INDIA 3-26 APRIL 2015 : SOUTH APRIL 5-14; NORTH APRIL 14-21; VARANASI APRIL 22-26
EASTER Good Friday April 3, 2015 - SECHELT TO VANCOUVER
Well we had a very late night last night getting all the work loose ends looked after, then by 11am we were ready to head out for the ferry! Amazing how long it takes to get all those last minute items looked after around the house, and the last items packed that can't be done until you're ready to leave the house - good job we packed 90% of our stuff last weekend - and we are packing light for this trip since we will be very hot (37C today in Chennai, on the South East coast of India) and moving around a lot, somewhere new almost every day.
We left in the pouring rain as we arrived on the ferry in Horseshoe Bay - and the traffic line up waiting for the ferry to Nanaimo were horrendous - lined all the way back up to the off ramp for the ferry on the highway. After a little running around and picking up some extra SD cards for the camera, we arrived under pretty clear skies at Vancouver airport at 9pm. We waited to checkin when it opened at 1015pm and were really surprised and happy that they were able to check our luggage all the way through to India. Then after security we waited in the Premium Plaza Lounge where we had a little more work to do - compounded by poor WIFI and a system at work that had crashed.
Eventually we boarded the EVA AIR flight BR09 at 1:40am Saturday morning, and boy were we tired by then! It was a Boeing 747-400 and EVA AIR pulled out right on time at 2:20am for the 10,300+ km from Vancouver to Taipei for our first flight. Just in front of us were also departing a Philippines Airlines flight off to Manilla, and another flight to China - such a dreadful time to be waiting to board a flight!
Saturday April 4, 2015 VANCOUVER to TAIPEI to SINGAPORE to COLUMBO SRI LANKA to CHENNAI (Madras), INDIA ---GRT GRAND HOTEL
Yes 4 flights, total flying time 22 hours!, and a very long night this turned out to be! This would not be the itinerary of choice for anyone, but to cut a long story short we had already bought tickets to Singapore for another trip which we had cancelled. So we purchased additional tickets to get from Singapore to Chennai India where, by chance, the India tour would start on the same day!
We were served dinner a couple of hours after we left Vancouver (so that would be 4am our BC time!) and then we managed to sleep on and off during the 12 hour 15 minute flight. The night actually followed us as we flew! Taipei is 15 hours ahead of Vancouver time and we left at 220am Saturday morning and arrived Taipei Sunday morning at 535am - over 12 hours later and just as the sun was coming up in Taiwan on Sunday morning! We flew in under hazy skies but Taiwan is a pretty island with multiple mountain ridges on the horizon as you fly in and out of the airport.
The line-up to go through Security in Taipei airport for connecting flights was huge - a good 200+ people! It was moving reasonably quickly and effectively but we were fortunate to be flying today (on points) in Royal Laurel Class with EVA Airlines so we went to the front of the line - after we had waited awhile at the back! In the EVA Infinity Lounge we had cheese and a bun, but there was a wide variety of goodies on offer regardless of which time zone you were personally in!
This is a huge modern airport with an unbelievable array of stores and Duty Free stores - we didn't go into even one! The EVA lounges are beautiful and there are several - including Garden, Club and Infinity. Walking through this airport there is no sense of poverty or poor Asian populations!! Interestingly in today's Taipei Times newspaper, there was an article about Taiwan's economy and the poor sector of the populace as the wealthy get richer!
After an hour enjoying a mango juice and downloading emails, we headed to gate C5 and connected to EVA AIR flight BR 225 departing at 740am for Singapore arriving 4 hours 20 minutes later in Singapore at 12:00pm. This plane was newer and nicer than the 747 from Vancouver. This was a Boeing 777-300ER with lovely pods in Business Class (configuration 1-2-1 and the seats were much closer to lying flat - we would have thoroughly enjoyed these pods last night. Another breakfast and a great caffe latte while watching the movie To Catch a Thief to pass the time away, and of course working on this trip diary which requires such a commitment of time to get everything in! It's about 3200km from Taipei to Singapore - nearly all over sunny blue skies with whit fluffy clouds - heading South West with mainland China over on our starboard ( right hand side) of the plane. Considering that right now there is a cyclone in the Philippines with masses of the population evacuated from the northern reaches of the Philippine Islands there was sure no sign of bad weather anywhere close as we flew South to Singapore.
To enter Singapore we had to complete "Disembarkation forms" for customs and immigration and then we had a 3 hour wait before we could board SRI LANKAN Airlines UL0303 departing Singapore at 3:05pm and arriving Columbo SRI LANKA at 425pm, flight duration 3 hours 50 minutes. It had been raining and the runways were wet - as we watched planes landing there was huge spray thrown up like a cloud around the wheels and belly of the plane - especially the large jumbos. In Singapore, at no check point did we ever need our Singapore Disembarkation form but better safe than sorry and to have it with you in case any body asked for it! At the Transit desk we had to get boarding passes for SriLankan airways flight to Columbo - he also wanted to see our Indian visa (in our passports) and our onward ticket to leave Delhi on April 26 - they want to be sure that you're authorised to enter and ready to leave I guess!
The flight was very full with 99% Indian SriLankan appearance - nearly all the men wearing Western style shirts and pants and all the women wearing Indian style saris or tunics and rubber thongs. The flight crew was a mix of men and women - the men wearing navy suits and the women beautiful outfits with the typical Indian style tunic on top - scoop neck, short sleeves, stretchy teal colour and short - finishes above the mid riff. The skirt starts below their waist - a beautiful teal colour fabric printed with peacock feathers, and a long sari robe that goes up and over their shoulders. With the modesty you see in most Asian countries I'm always surprised at the way the Indian ladies' outfits are constructed with the bare waist midriff area.
We flew through some heavy cloud between Singapore and Columbo Sri Lanka, but the closer we got the clearer the skies. It was nearly 4 hours and we slept on and off, starting to feel pretty weary by now. Inside the airport it was very different to when we first came through Columbo some 20+ years ago on our way to scuba dive in the Maldives. It is bigger, cleaner, and more modern. Lots of stores selling trinkets (lots of elephants), jewellery and gem stones, and Indian clothing saris and the like as well as restaurants - even a fast food burger place! We had about 2 hours between flights and were happy to sit down in the check-in lounge at Gate 6 (after another security check and scan, as well as one more check for Indian Visas and onward tickets for India).
Imagine how happy we were to board the 4th and last flight, SRI LANKAN Airlines UL0123 at 640pm (1 hour 30 minute duration) scheduled to arrive our destination Chennai India at 810pm and more than ready for a good night's sleep lying flat! We were outside the Chennai airport and nearing the end of a very very long line of waiting people and taxi drivers with signs with names (none of ours!) before we found our driver. I think he was glad to see us too. He wanted to know where our two friends were as for some reason they were going to be late. No ATM at the airport and we had not brought any rupees, expecting to get some here. So the driver stopped at two roadside ATM's for us - first was out of order, second had no network. Signs of things to come. At least we got our bank card back from the machine!
Sunday April 5, 2015 arrive CHENNAI, INDIA -- GRT GRAND HOTEL
The first 9 days of our tour start in the town of Chennai on India's South East Coast and tour through the very Southern part of India, covering temples, Mahatma Ghandi's Freedom movement, enjoying the scenery on the Coast and inland as well as overnighting on a house boat in Kerala on the South Western coast.
Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is known for its' rich traditions - classical music, architecture, art and dance form. It is also an indigenous part of the city's heritage.
India has 3 main religions: HINDI, BAHIA, ISLAM, ?? In the North the language is the National language and Namaste with hands closed together to greet you meaning Hello and Welcome.. In the South the language is Tamil Nadu which is exactly the same as the country of Sri Lanka so the Sri Lankans and population for the South of India can understand each other perfectly. (Vanatkaam - Hello, Nanbhrai - Goodbye). Everyone learns English at school but in most cases it is spoken with such a strong accent it is hard to understand what anyone is saying - and yes, they also speak so very fast that it is like another completely foreign language! The Southerners are nearly all vegetarians and the women grow their hair long, do not cover their heads, wear flowers in their hair and love bright colours. Each family member in a generation has a favourite colour - which has to be shared when getting married since now there are 2 favourite colours in the household - they do wear all colors, but for special events they wear only their favourite colours.
Monday April 6, 2015 CHENNAI - MAHABALIPPURAM _ PONDICHERRY (158km/4 hours)
LE PONDY HOTEL
Today we drive South along the Coast to Mahabalippuram to visit Panch Ratha, or the 5 most important Rathat temples of the 9 monolithic rock-cut temples found here. These are dedicated to the 5 Pandava brothers from the epic Mahabharata. The Dharmaraja Rathat is named after the eldest Pandava, and is the largest in the lineup, and is dedicated to Lord Shiva. We also visit Arjuna's Penance which depicts the story of Arjuna, it is a massive rock cut bas relief sculpture measuring 27 metres long and 9 metres high. We will also visit the 5 storied Shore Temple World Heritage Site made out of finely cut granite and one of the earliest and most important structural temples.
