NOVEMBER 9 HAPPY DIWALI!!

Last night after dinner, we were driven to the local large temple called Meenakshi Amman Temple.  It's name is a local one for Shiva's consort Pavarti.  Meen means fish eyes and akshi means control.  Last night's ceremony in the temple involved taking the statue of Shiva from his position in the sanctum sanctorum.  His statue is carried around in a palanquin around the temple centre.  Eventually they stop at the walk way to Meenakshi's bed chamber.  He is ceremonially given an ablution of water and lotus flowers.  Eventually they bring his statue to a swing where he and Pavarti spend a lovely evening.  He is returned to the sanctum santorum the next morning at 4.  Before we could enter the temple we had to take off our shoes and socks.  We weren't permitted to bring a camera, but we could bring a cell phone.  Unfortunately, I didn't know that for the first ceremony.  It was fascinating, and the temple is beautiful inside and out.

This morning we didn't have much to do.  We had a relaxing breakfast and read a bit.  After a time, we decided to take a stroll into a bit of town.  Hot and humid, though it was, it was a fascinating walk.

The cow was on a stroll too

Bicycle truck

Another cow, this one resting on the corner

There are fireworks places all over. During the day, this one just looks like a fireworks stand.  At night it's lit up and music is blaring.

Our room guy is another origami towel expert!

The hotel has lights all over it tonight for Diwali, also called the Festival of lights.

At 3 this afternoon, we go picked up and went to the palace in town.  Tirumalai Nayak Palace.  It was built by Italians from Venice with Indian and Islamic influences.  Quite grand, it was an amazing place for the king.  His son, however, was told by his astrologer that the place was a bad omen, and his son tore most of it down.  The British used the dance hall in the place as a court, and took the peacock throne to London and put it on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  Strange history and sad ending to a once grand place.

Main hall of the palace

Detail of facade

Facade of the dance hall, later used by the British as a court.  The creatures with the snaggly teeth and muppet ears are called Yoni.

The Dance Hall

View through the columns of the main hall

As we drove from the palace to the temple we passed a night vegetable market.  Some people had actual stalls, some just laid their wares on the street

This man was a fortune teller.  He had a parrot in the box.  The parrot would come out and pick up a card with a god's face on it.  That would determine your future.  The man himself was completely blind. So it was the bird who was the fortune teller, I guess.

View of temple tower from nearby shop roof

Details

More details

night market on the way back to the hotel

After the palace we went back to the Meenakshi Amman Temple for a daytime outside look with cameras.  I had my cell phone with me this time.

A little shopping, then we went into the Temple - same no socks and shoes and no cameras - for a ceremony that involved walking an actual elephant and a Nandy (a bull replica) around the center of the temple.  There is an actual bull that sometimes walks around, but he wasn't feeling too well.

Back to the hotel for a pizza dinner - eaten to the sounds of a zillion firecrackers and fireworks.  Diwali is in full session.  Good grief, it's got 3 more days to go.  I guess on Friday, they just blow the place up.

NOVEMBER 8 KUMARAKOM TO MADURAI

We had to leave this morning by 8.  In order to do that we had to get out of the room, check out, and eat breakfast.   We are frenetic, so we had lots of time.

Another kingfisher.  This one just sat on the lawn and posed.  It's a little hard to tell how big they are from the photo - it's about 18 inches tall.

Driving in India has a pattern.  I'm just glad I'm not doing the driving.  On the highway are trucks, buses, tuk tuks, motorcycles, pedestrians, and, of course, cars.  All vehicles seem to be anywhere to the left of the road.  If you want to pass, you honk your horn.  If you are about to be passed, you honk your horn.  If you are worried that someone is about to hit you, or you are about to be hit, you honk your horn.  It's a loud process.  When you are going to pass someone you pull to the right (they have left hand drive here-a la England).  A lot of honking ensues.  If an oncoming car seems to be closing in, you pull back and wait for another chance.  To say the least, it's not very relaxing either for driver or passengers.  We drove straight through to Madurai and got here about 1:15.  By the time we checked in, got our room, and kind of settled it was 2.

