A Day in Tanjore/Thanjavur
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2008
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34
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Trip End
Aug 22, 2008
Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The journey went smoothly - the road is currently being upgraded so I am sure that the journey will be even faster in a few months.
The palace itself was nothing to write home about - with "magnificant Dunbar Hall" (as stated by the lonely planet) was a small stage with painted carvings on the wall and paintings.
The Brihadishwara temple was a lovely place. Mainly because there were no white people and therefore many people in the temple came up and said hello and wanted their pictures taken and also because the temple did not ask for 1 pound/50 rps to use a camera like all the other tourist sites. Always feel bad that locals want to put thier babies in my arms and take a photo and when they do the baby really starts crying... guess I am a big bad scary white monster!!!
It was a pleasure to walk around. I was even invited into a temple by a priest/guru to be blessed with long life - so i ended up walking around with a white dot on my head for the rest of the day! The temple itself was actually very large. It is never a pleasure to have to hot foot it from one bit of carpet or shade until the next with bare feet in the scorching hot sun , when the floor is baking. Always makes me think of the people who do actually walk over hot coals, when I can't even walk on hot stones. The locals just look at me like I am insane when I am running around saying ouch everywhere!
One thing that was funny (to me at the time, but mostly to the girls that asked and feel about laughing) was that there was a 25 tonne bull in the temple called Nandi and when I was asked my name they misheard and thought I was also called Nandi.