This was a truly interesting and enjoyable day! The sun came up under clear blue skies, and we enjoyed a good buffet breakfast in the same restaurant as last night at the Grand GRT Hotel in Chennai. Lots of variety of vegetarian dishes, along with chicken sausage, baked beans, bacon, and eggs however you like them - lots of pastries, breads, yoghurt, cereals, fresh fruits - pancaked American and Indian style - and the staff poured fresh hot coffee and simply couldn't do enough for you. At 9 our driver Shaji was waiting to pick us up, and we met Anna and Shanti from Toronto who were joining us on the trip. Their luggage (they had 4 suitcases plus hand luggage) and ours filled the back of the vehicle, and I sat in the front of the vehicle (my day today) while Terry and the 2 ladies sat in the back.
The traffic out of Chennai was really busy and frequently very slow or stopped - so many scooters and bikes, lots of tuk tuk's, and of course huge busses, trucks and cars as well. That's why it took 2 1/2 hours to get to Mahabalipuram instead of the expected 1 hour. We went through 3 or 4 toll booths over the course of the day (usually cost about 22rupees, maybe 40cents). Our guide, Stanley, for the temples in Mahabalipuram was waiting for us when we finally arrived and soon we were walking around to enjoy the temples. The oldest temples are the MONOLITHIC where the entire temple is carved from one huge rock! The next temples in age were the CAVE where they were carved in a cave. The third type of temples are 1400 years old and are bas relief (like ARUNA) where the stories are carved out of rock walls and boulders. The youngest temples are built stone by stone (think of building a house one brick at a time) and each stone is carved for the structure and then the story carved on top..
I loved this town and its' temples - Mahabalipuram has a circumference of only 3km with 5,000 population and regulations that prevent any building of high rise buildings - so it has a very pleasant small town feel with lots of green spaces - and when you see the huge boulders sitting on the grass - some just a boulder balancing with a photo being taken of about 40 people sitting underneath (this rock has been named the Butter Ball Rock!), but I loved the massive Arjuna's Penance bas relief with the story carved out of the massive cliff - and two beautiful elephants carved in the story as well! Then we drove over to the World Heritage finely carved 5 story high Shore Temple which sits - you guessed it - next to the shore line which has been fortified with rocks to protect it from a future tsunami - they had one back in 2004 I believe it was. The Shore temple, sits within a large courtyard surrounded by carvings of sitting bulls, is in a grassy location is lovely and apparently is a favourite place for locals to come, so it gets very busy with lots of visitors who come here on weekends and holidays to go and play on the beach and in the water. It was very hot in the sun!! Our guide told us about the temple while standing under a tree in the shade - and then sent us out to walk around the temple while he stayed under the tree.
We did visit a small stone carving store - they have master carvers here and along the roads in the stores we saw amazing carvings, huge and tiny. The fabulous large elephant carvings reminded us both very much of the beautiful stone carvings that the Zimbabweans produce, and we have always loved those. One of the intricate carvings we have seen here are the elephants, about 6-8", which have been carved very carefully and are full of detail and tiny holes - and inside you can see another elephant which has been carved from through the outside elephant - unbelievable - about $80 for these small elephants and each one takes a carver about one month to make one.
At 2pm we headed for lunch at La Pallette and chose the vegetarian restaurant over the seafood restaurant. After downing 2 bottles of soda water 18 rupees each to replenish our fluids, Terry and I shared vegetable fried rice 100 rupees, spicy Szechuan vegetables 180R and cheese nan bread 60R. The food was excellent and way more than we needed at a total of 494 rupees, about $10! One dish between two of us is all that we should be ordering - between having small appetites and the body not needing much food, just fluids, when the temperatures are hot and humid.
Forty five minutes later we were on the road South to Pondicherry where we will stay at Le Pondy which turned out to be a beautiful and huge resort property right on the beach (the villas which each hold 4 rooms) are quite a long way back from the water and beach - prevention for tsunamis. The drive was the typical crazy, hairy experience - I just would not enjoy driving ourselves anywhere on any of the roads we've seen so far! To be a driver here you must have nerves of steel! When we arrived we checked into the Sunway Manor hotel even though there appeared to be some confusion about them expecting us. While looking for the Sunway, our driver Shaji commented on how usually he puts folks in hotels at the beach so he didn't know where this hotel was located and he had to ask for directions from an "automated rickshaw" (tuk tuk) driver. Well, we had been in the room long enough to use the facilities and wash our hands when I received a telephone call - we were in the wrong hotel! Back down to the front where Shaji was waiting to take us to Le Pondy! Shaji showed me his printed itinerary from the office and sure enough it had the Sunway on it (in the middle of town and back from the beach) but there had been a mix up and we were soon off to Le Pondy!
We were thrilled when we arrived to a simply beautiful resort property, lovely staff, good food and we even had a gin & tonic with their last one can of tonic water - it had been a sold out hotel for Easter weekend so looks like the tonic water had all been used up! Too bad it was already so late in the day. We dropped our bags in the very spacious air conditioned room and headed down to enjoy our drink in the bar which is on the second level above the restaurant with views of the ocean, Chunnambar River mouth and greenery all around - beautifully manicured gardens with flowering shrubs. We saw the sun go down and the waves rolling in on the long sandy beach from the Bay of Bengal. Le Pondy keeps their section of the beach nice and clean, and most of the other resorts in the area are a short way North of here. We had driven to Le Pondy on the winding tiny dirt road through a local village with all the end of day activities in process - cows and goats wandering around, ladies and men carrying food and wood for fires on their heads, brightly coloured saris, men and women sitting cross legged on the floor in grassy fields in the shade of large trees sharing stories - a really pleasant scene. There is JOY's spa here as well as ANANDAM AYURVEDA therapeutic centre, and one of our group enjoyed a 1000 rupee ($20) head back and shoulder massage which she said was excellent.
There is a huge pool here, and we sat outside by the pool for a candlelight dinner of Pad Thai and Thai Green Curry with rice - we left about as much (or more) than we ate - all served by a waitress standing nearby. There was also a huge buffet but we opted for the less expensive 2 dishes thinking this would be more cost effective for the tour operator., It turned out that the more expensive buffet dinner was included so when we checked out the next day we had to pay for the a la carte (only 530R about $11)! The pool was closing at 8pm so there were 2 or3 folks cooling off in the pool before it shut down for the evening. Back in our room we were soon in bed and fast asleep after a truly interesting day.
Tuesday April 7, 2015 PONDICHERRY - THANJAVAUR (162KM/4 hours) SANGAM HOTEL (2 NIGHTS)
This morning we are scheduled to do a sight seeing tour of Pondicherry and visit the Shri Aurobindo Ashram - a world renowned ashram founded in 1926 by Shri Aurobindo, a revolutionary turned Yogi from Bengal along with The Mother (Mira Alfassa), a French painter and sculptor. Afterwards we visit the Government Museum which houses sculptures from Pallava, Chola and Vijaynagara temples. Then we will continue to Thanjavaur where we spend the night.
PONDICHERRY (or Puduchcheri) is referred to as "India's Little France" and "The French Riviera of the East" because the French ruled Pondicherry for around 280 years. The French influence can be seen in the colonial style mansions, promenades, and French street names.
Pondicherry is a Union Territory with much lower taxes on everything than is found in the 4 other territories in South India - everyone wants to emphasize to us how important it is to be able to buy everything in Pondicherry with no taxes, and especially the alcohol which is apparently 50% cheaper than in all other territories in India - I think this is the case at the liquor stores but not in the tourist resorts and restaurants!
We were awake early enough to shower and get down to the beach shortly after 530am in time for the sunrise over the Bay of Bengal - there was lots of pink on the clouds in the sky but the heavy cloud cover on the horizon meant we saw the colours but not the sun! It was already very humid and warm - we were pretty damp by the time we reached the waves washing up on the beach - there were 2 ladies fully dressed in their beautiful saris sweeping the sand and any weed or anything that had washed up from the waves. Out on the water were two tiny fishing boats with 2 men standing in each throwing and hauling back in nets - a little further away were larger fishing boats at anchor so I suspect these smaller boats were working from the larger boats. There were a few locals walking down the beach, getting their morning exercise before the temperatures climbed even more! We had passed through the gate from the Le Pondy resort property on to the beach and checked in and out by the Security Guard there.
Le Pondy is a huge property with beautiful tropical foliage, lots of grass, a koi pond with a glass bridge to walk over the pond and white & deep pink water lilies. The villas each contain 4 large teak units with 2 upstairs and 2 downstairs rooms - a total of 70. Each of the units is air conditioned, large flat screen TV, coffee making facilities, large bathroom and an outdoor deck with chairs and day bed to relax and sleep on. After packing our few things away we headed to the multi cuisine restaurant which overlooks the beautiful very large swimming pool where a couple of clients were already swimming and cooling off.
We were first for breakfast and very happy when our waiter turned on the ceiling fans and sat us underneath one! The breakfast has every international and local Indian dish that you could wish for - Terry opted for cheese, onion and mushroom omelette (he said it reminded him of the omelette prepared for Helen Mirran in the Hundred Step Journey - wonderful spices in it) while I enjoyed mango juice, toast and hard boiled eggs. The waiter was so welcoming - the people we meet love to visit with you and find out where you're from, and proud to tell you where they are from - this guy was from the very South of India at the point - between Kanyakumari and Tuticorin - just across the Gulf of Mannar to the island and country of Sri Lanka.