Below are photos that we took on the drive.  The areas that we have visited so far have been rather flat.  The hill that the palace stood on in Hyderabad really wasn't that tall.  On our drive today we went through much higher mountains than we've seen so far.

The blue plastic bags are covering collections of rubber from the trees. It had been raining, so the plastic was protecting the product

Mountain view from the road

We stopped to admire a waterfall

A tea plantation

A closer look at the tea bushes

Another view of the tea bushes

The bar behind the stop sign behind the walkers is the border between Kerala and Tamilnadu.  Seemed overly formal until we went through.  No ceremony - no stop - just a bar

The man in the photo is making banana chips.  I really dislike bananas, but these were pretty good.  They really tasted like potato chips.

More beautiful scenery

It was Sunday, a holiday for most people, and the beginning of Diwali, a very big deal holiday for the Indians.  It goes on for 5 days.  Apparently it is also celebrated in Sri Lanka, so we won't miss the end.

This store was like a combo of Disneyland and Macy's at Union Square

We ate in the cafe here. OK.  Tonight at 8 we have a temple visit.  I'll write more about that later.  The internet is quite slow, so we're in the lobby hoping for the best.

NOVEMBER 7 BOAT RIDE AROUND THE LAKE AND WATERWAYS.

Today was extremely relaxing.  We got up, had breakfast, sent some laundry out to be done, and sat around all morning.  Lovely.  We tried to do laundry in the sink at the beginning of our trip (our usual approach for long trips). The trouble here is that it is so humid our wash began to smell like mould, and never seemed to dry.  This can't be good for you.  The hotels here don't charge too much to do laundry, and the heat and humidity require upkeep of one's clothing.  The photos below are from our walk after breakfast

A Kingfisher close up.  He didn't seem to mind being photographed.  When they take off, their underside is white.

Charlie on one of the little bridges in the resort.

Some house boats seen from the resort.

This gorgeous little bird is coloured spectacularly.  He's iridescent blue, with a bright red chest

Our maid at the resort is an expert towel origami artist!  The piggy's eyes are little pieces of leaf.  I wish I could take him home!

At noon we walked over to the houseboat for our lunch and ride around the lake Vembanad.  The lake itself is the second largest in India.  From the lake are a number of smaller waterways called Thanneermukkam bund which keep the sea water out.  The houses along these waterways are extremely close to the water and the captain of our boat said any extra rain would flood them.  Right behind the bund are rice fields.  Charlie and I imagined that the waterways would be remote and far from human activity.  Very wrong.  Every waterway was filled with houses, people going about their daily activities, and shops.  On board Charlie and I had a bedroom and bathroom.  I guess we could have slept after lunch.  There were two cabins on the boat.  There was a hall way from the main "entrance" and the cabins were off to one side - kind of like a train.  We spent our time in the front watching the trip.

 Below are photos of the ride on the lake and through the bund

The houseboats have a large bottom shaped like a rounded canoe.  Coconut thatching is attached to a frame affixed to the bottom and tied with coconut rope.  The photo above shows another houseboat similar to ours.  The rear of the boat had the kitchen.

Cormorants filling a coconut tree

Vine covered something - The figures look like they belong in an episode of Supernatural

Lunch on the boat - prawn curry, chicken curry, rice, chapatis, and dessert pastries.  It was delicious

Rice paddies seen beyond the bund wall

The long boat in the back is a Snake Boat.  Over ninety guys sit on the boat and paddle through a race of these things

The row boat is filled with bags of rice

Dishes and clothes get washed in the water

Getting from one side of the waterway to another

A shop

Rice paddies beyond the bund - there were sandbags along it to keep the paddies from over-flooding

What the bund looked like from the boat

We weren't the only houseboat out there

This floating dispensary went passed us

Cooking with crows.  The hotels have netting and strings to keep these very aggressive birds at bay

The front of our boat as seen from the dining area.

We got back around 4:30.  I took a shower, which as I mentioned is outside, with claps of thunder roiling around.  Never had a shower with thunder before.

We're both too full for a real dinner - we'll get a snack.  Tomorrow morning we leave at 8 AM for Madurai.  It's an 8 hour drive.