Amutham Hotel Tiruchirappalli

... a landscape painting of pristine beauty. Churches and Hindu temples called the believers to prayer in their own way. <br><br>And through this all, with the wind tearing at our hair and sunglasses, we watched in awe at the faces that seemed so much less than beautiful, ravaged by hard work and hardships, and yet this made them attractive in a very different sense of the term. They looked back at us with just the same curiosity that we began to feel self conscious. . <br><br>We were ...

... itself and all the locals were shouting something that sounded like &#8216;goinda&#8217; &#8211; a term that praised the Lord V and shows how consumed they are by his presence. The pretty reasonable queues had now merged into a central queue for the inner sanctum. Pushing and surging had now reached dangerous proportions as children started to cry with fear of being lost or crushed. I screamed at some to stand back for the little ones (6-7yrs), as we turned to climb the ...

... a visit here - to visit the Sri Aurobindho Ashram. this incredibly popular ashram (spiritual retreat/community) was set up in 1926 by Sri himself and &#8216;The Mother&#8217; - a Frenchwoman. Their teachings focus on a fusion of modern scientific and yoga - appealing to many locals and followers worldwide.<br><br>At 7.55am I was standing in a frontal courtyard absolutely full of stunning plants flowers and shrubs, framed by trees and other vegetation. Precise, neat and very clean, the ...

... when he suggested we took a bus, "safer that way". Despite his confession that he&#8217;d never actually been inside this temple before I was right to trust him, we had a lot of fun and he even got me on the bus to Kanyakamuri in time. <br>My gut was also correct in the cleanliness surrounding the hotel when a cat sized rat ran over my foot- still sends shivers down my spine!<br>

... a chai with the a crew of painters and the people who were selling various things from toy bears clanging cymbols together and fairy floss to plastic princess crowns and faux Dolce &amp; Gabbana belts. The temples are perched high up on a massive rocky outcrop and you are required to walk up many steps to reach the summit temple which i was happy to find out is dedicated to Ganesha. The elephant man seems to be showing up for me quite alot lately ...

Der Plan fuer heute war dann, erstmal mit dem Bus nach Villupuram zu fahren und dort in den Bus nach Trichy umzusteigen. Eigentlich wollten wir direkt fahren, aber der Bus fur leider nur frueh morgens, oder spaet abends. Nach einer guten Stunde waren wir dann in Villupuram und konnten in den 'Super Deluxe Bus' nach Trichy umsteigen. Eigentlich heisst der Ort Tiruchirapalli, aber die ganzen suedindischen Namen kann sich kein Mensch merken, also ...

... 2nd Century. The people are beyond kind and friendly, I had heard such bad things about Indian people from other travelers, but I have found them to be the nicest people on the trip. However, the north is supposed to be a lot more confrontational in nature, so I shall reserve my judgment. Numerous seasonal workers from Nepal and Kashmir work the tourist towns, I find it odd that they can't find these workers in their own country. We decided against renting ...

... labourers warmly welcomed us with big smiles. Later that night, Prema informed us that a tiger had seized their calf. She was obviously most distraught.<br><br> <br><br> The next morning, Ramesh called to say that the tiger and dead calf were on a grassy clearing in the small hillock opposite their camp. He said everyone at the camp had seen it and wanted us to see it as well. By this time, we had already set off in a different ...

... a very long day, I am ready to go to bed!   Tomorrow is our first day at our organization, and I am so excited to get started on our project. Also, Amy Butler (the social work professor) is allowing me, Allison, Melanie, and Aimee- ( we're roommates) to look into a weekend trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. She told us we can go if we keep it to ourselves, and admits some of the weekend day trips that are planned for us will be pretty lame. Aimee has a travel agent ...

Here we visit the Rock Fort Temple. We stayed in a decent hotel for two nights after slumming it in Thanjavur. The town doesn't really ofer much other than its temples. When we were at Rock Fort Temple a local slapped Cally on the backside, the guards quickly caught the man and brought him back to apologise in front of a crowd of scolding locals. We are happy to report this public shaming brought tears to his eyes.