We caught up with emails and a couple of work items that we needed the internet while enjoying the cooling breezes from the Bay of Bengal and the overhead fan, and ensuring we were at the front reception (a 5 to 10 minute walk through the property) for our 9am pick up to do the City tour, visit the Ashram and Museum - no way we are getting that all done in one hour! Sadji picked us up right at 855am and we drove the 30minutes back into Pondicherry where we met our guide for the next 90 minutes Veetri - which means Victor. Vetri was well spoken, although spoke very fast like most of the folks we meet down here - but he was professional and informative!
The area we were in is the white town (French) and the canal divided Pondicherri, the other side of the canal being Black Town where the Indians lived- 80% Hindu, 10% muslim and 10%?. During the 300 years of French rule, the French treated the Indians as their slaves. The British were always the Colonial power all over India, but the French were in Pondicherry and there were constant wars between the French trying to expand Pondicherry to the North, South and West and so Pondicherry has been under constantly changing French or British rule until 1947 August 16 when India became Independent. The French remained in Pondicherry but eventually started moving back to France in 1954. Many Indians had fought for France and were given French Citizenship and were allowed to move to France. Even today should an Indian marry a French Citizen after 5 years they too are allowed to move to France. Today there are an estimated 60,000 people with dual Indian French citizenship living in India.
Pondicherry is a mix of Indo French architecture due this being a French planned town, all the streets in straight lines but built by Indian labourers. Today it is a Unesco world heritage site with all the buildings classified as Heritage Buildings that must be maintained. It is here that the Shri Arabindo Ashram is located and this has grown exponentially since started in 1926 when Sri Aurobindo Ghose, one of India's greatest philosopher poets, came to Pondicherry to escape persecution by the British and became interested in spiritual salvation and was inspired by yoga. All the Ashram buildings are identified by being painted a grey colour and as of today they have purchased 125 buildings and it's just another business under the title of yoga and ashram with hospitals, schools, cottage industries etc with many international visitors paying to be here. Inside the main Ashram building (where you are not allowed to talk or whisper) are the mortal remains of Sri Aurobindo and "The Mother", his French sculptor wife - this is now where other yogis and devotees now come to pray and add fresh flowers to the beautiful arrangements on their tomb which are changed three times every day. There is no talking allowed inside, no shoes (leave them outside on racks purpose built) and no photos - that's so the Ashram can sell you the photos that they have taken. There is a huge book store with 3 yogi workers being involved in the purchase of everything including the one 5 rupee plus 1 rupee tax (15 cents) photo that I bought.
Next we walked barefoot in the streets to the Hindu Ganash (Good Luck) Temple around the corner which cost $6 million to renovate including an amazing pink marble floor - and this is about 100 ft by 100ft - just beautiful! It reopened 1 week ago in time for Easter and is very busy now as everyone comes to see the renovated temple and pay their respects. Most bring flowers (the beautiful large pink lotus flower is the National flower of India) and pray at the shrine. It is a spectacular temple with hundreds of Ganash gods around the temple each one a little different - Ganash being the God for Good Luck. As we walked the streets there were ladies on the floor selling the beautiful lotus flowers to those who wanted to go and pray.
Last on our tour was the waterfront along the beach and Bay of Bengal to see the wonderful statue of freedom of Ghandi, situated right where the French built a long pier and brought the railway here to transport to this point and then take away by ship, the Indian produce of textiles, spices, silk etc. The railway line is no longer here, and all that is left of the pier is rotting wooden posts out in the ocean a 100 feet away from the beach after it was demolished by the major storm in 1953. There was even a Mint here producing the currency until 1954! All of the old French buildings typically used by the French Government are now used by the Indian Government - one of the most practical for tourists being the Le Cafe coffee shop right on the waterfront where you can enjoy a wonderful flaky chocolate croissant and coffee while looking out over the Bay of Bengal and enjoying the Ocean breezes.
After checking out of Le Pondy and picking up our bags, we were soon back on the crazy drive heading to Thanjavaur. The driving is quite hard here - there is every kind of traffic on the roads that you can imagine - folks walking, on bicycles, on motorbikes (up to 4 on each bike loaded down with every type of cargo you can imagine!), motorised rickshaws (same as Tuk Tuk's in Thailand - a small set of seats sitting on a motorbike - we have seen up to 8 or more crowded into what is 2 seats in the back), cars, suv's, oxen drawn carts, trucks and lorries from small to huge, tractors, and lots and lots of large brightly painted busses. Since all of the traffic is travelling at completely different speeds the driving is frantic - nearly every road is two lanes so there is non-stop passing going on - you tend to be passing something and head on to the oncoming traffic, or another vehicle is head on to you as it is passing something! The busses are the worst very aggressive and on the horn all the time warning everyone to get out of their way! Continual swerving and slowing down or speeding up to get where we are going! This is why the planned mileages and travel times seem completely out of sync - like 4 hours to travel 162km!
Most of the time we are passing through very busy towns and villages, or the suburbs of the cities that we are going to or from. Thanjavaur where we stay tonight for 2 nights is a city of 800,000. Along the roads we see very green lush countryside with the revered cows wandering mostly untethered, many small dogs running about and risking their lives on the road and under the traffic. Lots of goats wandering about to their own devices. The dreaded plastic garbage is seen everywhere - piles of rubbish in every direction, which is quite a contrast to the ladies we see sweeping and keeping clean their homes and businesses as best they can, which is a never ending job given the huge amounts of dust being blown around non stop from all the traffic. The fruit and vegetable produce for sale at the road side markets confirms that this is a land where subsistence living in the rural areas is possible with the healthy soils and available water. We've been lucky with no rain so far but given the lush countryside the rain must frequently be plentiful. We did bring an umbrella with us!
We decided to skip lunch today in order to arrive in Thanjavaur by 330pm in time for a slightly reworked schedule so that we could meet our guide and explore the 10th Century CHOLA dynasty temple of Brihadisvara - the Cholas being mighty rulers of South India and Sri Lanka so many years ago. Thanjavaur is the rice bowl centre and the temple was built here in this strategic location and deliberately created as a ceremonial and sacred bhakti centre. It is huge and imposing which we gasped at as we arrived into Thanjavaur just after 3pm. By 330pm we were checked into the basic SANGAM hotel and leaving to visit Brihadisvara just as a huge 40 passenger bus arrived with a load of tourists from the USA travelling with Overseas Adventure Group.
The city was designed with the the temple at the centre with an inner quadrangle for the priestly folks, and an outer quadrangle for the other folks. It was 104 degrees and our guide Sunder was telling us that the warm weather has arrived earlier than usual this year. There are definite busy times in the year for tourists in South India, and in June July & August they are very busy with Europeans coming down during the school and business vacation period so that must be really hot then!
As we arrived at the Briadisvara temple we first had to take off our shoes - the rock walkway is so hot that for the most part there are long sisal carpets to walk on but every now and then you are on the rocks or walking up steps and there is no dallying I can tell you - the smart folks are wearing socks! This is truly a large and spectacular site with 500 Nandi brahma bulls on top of the wall around the quadrangle, and as you walk around the cloister like covered walkway inside the quadrangle there are 108 Lingam is a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva used for worship in temples. In traditional Indian society the linga is seen as a symbol of the energy and potential of God himself, Shiva himself. To look at it is the joining of the male Lingam (Hindu Deity Shiva) & female YONI (the Goddess Hindu Divine Mother) for continued creation (based on what I understood and it certainly looks like it!). The dome on the temple weighs 80 tons, and when built 1000+ years ago, there was a huge ramp built which still can be seen in the city, to somehow move this 80 ton rock to the top of this very tall temple. There is also a 20 ton Brahma bull set in the centre of the quadrangle facing the temple entrance. We spent almost 2 hours at the temple, and were justifiably impressed. Still in use today and built 10+ centuries earlier, built for perpetuity. The Brihadisvara temple is still in active use today with the Priests giving blessings including to us with a red dot and a white stripe across our foreheads.
After paying our 10 rupees (25 cents) we picked up our sandals from the local shop owner who had looked after them for us. Our Guide had a special arrangement with him to make it easier for his clients, but there are lockers around for the hundreds of shoes to be left prior to entering the temple. Then we continued on to a local store for no more than 5 minutes, where everything
was for sale and we bought nothing. FYI pure wool pashminas here are unbelievably light and beautiful approx $120-$150 USD. There is every form of God or character available for sale in any matter (wood, bronze, rock) that you might prefer.
We did visit a 9th generation master artist here whose heritage is the CHOLA (CHOLAN ART VILLAGE) - he had works there that are from his Grandparents and before - amazing pieces in his tiny little house on a back street. Sambaji Raja (maybe in his 30's now) has been written about in a French art book (Les Artistes de Tanjore) on THANJAVAUR and we were treated to a display of Sambaji himself making a wax form for a bronze sculpture from start to finish (lost wax) - then he showed us how much carving is done on the sculpture after it is removed form its clay protection after baking. It was very interesting and quite an experience - a red hot fire in the ground 3 feet away in front of us sitting on a rough wooden bench in 104 degree temperatures!
We were back at the Sangam Hotel by 6pm and absolutely tired out! There was time for a wonderful shower and change of clothes before the start of dinner at 7pm which was in a restaurant with long tables for tour groups with bland mediocre food! The bar is in the middle of the hotel, very dark and air conditioned. With ice and tonic water in hand we returned to our room for an ice cold libation prior to a very fast and small dinner. Forgot to mention that we had stopped at a local liquor store in Ponticherry. The local Blue Riband gin cost 250 rupees (about $5) for a 750ml bottle. Gordon's gin was 1100 rupees. Fortunately last night we had tied the Blue Riband (at 250 rupees per drink) and enjoyed it. Impossible to find any tonic to buy anywhere so still have to get that at the hotels.
