Snake Park + Turtle Rescue + Croc Bank + Ancient Temples

After yesterday's day of warm blooded animals, we spent today visiting some cold blooded ones. We started at Chennai Snake Park where we saw both venomous and non venomous snakes including a Spectacled Cobra, the common krait, and a couple vipers. They also had a small collection of crocodilians and lizards. While we were viewing the reptiles, monkeys came down from the trees and watched us and jumped around. We were warned that they would steal our bags if we left them unattended. As excited as we were to see monkeys, the workers were not. They said they are more of a nuisance, like squirrels out rats in the US. It must have been funny watching us all go nuts taking photos of them.
Next we went to the Tree Foundation, a rehabilitation center for turtles, specifically the Olive Ridley. There have been huge problems recently (2014) where hundreds to over one thousand turtles at a time have washed up on India's coast line dead from deaths due to fishing and other industries. There we got to see some of their current rehab turtles and help to feed them. Some would be released shortly while others will stay at the center indefinitely, depending on the state of their injuries.
Then we traveled to the Crocodile Bank where we saw many, many types of crocodilians. I personally like the gharial the best. It was neat to see so many different species from all across the world and learn about some of their unique behaviors.
Afterwards we traveled for lunch. We made it to a touristy part of town and found a resort on the beach where we had our lunch. It was beautiful.  We ordered several entrees and shared them around the table. We went to the beach and a few of us put our feet in the water. This beach was almost empty, as opposed to Marina Beach and was very pretty. There were even stray cows there.
We traveled next to Mahabalipuram, these ancient temples by the sea. They were neat to climb around on and explore. I bought a cheap bag/purse to carry instead of my backpack everywhere (<$2) and Michael got a cowboy hat? I'm not sure why he traveled across the world to get an American cowboy hat, but he keeps wearing it and talking in a fake southern accent.
We had a 2 hour drive home and saw a few amusement parks on the way like Universal Kingdom and Diznee World.
Also today I learned that my rat died at home. He was active yesterday apparently and passed on his own overnight. Its sad, but he lived 3.5+ years which is absolutely amazing  for a rat. RIP Basil <3.
-7/24/15