to get some local food which was soooo delicious but I couldn't eat much. The two kinds of flat bread that I did try were so yummy.

Today's high: Naked rub down
Today's low: being sick