In the dining room, there were local musicians sitting on the floor playing their traditional string instruments - how can they sit like that for hours with their legs crossed? In the hotel, there was a major meeting go on for the local Rotary Chapter including a presentation by the District Governor who was also advertised in bold letters as being a major donor to Rotary. By 9pm we were in bed with our electronic world and camera batteries all being charged ready for another full day tomorrow! We arranged to meet at 8am earlier than planned to take advantage of the cooler (ha!) start to the day - our guide Sunder figures about a 6 hour day tomorrow so maybe back at the Sangam hotel around 2pm.
Wednesday April 8, 2015 THANJAVAUR TO TRICHY return (62km/2 hours one way) SANGRAM HOTEL
The plan for today is to head out to TIRUCHIRAPPALI, or Trichy, which is inland south of Thanjavaur and we head out for the day returning to Thanjavaur after our tour. Trichy sits on the banks of the river Cauvery and the Nayaks built the town and Rock Fort Temple perched on a massive rocky out crop which rises abruptly from the plains to tower over the old city of Trichy. At the very top is the ancient temple dedicated to Ganapati. Our tour continues to Srirangam, the foremost of the eight self manifested shrines of Lord Vishnu which is considered to be the most important of the 108 main Vishnu temples (Divyadsams). This temple complex covers 156 acres of land, and comprises 7 concentric walls, and 21 gopurams or towers. Non Hindus are not allowed into the innermost sanctum of the temple.
We started by waking up before 3am and so spent several hours catching up with the Trip Diary - and when you see so much that takes a long time! We were ready for breakfast which is available from 7am so that we would be set for our 8am departure. We tried dhali ( a paper thin large crisp rice pancake) with chutney and a coconut chutney, as well as cereal , fresh fruit and toast with hard boiled egg! and of course fresh brewed black coffee. Before we left at 8am we took photos in the small grounds where there is a swimming pool and the remnants (tables and BBQ) of whatever event they had here last night.
The road to Trichy was our best road yet although it had rained and was wet in spots as well as a rainbow in front of us! We took the turnoff to Srirangam at 9am and met our Guide Sunder (same guide as yesterday who we really enjoyed and he lives in Trichy) shortly after in Amma Mandabam next to the Cauvery River - this is the same river next to Le Pondy where we stayed in Pondicherry the night before last, that empties into the Bay of Bengal. here the river is used by families to be blessed, and to empty the ashes from a family member that was previously cremated away from the river (whereas in Varanasi they do everything in the Ganges which causes way more pollution in the river). It was very interesting with lots of folks dressed up in their finest for these personal ceremonies, sitting with Priests for their blessings prior to the ceremony (marriages, women who are looking for husbands, families who are having problems, all sorts of reasons to get blessings).
There are priests sitting next to each other and their stations are all numbered (I saw as high a number as 40) - all very interesting to watch. There are barbers shaving heads with straight razors - small babies, young boys & girls, young men, old ladies - all a sign of "giving something up" in order to be ready to ask for and accept help from their particular deity. Amazing to see an old lady with long hair sit in the chair and 5 minutes later be completely bald. Men with yellow heads - they put on some sort of sandalwood cream I believe for protection from the sun after being shaved but I guess it could be another reason? A tiny baby crying the whole time he was being shaved with Mom, Dad and Aunt and Uncle all holding him still while all of his hair was cut off.
We saw one man and lady sitting with a Priest for sometime who looked over at me a few times -- then some time later I saw them go down to the Cauvery River and put the ashes and flowers in the water to float away. I was quite close to them and she came over and introduced herself to me (her name Victoria) I guess she was in her 40's or 50's and told me that the ashes were her husband who died - this was her son with her and that they were a very poor family. I felt so sorry for her, but obviously they were getting some emotional support from the blessing ceremony and disposing of her husband's ashes in the river. We also had watched a lengthy blessing of a young couple and their parents which we had thought was a marriage ceremony. We saw them again later at the Vishnu Temple some miles away across the Cauvery River - she spoke to us then and told us that her family has been having sone difficult times and was getting blessed by the Priest looking for better times in the future - maybe it was looking for a baby?
There are very few tourists around so we stand out in any crowd! Everyone wants to say hello, try to talk to us, have their photo taken and parents love to have their children in our photos - it has truly been very rewarding to see and integrate so much with these communities. Sunder had told us that we should be at the river early for the ceremonies, blessings and to see everyone dressed in their best clothes, especially the ladies in their colourful saris and he was right - no other tourists in sight just us.
There was a large elephant in the middle of the blessings, you could buy food for him and he would take your 20 rupee note in his trunk then give you a blessing by patting you on your head three times! You know I don't agree with any elephant being kept captive and not being free to roam in the wild, I could only justify giving the money so that I hoped the elephant would be well looked after. In the river and on the banks, the folks who had been blessed or brought their lived one's ashes were in the water and giving up the ashes and flowers to float away down the river. Many washed their saris, shirts or sarongs in the river - all to be cleansed and blessed. Often just one or two people together, sometimes large groups of 20 to 50 people - I guess all depending on who the ashes belonged to or what the blessing was for. it was interesting to see all these people standing on the sand or in the water beyond the signs that warned about the danger of quick sand here!
Next we crossed the River Cauvery to visit the Vishnal Temple in Srinangam built in 7 walls, 4 surrounding the temple and 3 for the outer walls. The temple was built in the 13th and 16th centuries - all the beautiful sand stone temples which we now see so brightly painted in multiple colours like blue, purple, pink - and apparently this painting only started 9 years ago! This temple is set in 156 acres and has 21 towers. Off came our shoes and were left with a shop owner while we wandered this huge complex which is currently under massive reconstruction by the City government, whereas the amazing Big Temple which we saw in Thanjavaur yesterday is maintained by the State Archeological Department which explains what great shape it is in.
There were lots of folks here all dressed in their best and we saw the large Anandra Sayana - Happy Lying Down statue over the entrance and inside. Not being Hindi we are unable to enter the inner sanctum of most temples, but Shanti (from Toronto, originally from Guyana - on the tour with us) is Hindi so she entered this temple today with our guide Sunder. We again had many interactions with the locals , and saw another elephant with gold painted head and ears right inside one of the Temple courtyards - a large sand lined area for him to stand in - I was glad to see him being led away after a short time, but again I know it would be to a small area not the wild open ranges where he should be living.
Our last stop here today was at the Rock Fort Temple which we had seen from many vantage points this morning since it stands on top of a huge rock jutting up out of the plain below. At the very top is the ancient temple dedicated to Ganapati. We walked up the 250 steps inside covered walls and ceiling - and then the last 150 steps are in the sun outside and we started but just about fried our feet since again you have to be bare foot and as soon as we reached the outside stones they were very hot! The locals walk barefoot so much they must have much thicker skin on the soles of their feet than we have on ours! This was not going to be a walk to the very top (where we could not go inside the temple in any case) but we felt quite satisfied achieving what we had - a very eventful and rewarding morning.
We managed to find a bank ATM with CIRRUS capability (back by the Cauvery River) that took CIRRUS so we could get some more rupees - since arriving in Chennai India on Sunday evening every ATM we have tried was not Cirrus and between not working, network down, and "no more than 40 notes will be given" we needed more funds!! It was an uneventful drive back to Thanjavaur (uneventful meaning we weren't hit, we didn't hit anyone, and no animals were killed in this drive).
On arrival we went to a very busy local vegetarian restaurant SRI KRISHNA BHAVAN for lunch which was excellent! This was less than a 5 minute walk from our own hotel, the SANGAM. We shared a stuffed parotta (kind of like unleavened roti) and a stuffed roti (like an unleavened parotta ) - both excellent, a papadam (replaces the urge for salty chips) and some of Shanti's vegetable curry - all simply excellent! On our way out we bought candy from the front counter - a sort of very soft caramel with nuts - 36 rupees (about 75 cents) for 100gms. The locals were pouring in here to eat, and many ordered what was a special full dinner - served on a large plastic or metal plate (about 16 inches across) with many different chutneys and sauces, huge amounts of rice, papadams and curry all for 150 rupees about $3. It is very obvious that prices in the local restaurants are very much cheaper (and better in most cases) than the tourist resorts, hotels, and restaurants.
Our last stop for today was the Tanjore Palace & Museum. This was once a Place for a dynasty and must have been hugely impressive when built with wonderful and grand archways, pillars and halls. Today it is so sad to see how it is not maintained and is in very sorry shape but the original bones of the buildings still in evidence. The statues and figurines from the last 11 centuries are splendid and very enjoyable to compare one character and the representation over the centuries. Back at the SANGAM hotel it was time to cool down, get refreshed and catch up with laundry - another amazing and very experiential day and tomorrow we leave and head South to the city of Madurai - rumour has it we may stop to see a place where many saris are woven - just my cup of tea!
