Blogs from Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia
October 12th 2011
All was not Peachy in Trichy 8th-10th October 2011 Found out this morning that Wales beat Ireland to get into the semi-finals of the RWC. Yeah!!!!!!!! Best weekend of sport in a long time but sadly we are missing most of it and defintely no rugby here (and no internet connection either so we are really suffering now!!). We have moved futher south again into a less agricultural, more industrial area which is definitely more prosperous and modern (in parts). We saw Levi and Reebok stores and supermarkets as well as the small roadside stalls and markets here and loads of colleges and university campuses outside the towns all very modern.Presumably land is cheaper and with nowhere to go and nothing to do the students are more inclined to study? On the way we stopped ... read more
May 30th 2011
Tiruchirappalli was the next historical temple town on the list. In a whirlwind visit, I took in the Rockfort Ucchi Pillayar Temple and Thiruvanaikaval. Two amazing temples, the first of which was situated upon what is said to be one of the oldest rocks in the world, dating all the way back to over 3 billion years ago. The amount of history, religious legends, customs and stories that surrounds the city and its temples would take me a degree's worth of study to begin to come to grips with, let alone explain. So I will leave that to a more apt person. On a personal note, Trichy was a pleasure to walk around and the locals were very welcoming, curious and friendly. I feasted on some Indian sweets while there, that I think were unique ... read more
May 7th 2010
Trichy est situé au centre du Tamil Nadu, une ville d’environ 900 000 habitants… Durant notre séjour, nous en avons profité pour visiter deux sites intéressants. Premièrement, nous avons visité un temple qui se nomme Sri Ranganathaswamy. Il est très similaire aux autres temples que nous avons visités auparavant. En ce qui nous concerne, nous n’avons pas tellement aimé la visite due au fait que la presque totalité du temple était fermé au Non-Hindu… Nous avons cependant su apprécier la vue panoramique que nous avons eu d’un point de vue. Le highlight de notre visite a été un temple blanc qui date du 10e siècle… Le deuxième site que nous avons visité est le ‘’Rock Fort Temple’’ qui est littéralement situé au sommet d’une roche immense qui se trouve au centre de la ville. Encore une ... read more
March 11th 2010
Fort & Temple Town Gripped by temple fever we made our way by train this time to another of Tamil Naidu's great holy towns. However we managed to arrive in the middle of wedding season and all the accommodation was full, we spent the afternoon driving round like lunatics to settle on a decidedly average pink room, Liff loved it though. The streets where alive with bling for every aspect of a wedding. This time we found a rock temple...437 steps (hard work in 38') took us through and up a massive 'boulder' sitting like Ayers Rock, to the temples. Some were carved into the rock to create 'caves', some were built on the granite, and the views were stunning. Another beautiful temple elephant guarded the entrance, and devotees offered money, flowers and fruit in return ... read more
Days 8 and 9: A tale of 2 cities
Published: February 26th 2010Asia » India » Tamil Nadu » TiruchirappalliFebruary 25th 2010
To say that Thanjavur (my stop on tuesday to wednesday) and i got on well would be a massive understatement. In truth i hated the place. After the small bustling market town of Kumbakonam where i was shown around by as many locals as possible, Thanjavur was like visting London, no one spoke ( except to ask for/demand money). The heat was horrible. To make matter worse the Hotel Valli upped our agreed phone price from 250 to 370 rupees when i arrived. I left in a huff and proceeded to stagger 1km to my eventual hotel arnu lodge, next to the busy main bazaar. It was loud but ok. Thanjavur has one saving grace, the ancient Brahadishwara Temple. a stunningly carved stone temple dating from the 10th century. I spent a full 4 hours ... read more
God and country - the deep south, part 1
Published: October 4th 2009Asia » India » Tamil Nadu » Tiruchirappalli
October 4th 2009
This blog covers the time approximately Sep 11 - 15. So in the last blog I left off in the train from Mumbai to Chennai. I think I mentioned most of it already, but one thing I forgot to mention is some of the beggars. I don’t know if it was because I travelled sleeper class - the cheapest class where you still get somewhere to lie down - because on the other train rides later I never saw this. Anyway, at every stop there’d be lots of beggars coming through. There was the normal sort you’d expect - old people, children, midgets, people with missing limbs, blind people, etc. The less serious their physical ailments, the more miserable they try to look. It’s part of the game. No-one wants to give money to a beggar ... read more
January 30th 2009
This morning we caught a local bus and headed up to a fort and temple. There is much amusement on buses when Vin insists that he stands for a lady or a child. This just doesn't happen in India. At the temple we met an Indian couple who had emigrated to Canada in 1969 and had recently retired and were touring India. The man described India as ' a noisy, stinking wonderful place' and said that he noticed great change, that there was an optimism and the people were spending money. We were disappointed that we couldn't get into the fort itself but enjoyed walking the streets surrounding it. The houses were kept really well. Both here and in Mamallapuram people draw rangoli, designs wiith powder, outside their doors for luck. Check out the photo. ... read more
January 9th 2009
Moved on to Trichy for 2 nights. Couple things to do here, besides eat. No seriously have had just amazing food here! Anyways the Rock Temple stands alone in the center of the city some 83 m above. Cool views and it even has an elephant at the gate to take rupee coins from you as a blessing! Went on to Temple Town Srirangan. Dedicated to Vishnu, the first gateway or gopuram into the city is 73 m high. The town has seven concentric waled sections and 21 of these gopurams. Life stil goes on as normal here as well. Non-hindus not allowed into final walled section so never saw interior of the gold topped sanctum.... read more
Ungeschmeidig: 24. - 25.SEP 2008 Trichy
Published: September 23rd 2008Asia » India » Tamil Nadu » Tiruchirappalli
September 24th 2008
Nach ca. 4 Stunden kam ich voller Vorfreude in der Tempelhochburg Trichy an. Die Stadt ist zweigeteilt, irgendwie. Die Hotels liegen direkt am Busbahnhof und die Tempel sind ca 2 km weiter noerdlich. Somit habe ich mich schon mal auf ein wenig Laerm eingestellt. Meine Ueberlegung war, dass wenn ich schon am Bahnhof naechtigen muss, sollte es zumindest einigermassen gemuetlich sein und ich wollte gerne ein paar Rupies mehr ausgeben. Somit schlenderte ich in ein Hotel das sehr schikk aussah, fuellte an der Rezeption schon alle notwenigen Paiere aus und freute mich. 1. Fehler: Zuerst Zimmer anschauen und dann ausfuellen. Nachdem ich das Zimmer betrat war klar, dass es den Preis in keiner Form gerechtfertigt.... und dann sah ich schmutzige Laken. Fertig war das schikke Hotel. Ich zog weiter. Doch schon einigermassen durchnaesst, man vergesse die ... read more
A Beautiful Union, Hindu-Style
Published: September 1st 2007Asia » India » Tamil Nadu » Tiruchirappalli
August 28th 2007
After an extremely fitfull afternoon and evening of sleep, I awoke early at 6am and started a routine with the hopes of improving my stay here in India. While there have been enjoyable outings and warm company, I have been decidedly ill-at-ease since falling sick and must make a conscious decision from here on in to do everything in my power to be happy and have a good time. I think that if I am able to give my body what it needs, hopefully my mind, and heart, will follow suit. This decided, I began a yoga and stretching regiment and felt much better and more present as a result. Today, being the last day before the wedding festivities begin, we went to Style Queen Uma's Ladies Beauty Clinic for Abi to have a test-run for ... read more
