Trishy 30th Jan – 1st Feb 2005

Trishy is another temple town north east of Madurai, we arrive early afternoon on the 30th, check in to a barely passable guesthouse (the TV swung it) and proceed to do nothing much for the rest of the day. Its amazing how easy it is to pass time when you have 90 channels of trash TV.

The following day we get up early and arrange for a rickshaw driver to take us to the towns three main attractions (all temples)

The first temple complex is huge and quite impressive. Inside the complex there were thousands of people. Many of them sleeping on the floor (strange!), there was also the familiar array of tacky souvenir stalls that for some reason are allowed to set up within the grounds of even the most sacred of Indian sights. Once we had negotiated our way past the people and the stalls we then had to fend off the onslaught of unofficial guides after our cash. Having got past all the hurdles we were then able to look around relatively hassle free. The temple was quite impressive and colorful, I managed to get some good snaps.

When we left the temple we found our driver asleep in the back of the rickshaw. We got a few photo’s of him before giving the rickshaw a shake to wake him up. By this time quite a crowd had gathered and when he woke up the poor guy was quite dazed and confused.

The second temple was closed. Doh! And the third was a bit cr*p but was on the top of a huge rocky hill with great views. To get to it meant climbing about 1000 steps which in the heat of the day was quite tiring. In a typical Indian 'job creation' there was a ticket checker on every landing of the steps. Each had to tear a piece of the ticket off. By the time we arrived at the top of the hill there was almost nothing left of the ticket. It really makes no sense what so ever. There is one entrance with a barrier and a ticket counter. No-one could possible get in without a ticket and yet someone in their wisdom finds it necessary to have about 10 people checking tickets.

Later that day I saw the blind leading the blind. Literally! An old couple both with white stick were trying to guide each other through the chaos of the city’s traffic. I know its cruel but it really was quite funny. Only in India would you see the blind leading the blind.