Thursday April 9, 2015 THANJAVAUR to MADURAI (185km/4 to 5 hours)
9 Chaiitra (roughly equivalent to April 9) is the 9th day of the Hindu month Chaitra and a HINDU Holy day.
EASTER Good Friday April 3, 2015 - SECHELT TO VANCOUVER
Well we had a very late night last night getting all the work loose ends looked after, then by 11am we were ready to head out for the ferry! Amazing how long it takes to get all those last minute items looked after around the house, and the last items packed that can't be done until you're ready to leave the house - good job we packed 90% of our stuff last weekend - and we are packing light for this trip since we will be very hot (37C today in Chennai, on the South East coast of India) and moving around a lot, somewhere new almost every day.
We left in the pouring rain as we arrived on the ferry in Horseshoe Bay - and the traffic line up waiting for the ferry to Nanaimo were horrendous - lined all the way back up to the off ramp for the ferry on the highway. After a little running around and picking up some extra SD cards for the camera, we arrived under pretty clear skies at Vancouver airport at 9pm. We waited to checkin when it opened at 1015pm and were really surprised and happy that they were able to check our luggage all the way through to India. Then after security we waited in the Premium Plaza Lounge where we had a little more work to do - compounded by poor WIFI and a system at work that had crashed.
Eventually we boarded the EVA AIR flight BR09 at 1:40am Saturday morning, and boy were we tired by then! It was a Boeing 747-400 and EVA AIR pulled out right on time at 2:20am for the 10,300+ km from Vancouver to Taipei for our first flight. Just in front of us were also departing a Philippines Airlines flight off to Manilla, and another flight to China - such a dreadful time to be waiting to board a flight!
Saturday April 4, 2015 VANCOUVER to TAIPEI to SINGAPORE to COLUMBO SRI LANKA to CHENNAI (Madras), INDIA ---GRT GRAND HOTEL
Yes 4 flights, total flying time 22 hours!, and a very long night this turned out to be! This would not be the itinerary of choice for anyone, but to cut a long story short we had already bought tickets to Singapore for another trip which we had cancelled. So we purchased additional tickets to get from Singapore to Chennai India where, by chance, the India tour would start on the same day!
We were served dinner a couple of hours after we left Vancouver (so that would be 4am our BC time!) and then we managed to sleep on and off during the 12 hour 15 minute flight. The night actually followed us as we flew! Taipei is 15 hours ahead of Vancouver time and we left at 220am Saturday morning and arrived Taipei Sunday morning at 535am - over 12 hours later and just as the sun was coming up in Taiwan on Sunday morning! We flew in under hazy skies but Taiwan is a pretty island with multiple mountain ridges on the horizon as you fly in and out of the airport.
The line-up to go through Security in Taipei airport for connecting flights was huge - a good 200+ people! It was moving reasonably quickly and effectively but we were fortunate to be flying today (on points) in Royal Laurel Class with EVA Airlines so we went to the front of the line - after we had waited awhile at the back! In the EVA Infinity Lounge we had cheese and a bun, but there was a wide variety of goodies on offer regardless of which time zone you were personally in!
This is a huge modern airport with an unbelievable array of stores and Duty Free stores - we didn't go into even one! The EVA lounges are beautiful and there are several - including Garden, Club and Infinity. Walking through this airport there is no sense of poverty or poor Asian populations!! Interestingly in today's Taipei Times newspaper, there was an article about Taiwan's economy and the poor sector of the populace as the wealthy get richer!
After an hour enjoying a mango juice and downloading emails, we headed to gate C5 and connected to EVA AIR flight BR 225 departing at 740am for Singapore arriving 4 hours 20 minutes later in Singapore at 12:00pm. This plane was newer and nicer than the 747 from Vancouver. This was a Boeing 777-300ER with lovely pods in Business Class (configuration 1-2-1 and the seats were much closer to lying flat - we would have thoroughly enjoyed these pods last night. Another breakfast and a great caffe latte while watching the movie To Catch a Thief to pass the time away, and of course working on this trip diary which requires such a commitment of time to get everything in! It's about 3200km from Taipei to Singapore - nearly all over sunny blue skies with whit fluffy clouds - heading South West with mainland China over on our starboard ( right hand side) of the plane. Considering that right now there is a cyclone in the Philippines with masses of the population evacuated from the northern reaches of the Philippine Islands there was sure no sign of bad weather anywhere close as we flew South to Singapore.
To enter Singapore we had to complete "Disembarkation forms" for customs and immigration and then we had a 3 hour wait before we could board SRI LANKAN Airlines UL0303 departing Singapore at 3:05pm and arriving Columbo SRI LANKA at 425pm, flight duration 3 hours 50 minutes. It had been raining and the runways were wet - as we watched planes landing there was huge spray thrown up like a cloud around the wheels and belly of the plane - especially the large jumbos. In Singapore, at no check point did we ever need our Singapore Disembarkation form but better safe than sorry and to have it with you in case any body asked for it! At the Transit desk we had to get boarding passes for SriLankan airways flight to Columbo - he also wanted to see our Indian visa (in our passports) and our onward ticket to leave Delhi on April 26 - they want to be sure that you're authorised to enter and ready to leave I guess!
The flight was very full with 99% Indian SriLankan appearance - nearly all the men wearing Western style shirts and pants and all the women wearing Indian style saris or tunics and rubber thongs. The flight crew was a mix of men and women - the men wearing navy suits and the women beautiful outfits with the typical Indian style tunic on top - scoop neck, short sleeves, stretchy teal colour and short - finishes above the mid riff. The skirt starts below their waist - a beautiful teal colour fabric printed with peacock feathers, and a long sari robe that goes up and over their shoulders. With the modesty you see in most Asian countries I'm always surprised at the way the Indian ladies' outfits are constructed with the bare waist midriff area.
We flew through some heavy cloud between Singapore and Columbo Sri Lanka, but the closer we got the clearer the skies. It was nearly 4 hours and we slept on and off, starting to feel pretty weary by now. Inside the airport it was very different to when we first came through Columbo some 20+ years ago on our way to scuba dive in the Maldives. It is bigger, cleaner, and more modern. Lots of stores selling trinkets (lots of elephants), jewellery and gem stones, and Indian clothing saris and the like as well as restaurants - even a fast food burger place! We had about 2 hours between flights and were happy to sit down in the check-in lounge at Gate 6 (after another security check and scan, as well as one more check for Indian Visas and onward tickets for India).
Imagine how happy we were to board the 4th and last flight, SRI LANKAN Airlines UL0123 at 640pm (1 hour 30 minute duration) scheduled to arrive our destination Chennai India at 810pm and more than ready for a good night's sleep lying flat! We were outside the Chennai airport and nearing the end of a very very long line of waiting people and taxi drivers with signs with names (none of ours!) before we found our driver. I think he was glad to see us too. He wanted to know where our two friends were as for some reason they were going to be late. No ATM at the airport and we had not brought any rupees, expecting to get some here. So the driver stopped at two roadside ATM's for us - first was out of order, second had no network. Signs of things to come. At least we got our bank card back from the machine!
Sunday April 5, 2015 arrive CHENNAI, INDIA -- GRT GRAND HOTEL
The first 9 days of our tour start in the town of Chennai on India's South East Coast and tour through the very Southern part of India, covering temples, Mahatma Ghandi's Freedom movement, enjoying the scenery on the Coast and inland as well as overnighting on a house boat in Kerala on the South Western coast.
Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is known for its' rich traditions - classical music, architecture, art and dance form. It is also an indigenous part of the city's heritage.
India has 3 main religions: HINDI, BAHIA, ISLAM, ?? In the North the language is the National language and Namaste with hands closed together to greet you meaning Hello and Welcome.. In the South the language is Tamil Nadu which is exactly the same as the country of Sri Lanka so the Sri Lankans and population for the South of India can understand each other perfectly. (Vanatkaam - Hello, Nanbhrai - Goodbye). Everyone learns English at school but in most cases it is spoken with such a strong accent it is hard to understand what anyone is saying - and yes, they also speak so very fast that it is like another completely foreign language! The Southerners are nearly all vegetarians and the women grow their hair long, do not cover their heads, wear flowers in their hair and love bright colours. Each family member in a generation has a favourite colour - which has to be shared when getting married since now there are 2 favourite colours in the household - they do wear all colors, but for special events they wear only their favourite colours.
Monday April 6, 2015 CHENNAI - MAHABALIPPURAM _ PONDICHERRY (158km/4 hours)
LE PONDY HOTEL
Today we drive South along the Coast to Mahabalippuram to visit Panch Ratha, or the 5 most important Rathat temples of the 9 monolithic rock-cut temples found here. These are dedicated to the 5 Pandava brothers from the epic Mahabharata. The Dharmaraja Rathat is named after the eldest Pandava, and is the largest in the lineup, and is dedicated to Lord Shiva. We also visit Arjuna's Penance which depicts the story of Arjuna, it is a massive rock cut bas relief sculpture measuring 27 metres long and 9 metres high. We will also visit the 5 storied Shore Temple World Heritage Site made out of finely cut granite and one of the earliest and most important structural temples.
