Tanjore
Tanjore was but a short hop up the road from trichy. It is however a goodbit off the beaten track and doesn’t attract that many western travellers, infact no where I have been since Varkala have I seen more than a handful of fellow pink skinned people. As a result there are no kind of ‘western style’ catering. So for 7 days I had to eat with and like locals.
Their meals are quite simple – for breakfast they have either idyls which are rice dumplings that come served with a light curry sauce or they have a dosa which is a lentil pancake with the same curry sauce or what they call gravy. For lunch/dinner you can only get a thali which basically just means Meal. I really like these meals, every restaurant does them differently and when they see a western guy like me walk in they are very eager and forthcoming with how to eat it. Basically you are given a large Banana Leaf which you need to wash down. They then put a massive scoop of rice into the middle then surround the rice with different vegtable curries or chutneys. Like every classic 1980s action movie the bad spicy stuff is in black and the good guy white stuff is what you consume last just in the nick of time before your lips explode. It is all topped off with a popadom and a cup of chai. For the evening meal you are back in dosa land, they are really nice. My favourite is the Paneer Dosa which is the pancake stuffed with paneer which is an unfermented goats cheese – it is also laced with chillis. I had one in trichy the other day that nearly blew my head off – delicious stuff!!! The best thing I am sure you can imagine about all of this is the price. A full meal has never cost more than 50 rupees and thats with a bottle of water. Thats about 80-90 cents.
Tanjore is a much smaller place than trichy and madurai. It felt more like a little village. It is quite famous though throughtout india first and foremost for the local temple which has world heritage status but it was also a focal point for the british administration when they ruled the roost 60 odd years ago. Again I stayed right beside the bus stand in a really nice hotel that was very cheap thankfully. 
The temple , known locally as the ‘The Big Temple’, bet they had several commitee meetings to come up with that name, is phenomenal. By far and away the most impressive structure I have seen in india so far. It amazes me that people go to just madurai and not to places like here and trichy.
The sheer size
of the place is the first thing that hits you, its massive. Its made completely out of sandstone so it doesn’t have the same childish colour scheme that the temple in madurai had. I was lucky to be able to spend 2 or 3 hours in the complex itself, several times locals would come up and ask for a picture. I had to take the portrait of an entire dynasty at one stage, must have been about 30 of them in the picture. As soon as it was taken they all rush in a complete frenzy to have a look at the results. The men are always proud of how they appear but the women tend to look through their hands at their pictures like they way you would look at the climatic scene of a bad horror movie, they are incredibly self concious.
When the sun goes down the light goes away very quickly so its always a good idea to make it back to the digs as the street lighting here ins’t the may west. So off I went back to the nice hotel and ESPN. Tomorrow I must find away to get to Pondicherry which the guidebook tells me is a little bit of france in the middle of india – sounds intruiging.
later,
Phil
Having some issues with photos at the moment – they should be coming soon!!
Tags: India, India, Tamil Nadu
Phil Gill
Hey P
Finally found the blog, dunno what I was doing wrong but there you go, never was the sharpest tool in the technical/mechanical/I.T. box
Sounds like youre having a ball, its certainly been a nice bit of escapism for this friday afternoon for me
All fine at home, youre not missing anything anyway……………
Where are the pictures? Thyre probably up in front of me but I cant see them!
Take care anyway and keep us posted
Bredax
Hi Phil,
Siobhan here just showing MAm and Dad your site and reading all about your travels. I cant access this in work so only get a chnace to check it at home. Sound like your having a ball and so intresting to read all about it.
Mam says she envies you and Dad said hes delighted to see your getting on well and good to keep up to date on your “Blog”. A word he just learned today!
Take care and mind yourself and will keep in touch more often!
Slan go foill,
Siobhan, Paddy & Pauline