Saturday 17 December 2011

From Trichy to Thanjuvore in an hour - just ...

So there was only one site to see in Trichy: the temple in Sri Ragham, however, this is a rather large, colourful and stunning temple or should I say there are about 21 of them!!! They are all gateways leading into the main golden temple in the middle, which unfortunately I was not allowed in to seeing as I am not a Hindu - well not at the moment, (only joking mum and dad!!). So we looked around as much as we could before passing out in the heat then made our way back to the hotel via domino pizzas for lunch!
Well actually there are really two sites to go and see, the second one is The Rock Temple which is ... a large temple sat on a very very very large mound of rocks. To be more precise, one has to climb approx 320 steps to reach it. Now I know I have been leaping out of my comfort zone with regard to walking and climbing out here, but I do have a limit,. Plus yet again, we wouldn't be allowed into the temple seeing as we are not Hindus. So, it was unanimously agreed that Domino Pizza had the winning vote!
That night was our last in Trichy and I didn't manage to get to sleep til quite late as I got caught up watching a very educational film on the TV - The Terminator - so you can imagine how unimpressed I was to be woken up by the phone at 7am only to find out that it was receptionist asking us something that I had no understanding of through his thick accent. So I very calmly informed the nice gentleman that we were not being picked up until 10 30am, we were asleep and could he leave us alone: "Very well madam" was the response.
And so we went to check out at 10am only to find out that seeing as we hadn't checked out at 7am and we had originally checked in at '5am' they were going to charge us for an extra night!!! This time Claudine wasn't the only one to lose it!! I was red head surviving on lack of sleep and food and wanting to get the hell out of Trichy ... we informed the receptionist that under no circumstances were we paying for our first night there, seeing as we had spent it on the sofa in the lobby because the Security Guard couldn't be woken up!! We also reminded him that considering we had been booked into a deluxe room, we had to change it as the sheets were torn and the bathroom was filthy! Claudine demanded to have the managers phone number while I informed the receptionist that we would be writing about the whole affair on 'Trip Advisor' - Claudine added in "and the Indian Tourist Board!!'' (I was tempted to point out that I was deeply offended by the Security Guards flatulence and would recommend he take a good dose of pepto bismal, but thought that may be taking it a bit too far). Anyway, the upshot was he deducted the charge for that night and we went outside to wait for our taxi driver to take us to Thanjuvore.
It was quite awkward  as the car drew up and we realised our driver was in fact the receptionist that we had just given a major bollocking too! Oh well, it meant that for the hour or so journey, he had his radio turned up full blast on some kind of Indian chat show.
We got to the hotel in Thanjuvore and were immediately taken up to our room for an inspection. Claude walked into the bathroom and very calmly stepped out, look at me and quietly said: 'I think you should take a look at the toilet'. I walked in cautiously expecting to see a dead rat floating in it, but it was so much worse, for there in the left hand side of the bathroom was ... an Indian squat toilet!!! I looked at Claudine, who by this point was already complaining of an upset stomach. And we both turned to the housekeeper and in unison exclaimed: 'Sorry, we can't use those, do you have a room with a normal, er western toilet?' Thank goodness they did!!!!
We settled into the room and went out for lunch ... there was even less on offer than in Trichy! But we found the one good restaurant recommended by the hotel rather than their own - filled ourselves with Chinese noodles and went in search of 'The Big Temple'.
It was absolutely stunning!!! Yet again more than one building and the carvings in the stone of all the gods, goddesses and their worshipers was so perfect.
We tried to walk around at a slow pace, taking in the magnificence and feel of the whole place, but unfortunately where ever we turned there were Indian people trying to get sneaky photographs of us - 'The Whities' , honestly it was like being chased by the paparazzi!! Some thought they were being really subtle as one person would casually stroll close to us and make out he was posing for the picture near a statue, when you could quite blatantly see his friend was trying to get us in the shot!
We ended up having to run off, whilst they followed in hot pursuit videoing us from behind!!!
Finally we escaped and made our way back to the hotel via a very posh hotel that we had found, where we treated ourselves to a slap up meal.
This morning I woke up to find Claudine running to the loo for the third time, Dehli Belly has struck again!!! And I have to say, my stomach wasn't great either, but I am putting that down to the little 'scooby snack' I had yesterday afternoon which consisted of: a pack of fruit mentoes, a bag of cheesy puffs, half a bag of strawberry chews, a small packet of chocolate bourbons and half a litre of grape flavoured water ...
Nor did it help at breakfast when we both decided that the full Indian was probably not the best thing, so I had scrambled eggs and I am sure they were made with sugar!!!!
This afternoon, we gathered our strength together and walked over to the palace grounds, again a magnificent building, but most of it is now used as a library and museum where you can find some of the oldest Sanskrit texts, written in tiny handwriting on palm leaves. Mind you I have to say I was rather engrossed in the sketchings on Chinese torture that was offered at that time, one method being squeezing lemon into the prisoners eyes!
Eventually, we decided as it was 4pm, that we prob should think about food - again - and decided the best thing was to go back to the posh hotel (The Sangham) for a late lunch and the fact that their toilets were clean and smelled of flowers! So we hailed a rickshaw driver and agreed a price and off we went.
He asked us where we were from and after we told him England he exclaimed: "Oh really!!! I am a Catholic, see" and duly pointed to the stickers of Jesus stuck on his windscreen.
We smiled politely then 'Oohed and aahed' but then he shouted out what about you are you? I couldn't be bothered to go into the whole chat about being Jewish but not really practising anything, so I just muttered 'Yes' and the next thing we knew, he had pulled up outside his church and was asking us to go inside for a look and donate money for something to do with Jesus?! Eventually, he understood: 'No thank you, we feel sick, we would like to go to eat'. And he hurried over to the lovely Sangham Hotel, parked outside then asked us if would like any Marijuana to help us feel less sick and then he would take us shopping?!
We said our goodbyes and ran off to the dining room.
Tomorrow, all being well, we should be getting a 10am train to Pondicherry - once ruled by the French and still influenced from that time - where we have fantasized about eating croissants and baguettes. So fingers crossed; they are not curry flavoured!!!!

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