This was a truly interesting and enjoyable day! The sun came up under clear blue skies, and we enjoyed a good buffet breakfast in the same restaurant as last night at the Grand GRT Hotel in Chennai. Lots of variety of vegetarian dishes, along with chicken sausage, baked beans, bacon, and eggs however you like them - lots of pastries, breads, yoghurt, cereals, fresh fruits - pancaked American and Indian style - and the staff poured fresh hot coffee and simply couldn't do enough for you. At 9 our driver Shaji was waiting to pick us up, and we met Anna and Shanti from Toronto who were joining us on the trip. Their luggage (they had 4 suitcases plus hand luggage) and ours filled the back of the vehicle, and I sat in the front of the vehicle (my day today) while Terry and the 2 ladies sat in the back.
The traffic out of Chennai was really busy and frequently very slow or stopped - so many scooters and bikes, lots of tuk tuk's, and of course huge busses, trucks and cars as well. That's why it took 2 1/2 hours to get to Mahabalipuram instead of the expected 1 hour. We went through 3 or 4 toll booths over the course of the day (usually cost about 22rupees, maybe 40cents). Our guide, Stanley, for the temples in Mahabalipuram was waiting for us when we finally arrived and soon we were walking around to enjoy the temples. The oldest temples are the MONOLITHIC where the entire temple is carved from one huge rock! The next temples in age were the CAVE where they were carved in a cave. The third type of temples are 1400 years old and are bas relief (like ARUNA) where the stories are carved out of rock walls and boulders. The youngest temples are built stone by stone (think of building a house one brick at a time) and each stone is carved for the structure and then the story carved on top..
I loved this town and its' temples - Mahabalipuram has a circumference of only 3km with 5,000 population and regulations that prevent any building of high rise buildings - so it has a very pleasant small town feel with lots of green spaces - and when you see the huge boulders sitting on the grass - some just a boulder balancing with a photo being taken of about 40 people sitting underneath (this rock has been named the Butter Ball Rock!), but I loved the massive Arjuna's Penance bas relief with the story carved out of the massive cliff - and two beautiful elephants carved in the story as well! Then we drove over to the World Heritage finely carved 5 story high Shore Temple which sits - you guessed it - next to the shore line which has been fortified with rocks to protect it from a future tsunami - they had one back in 2004 I believe it was. The Shore temple, sits within a large courtyard surrounded by carvings of sitting bulls, is in a grassy location is lovely and apparently is a favourite place for locals to come, so it gets very busy with lots of visitors who come here on weekends and holidays to go and play on the beach and in the water. It was very hot in the sun!! Our guide told us about the temple while standing under a tree in the shade - and then sent us out to walk around the temple while he stayed under the tree.
We did visit a small stone carving store - they have master carvers here and along the roads in the stores we saw amazing carvings, huge and tiny. The fabulous large elephant carvings reminded us both very much of the beautiful stone carvings that the Zimbabweans produce, and we have always loved those. One of the intricate carvings we have seen here are the elephants, about 6-8", which have been carved very carefully and are full of detail and tiny holes - and inside you can see another elephant which has been carved from through the outside elephant - unbelievable - about $80 for these small elephants and each one takes a carver about one month to make one.
At 2pm we headed for lunch at La Pallette and chose the vegetarian restaurant over the seafood restaurant. After downing 2 bottles of soda water 18 rupees each to replenish our fluids, Terry and I shared vegetable fried rice 100 rupees, spicy Szechuan vegetables 180R and cheese nan bread 60R. The food was excellent and way more than we needed at a total of 494 rupees, about $10! One dish between two of us is all that we should be ordering - between having small appetites and the body not needing much food, just fluids, when the temperatures are hot and humid.
Forty five minutes later we were on the road South to Pondicherry where we will stay at Le Pondy which turned out to be a beautiful and huge resort property right on the beach (the villas which each hold 4 rooms) are quite a long way back from the water and beach - prevention for tsunamis. The drive was the typical crazy, hairy experience - I just would not enjoy driving ourselves anywhere on any of the roads we've seen so far! To be a driver here you must have nerves of steel! When we arrived we checked into the Sunway Manor hotel even though there appeared to be some confusion about them expecting us. While looking for the Sunway, our driver Shaji commented on how usually he puts folks in hotels at the beach so he didn't know where this hotel was located and he had to ask for directions from an "automated rickshaw" (tuk tuk) driver. Well, we had been in the room long enough to use the facilities and wash our hands when I received a telephone call - we were in the wrong hotel! Back down to the front where Shaji was waiting to take us to Le Pondy! Shaji showed me his printed itinerary from the office and sure enough it had the Sunway on it (in the middle of town and back from the beach) but there had been a mix up and we were soon off to Le Pondy!
We were thrilled when we arrived to a simply beautiful resort property, lovely staff, good food and we even had a gin & tonic with their last one can of tonic water - it had been a sold out hotel for Easter weekend so looks like the tonic water had all been used up! Too bad it was already so late in the day. We dropped our bags in the very spacious air conditioned room and headed down to enjoy our drink in the bar which is on the second level above the restaurant with views of the ocean, Chunnambar River mouth and greenery all around - beautifully manicured gardens with flowering shrubs. We saw the sun go down and the waves rolling in on the long sandy beach from the Bay of Bengal. Le Pondy keeps their section of the beach nice and clean, and most of the other resorts in the area are a short way North of here. We had driven to Le Pondy on the winding tiny dirt road through a local village with all the end of day activities in process - cows and goats wandering around, ladies and men carrying food and wood for fires on their heads, brightly coloured saris, men and women sitting cross legged on the floor in grassy fields in the shade of large trees sharing stories - a really pleasant scene. There is JOY's spa here as well as ANANDAM AYURVEDA therapeutic centre, and one of our group enjoyed a 1000 rupee ($20) head back and shoulder massage which she said was excellent.
There is a huge pool here, and we sat outside by the pool for a candlelight dinner of Pad Thai and Thai Green Curry with rice - we left about as much (or more) than we ate - all served by a waitress standing nearby. There was also a huge buffet but we opted for the less expensive 2 dishes thinking this would be more cost effective for the tour operator., It turned out that the more expensive buffet dinner was included so when we checked out the next day we had to pay for the a la carte (only 530R about $11)! The pool was closing at 8pm so there were 2 or3 folks cooling off in the pool before it shut down for the evening. Back in our room we were soon in bed and fast asleep after a truly interesting day.
Tuesday April 7, 2015 PONDICHERRY - THANJAVAUR (162KM/4 hours) SANGAM HOTEL (2 NIGHTS)
This morning we are scheduled to do a sight seeing tour of Pondicherry and visit the Shri Aurobindo Ashram - a world renowned ashram founded in 1926 by Shri Aurobindo, a revolutionary turned Yogi from Bengal along with The Mother (Mira Alfassa), a French painter and sculptor. Afterwards we visit the Government Museum which houses sculptures from Pallava, Chola and Vijaynagara temples. Then we will continue to Thanjavaur where we spend the night.
PONDICHERRY (or Puduchcheri) is referred to as "India's Little France" and "The French Riviera of the East" because the French ruled Pondicherry for around 280 years. The French influence can be seen in the colonial style mansions, promenades, and French street names.
Pondicherry is a Union Territory with much lower taxes on everything than is found in the 4 other territories in South India - everyone wants to emphasize to us how important it is to be able to buy everything in Pondicherry with no taxes, and especially the alcohol which is apparently 50% cheaper than in all other territories in India - I think this is the case at the liquor stores but not in the tourist resorts and restaurants!
We were awake early enough to shower and get down to the beach shortly after 530am in time for the sunrise over the Bay of Bengal - there was lots of pink on the clouds in the sky but the heavy cloud cover on the horizon meant we saw the colours but not the sun! It was already very humid and warm - we were pretty damp by the time we reached the waves washing up on the beach - there were 2 ladies fully dressed in their beautiful saris sweeping the sand and any weed or anything that had washed up from the waves. Out on the water were two tiny fishing boats with 2 men standing in each throwing and hauling back in nets - a little further away were larger fishing boats at anchor so I suspect these smaller boats were working from the larger boats. There were a few locals walking down the beach, getting their morning exercise before the temperatures climbed even more! We had passed through the gate from the Le Pondy resort property on to the beach and checked in and out by the Security Guard there.
Le Pondy is a huge property with beautiful tropical foliage, lots of grass, a koi pond with a glass bridge to walk over the pond and white & deep pink water lilies. The villas each contain 4 large teak units with 2 upstairs and 2 downstairs rooms - a total of 70. Each of the units is air conditioned, large flat screen TV, coffee making facilities, large bathroom and an outdoor deck with chairs and day bed to relax and sleep on. After packing our few things away we headed to the multi cuisine restaurant which overlooks the beautiful very large swimming pool where a couple of clients were already swimming and cooling off.
We were first for breakfast and very happy when our waiter turned on the ceiling fans and sat us underneath one! The breakfast has every international and local Indian dish that you could wish for - Terry opted for cheese, onion and mushroom omelette (he said it reminded him of the omelette prepared for Helen Mirran in the Hundred Step Journey - wonderful spices in it) while I enjoyed mango juice, toast and hard boiled eggs. The waiter was so welcoming - the people we meet love to visit with you and find out where you're from, and proud to tell you where they are from - this guy was from the very South of India at the point - between Kanyakumari and Tuticorin - just across the Gulf of Mannar to the island and country of Sri Lanka.
