Banana leaves, thali, and a farewell to Southern India

(Another post from the lovely Katie! -- Marshall)

After lunch, full of thali, dirty fingers, sweating like no other, i wonder who is playing the drums outside and chanting... probably just another sadhu... is he on his way to a dhaba (roadside tea stall) for some chai?

So we have been here what, three months and I JUST now perfected the ability to eat my thali with my hands. You scoop it with your fingers, twist your wrist and pop it in your mouth with your thumb! Here in the south, they give you no silverware, since you are given your food on a banana leaf, and spoons/forks will just make a mess (haha). So you get down and dirty! Marshall told me that he mastered the "hand eating technique" about 2 weeks ago, thanks for letting me know!

So here we are in Mahabalipuram, just about 2 hours by bus... so that is like 30 km (seriously!) from Chennai, where we are flying out to Sri Lanka on the 7th. We visited many temples and, no joking here, more ruins! wheeeee! But one thing that we are taking care to do, is avoid the tourist traps and really indulge in India as much as possible. Days have gone by where the only other tourist I see is Marsh, who IS white enough to count for two...

Heard rumors that Sri Lanka is considered "diet india" so it looks like we are in for some smooth sailing from here on for the next two months before we head on home.

(PHOTOS COMING SHORTLY!)