We caught up with emails and a couple of work items that we needed the internet while enjoying the cooling breezes from the Bay of Bengal and the overhead fan, and ensuring we were at the front reception (a 5 to 10 minute walk through the property) for our 9am pick up to do the City tour, visit the Ashram and Museum - no way we are getting that all done in one hour! Sadji picked us up right at 855am and we drove the 30minutes back into Pondicherry where we met our guide for the next 90 minutes Veetri - which means Victor. Vetri was well spoken, although spoke very fast like most of the folks we meet down here - but he was professional and informative!
The area we were in is the white town (French) and the canal divided Pondicherri, the other side of the canal being Black Town where the Indians lived- 80% Hindu, 10% muslim and 10%?. During the 300 years of French rule, the French treated the Indians as their slaves. The British were always the Colonial power all over India, but the French were in Pondicherry and there were constant wars between the French trying to expand Pondicherry to the North, South and West and so Pondicherry has been under constantly changing French or British rule until 1947 August 16 when India became Independent. The French remained in Pondicherry but eventually started moving back to France in 1954. Many Indians had fought for France and were given French Citizenship and were allowed to move to France. Even today should an Indian marry a French Citizen after 5 years they too are allowed to move to France. Today there are an estimated 60,000 people with dual Indian French citizenship living in India.
Pondicherry is a mix of Indo French architecture due this being a French planned town, all the streets in straight lines but built by Indian labourers. Today it is a Unesco world heritage site with all the buildings classified as Heritage Buildings that must be maintained. It is here that the Shri Arabindo Ashram is located and this has grown exponentially since started in 1926 when Sri Aurobindo Ghose, one of India's greatest philosopher poets, came to Pondicherry to escape persecution by the British and became interested in spiritual salvation and was inspired by yoga. All the Ashram buildings are identified by being painted a grey colour and as of today they have purchased 125 buildings and it's just another business under the title of yoga and ashram with hospitals, schools, cottage industries etc with many international visitors paying to be here. Inside the main Ashram building (where you are not allowed to talk or whisper) are the mortal remains of Sri Aurobindo and "The Mother", his French sculptor wife - this is now where other yogis and devotees now come to pray and add fresh flowers to the beautiful arrangements on their tomb which are changed three times every day. There is no talking allowed inside, no shoes (leave them outside on racks purpose built) and no photos - that's so the Ashram can sell you the photos that they have taken. There is a huge book store with 3 yogi workers being involved in the purchase of everything including the one 5 rupee plus 1 rupee tax (15 cents) photo that I bought.
Next we walked barefoot in the streets to the Hindu Ganash (Good Luck) Temple around the corner which cost $6 million to renovate including an amazing pink marble floor - and this is about 100 ft by 100ft - just beautiful! It reopened 1 week ago in time for Easter and is very busy now as everyone comes to see the renovated temple and pay their respects. Most bring flowers (the beautiful large pink lotus flower is the National flower of India) and pray at the shrine. It is a spectacular temple with hundreds of Ganash gods around the temple each one a little different - Ganash being the God for Good Luck. As we walked the streets there were ladies on the floor selling the beautiful lotus flowers to those who wanted to go and pray.
Last on our tour was the waterfront along the beach and Bay of Bengal to see the wonderful statue of freedom of Ghandi, situated right where the French built a long pier and brought the railway here to transport to this point and then take away by ship, the Indian produce of textiles, spices, silk etc. The railway line is no longer here, and all that is left of the pier is rotting wooden posts out in the ocean a 100 feet away from the beach after it was demolished by the major storm in 1953. There was even a Mint here producing the currency until 1954! All of the old French buildings typically used by the French Government are now used by the Indian Government - one of the most practical for tourists being the Le Cafe coffee shop right on the waterfront where you can enjoy a wonderful flaky chocolate croissant and coffee while looking out over the Bay of Bengal and enjoying the Ocean breezes.
After checking out of Le Pondy and picking up our bags, we were soon back on the crazy drive heading to Thanjavaur. The driving is quite hard here - there is every kind of traffic on the roads that you can imagine - folks walking, on bicycles, on motorbikes (up to 4 on each bike loaded down with every type of cargo you can imagine!), motorised rickshaws (same as Tuk Tuk's in Thailand - a small set of seats sitting on a motorbike - we have seen up to 8 or more crowded into what is 2 seats in the back), cars, suv's, oxen drawn carts, trucks and lorries from small to huge, tractors, and lots and lots of large brightly painted busses. Since all of the traffic is travelling at completely different speeds the driving is frantic - nearly every road is two lanes so there is non-stop passing going on - you tend to be passing something and head on to the oncoming traffic, or another vehicle is head on to you as it is passing something! The busses are the worst very aggressive and on the horn all the time warning everyone to get out of their way! Continual swerving and slowing down or speeding up to get where we are going! This is why the planned mileages and travel times seem completely out of sync - like 4 hours to travel 162km!
Most of the time we are passing through very busy towns and villages, or the suburbs of the cities that we are going to or from. Thanjavaur where we stay tonight for 2 nights is a city of 800,000. Along the roads we see very green lush countryside with the revered cows wandering mostly untethered, many small dogs running about and risking their lives on the road and under the traffic. Lots of goats wandering about to their own devices. The dreaded plastic garbage is seen everywhere - piles of rubbish in every direction, which is quite a contrast to the ladies we see sweeping and keeping clean their homes and businesses as best they can, which is a never ending job given the huge amounts of dust being blown around non stop from all the traffic. The fruit and vegetable produce for sale at the road side markets confirms that this is a land where subsistence living in the rural areas is possible with the healthy soils and available water. We've been lucky with no rain so far but given the lush countryside the rain must frequently be plentiful. We did bring an umbrella with us!
We decided to skip lunch today in order to arrive in Thanjavaur by 330pm in time for a slightly reworked schedule so that we could meet our guide and explore the 10th Century CHOLA dynasty temple of Brihadisvara - the Cholas being mighty rulers of South India and Sri Lanka so many years ago. Thanjavaur is the rice bowl centre and the temple was built here in this strategic location and deliberately created as a ceremonial and sacred bhakti centre. It is huge and imposing which we gasped at as we arrived into Thanjavaur just after 3pm. By 330pm we were checked into the basic SANGAM hotel and leaving to visit Brihadisvara just as a huge 40 passenger bus arrived with a load of tourists from the USA travelling with Overseas Adventure Group.
The city was designed with the the temple at the centre with an inner quadrangle for the priestly folks, and an outer quadrangle for the other folks. It was 104 degrees and our guide Sunder was telling us that the warm weather has arrived earlier than usual this year. There are definite busy times in the year for tourists in South India, and in June July & August they are very busy with Europeans coming down during the school and business vacation period so that must be really hot then!
As we arrived at the Briadisvara temple we first had to take off our shoes - the rock walkway is so hot that for the most part there are long sisal carpets to walk on but every now and then you are on the rocks or walking up steps and there is no dallying I can tell you - the smart folks are wearing socks! This is truly a large and spectacular site with 500 Nandi brahma bulls on top of the wall around the quadrangle, and as you walk around the cloister like covered walkway inside the quadrangle there are 108 Lingam is a representation of the Hindu deity Shiva used for worship in temples. In traditional Indian society the linga is seen as a symbol of the energy and potential of God himself, Shiva himself. To look at it is the joining of the male Lingam (Hindu Deity Shiva) & female YONI (the Goddess Hindu Divine Mother) for continued creation (based on what I understood and it certainly looks like it!). The dome on the temple weighs 80 tons, and when built 1000+ years ago, there was a huge ramp built which still can be seen in the city, to somehow move this 80 ton rock to the top of this very tall temple. There is also a 20 ton Brahma bull set in the centre of the quadrangle facing the temple entrance. We spent almost 2 hours at the temple, and were justifiably impressed. Still in use today and built 10+ centuries earlier, built for perpetuity. The Brihadisvara temple is still in active use today with the Priests giving blessings including to us with a red dot and a white stripe across our foreheads.
After paying our 10 rupees (25 cents) we picked up our sandals from the local shop owner who had looked after them for us. Our Guide had a special arrangement with him to make it easier for his clients, but there are lockers around for the hundreds of shoes to be left prior to entering the temple. Then we continued on to a local store for no more than 5 minutes, where everything
was for sale and we bought nothing. FYI pure wool pashminas here are unbelievably light and beautiful approx $120-$150 USD. There is every form of God or character available for sale in any matter (wood, bronze, rock) that you might prefer.
We did visit a 9th generation master artist here whose heritage is the CHOLA (CHOLAN ART VILLAGE) - he had works there that are from his Grandparents and before - amazing pieces in his tiny little house on a back street. Sambaji Raja (maybe in his 30's now) has been written about in a French art book (Les Artistes de Tanjore) on THANJAVAUR and we were treated to a display of Sambaji himself making a wax form for a bronze sculpture from start to finish (lost wax) - then he showed us how much carving is done on the sculpture after it is removed form its clay protection after baking. It was very interesting and quite an experience - a red hot fire in the ground 3 feet away in front of us sitting on a rough wooden bench in 104 degree temperatures!
We were back at the Sangam Hotel by 6pm and absolutely tired out! There was time for a wonderful shower and change of clothes before the start of dinner at 7pm which was in a restaurant with long tables for tour groups with bland mediocre food! The bar is in the middle of the hotel, very dark and air conditioned. With ice and tonic water in hand we returned to our room for an ice cold libation prior to a very fast and small dinner. Forgot to mention that we had stopped at a local liquor store in Ponticherry. The local Blue Riband gin cost 250 rupees (about $5) for a 750ml bottle. Gordon's gin was 1100 rupees. Fortunately last night we had tied the Blue Riband (at 250 rupees per drink) and enjoyed it. Impossible to find any tonic to buy anywhere so still have to get that at the hotels.
In the dining room, there were local musicians sitting on the floor playing their traditional string instruments - how can they sit like that for hours with their legs crossed? In the hotel, there was a major meeting go on for the local Rotary Chapter including a presentation by the District Governor who was also advertised in bold letters as being a major donor to Rotary. By 9pm we were in bed with our electronic world and camera batteries all being charged ready for another full day tomorrow! We arranged to meet at 8am earlier than planned to take advantage of the cooler (ha!) start to the day - our guide Sunder figures about a 6 hour day tomorrow so maybe back at the Sangam hotel around 2pm.
Wednesday April 8, 2015 THANJAVAUR TO TRICHY return (62km/2 hours one way) SANGRAM HOTEL
The plan for today is to head out to TIRUCHIRAPPALI, or Trichy, which is inland south of Thanjavaur and we head out for the day returning to Thanjavaur after our tour. Trichy sits on the banks of the river Cauvery and the Nayaks built the town and Rock Fort Temple perched on a massive rocky out crop which rises abruptly from the plains to tower over the old city of Trichy. At the very top is the ancient temple dedicated to Ganapati. Our tour continues to Srirangam, the foremost of the eight self manifested shrines of Lord Vishnu which is considered to be the most important of the 108 main Vishnu temples (Divyadsams). This temple complex covers 156 acres of land, and comprises 7 concentric walls, and 21 gopurams or towers. Non Hindus are not allowed into the innermost sanctum of the temple.
We started by waking up before 3am and so spent several hours catching up with the Trip Diary - and when you see so much that takes a long time! We were ready for breakfast which is available from 7am so that we would be set for our 8am departure. We tried dhali ( a paper thin large crisp rice pancake) with chutney and a coconut chutney, as well as cereal , fresh fruit and toast with hard boiled egg! and of course fresh brewed black coffee. Before we left at 8am we took photos in the small grounds where there is a swimming pool and the remnants (tables and BBQ) of whatever event they had here last night.
The road to Trichy was our best road yet although it had rained and was wet in spots as well as a rainbow in front of us! We took the turnoff to Srirangam at 9am and met our Guide Sunder (same guide as yesterday who we really enjoyed and he lives in Trichy) shortly after in Amma Mandabam next to the Cauvery River - this is the same river next to Le Pondy where we stayed in Pondicherry the night before last, that empties into the Bay of Bengal. here the river is used by families to be blessed, and to empty the ashes from a family member that was previously cremated away from the river (whereas in Varanasi they do everything in the Ganges which causes way more pollution in the river). It was very interesting with lots of folks dressed up in their finest for these personal ceremonies, sitting with Priests for their blessings prior to the ceremony (marriages, women who are looking for husbands, families who are having problems, all sorts of reasons to get blessings).
There are priests sitting next to each other and their stations are all numbered (I saw as high a number as 40) - all very interesting to watch. There are barbers shaving heads with straight razors - small babies, young boys & girls, young men, old ladies - all a sign of "giving something up" in order to be ready to ask for and accept help from their particular deity. Amazing to see an old lady with long hair sit in the chair and 5 minutes later be completely bald. Men with yellow heads - they put on some sort of sandalwood cream I believe for protection from the sun after being shaved but I guess it could be another reason? A tiny baby crying the whole time he was being shaved with Mom, Dad and Aunt and Uncle all holding him still while all of his hair was cut off.
We saw one man and lady sitting with a Priest for sometime who looked over at me a few times -- then some time later I saw them go down to the Cauvery River and put the ashes and flowers in the water to float away. I was quite close to them and she came over and introduced herself to me (her name Victoria) I guess she was in her 40's or 50's and told me that the ashes were her husband who died - this was her son with her and that they were a very poor family. I felt so sorry for her, but obviously they were getting some emotional support from the blessing ceremony and disposing of her husband's ashes in the river. We also had watched a lengthy blessing of a young couple and their parents which we had thought was a marriage ceremony. We saw them again later at the Vishnu Temple some miles away across the Cauvery River - she spoke to us then and told us that her family has been having sone difficult times and was getting blessed by the Priest looking for better times in the future - maybe it was looking for a baby?
There are very few tourists around so we stand out in any crowd! Everyone wants to say hello, try to talk to us, have their photo taken and parents love to have their children in our photos - it has truly been very rewarding to see and integrate so much with these communities. Sunder had told us that we should be at the river early for the ceremonies, blessings and to see everyone dressed in their best clothes, especially the ladies in their colourful saris and he was right - no other tourists in sight just us.
There was a large elephant in the middle of the blessings, you could buy food for him and he would take your 20 rupee note in his trunk then give you a blessing by patting you on your head three times! You know I don't agree with any elephant being kept captive and not being free to roam in the wild, I could only justify giving the money so that I hoped the elephant would be well looked after. In the river and on the banks, the folks who had been blessed or brought their lived one's ashes were in the water and giving up the ashes and flowers to float away down the river. Many washed their saris, shirts or sarongs in the river - all to be cleansed and blessed. Often just one or two people together, sometimes large groups of 20 to 50 people - I guess all depending on who the ashes belonged to or what the blessing was for. it was interesting to see all these people standing on the sand or in the water beyond the signs that warned about the danger of quick sand here!
Next we crossed the River Cauvery to visit the Vishnal Temple in Srinangam built in 7 walls, 4 surrounding the temple and 3 for the outer walls. The temple was built in the 13th and 16th centuries - all the beautiful sand stone temples which we now see so brightly painted in multiple colours like blue, purple, pink - and apparently this painting only started 9 years ago! This temple is set in 156 acres and has 21 towers. Off came our shoes and were left with a shop owner while we wandered this huge complex which is currently under massive reconstruction by the City government, whereas the amazing Big Temple which we saw in Thanjavaur yesterday is maintained by the State Archeological Department which explains what great shape it is in.
There were lots of folks here all dressed in their best and we saw the large Anandra Sayana - Happy Lying Down statue over the entrance and inside. Not being Hindi we are unable to enter the inner sanctum of most temples, but Shanti (from Toronto, originally from Guyana - on the tour with us) is Hindi so she entered this temple today with our guide Sunder. We again had many interactions with the locals , and saw another elephant with gold painted head and ears right inside one of the Temple courtyards - a large sand lined area for him to stand in - I was glad to see him being led away after a short time, but again I know it would be to a small area not the wild open ranges where he should be living.
Our last stop here today was at the Rock Fort Temple which we had seen from many vantage points this morning since it stands on top of a huge rock jutting up out of the plain below. At the very top is the ancient temple dedicated to Ganapati. We walked up the 250 steps inside covered walls and ceiling - and then the last 150 steps are in the sun outside and we started but just about fried our feet since again you have to be bare foot and as soon as we reached the outside stones they were very hot! The locals walk barefoot so much they must have much thicker skin on the soles of their feet than we have on ours! This was not going to be a walk to the very top (where we could not go inside the temple in any case) but we felt quite satisfied achieving what we had - a very eventful and rewarding morning.
We managed to find a bank ATM with CIRRUS capability (back by the Cauvery River) that took CIRRUS so we could get some more rupees - since arriving in Chennai India on Sunday evening every ATM we have tried was not Cirrus and between not working, network down, and "no more than 40 notes will be given" we needed more funds!! It was an uneventful drive back to Thanjavaur (uneventful meaning we weren't hit, we didn't hit anyone, and no animals were killed in this drive).
On arrival we went to a very busy local vegetarian restaurant SRI KRISHNA BHAVAN for lunch which was excellent! This was less than a 5 minute walk from our own hotel, the SANGAM. We shared a stuffed parotta (kind of like unleavened roti) and a stuffed roti (like an unleavened parotta ) - both excellent, a papadam (replaces the urge for salty chips) and some of Shanti's vegetable curry - all simply excellent! On our way out we bought candy from the front counter - a sort of very soft caramel with nuts - 36 rupees (about 75 cents) for 100gms. The locals were pouring in here to eat, and many ordered what was a special full dinner - served on a large plastic or metal plate (about 16 inches across) with many different chutneys and sauces, huge amounts of rice, papadams and curry all for 150 rupees about $3. It is very obvious that prices in the local restaurants are very much cheaper (and better in most cases) than the tourist resorts, hotels, and restaurants.
Our last stop for today was the Tanjore Palace & Museum. This was once a Place for a dynasty and must have been hugely impressive when built with wonderful and grand archways, pillars and halls. Today it is so sad to see how it is not maintained and is in very sorry shape but the original bones of the buildings still in evidence. The statues and figurines from the last 11 centuries are splendid and very enjoyable to compare one character and the representation over the centuries. Back at the SANGAM hotel it was time to cool down, get refreshed and catch up with laundry - another amazing and very experiential day and tomorrow we leave and head South to the city of Madurai - rumour has it we may stop to see a place where many saris are woven - just my cup of tea!
Thursday April 9, 2015 THANJAVAUR to MADURAI (185km/4 to 5 hours)
9 Chaiitra (roughly equivalent to April 9) is the 9th day of the Hindu month Chaitra and a HINDU Holy day.
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