Trichy
I left madurai on the second of january, grabbed a public bus (yes one of those buses) to a town called trichy which is about 120 km north of madurai. I had the option of going to a place called Kodaikanal which is the only hill station in india that was built by americans, but the logistics of getting there and back didn’t sound too appealing so I decided to keep on going north.
Trichy is another temple town – the temple here is known as the Rock Fort Temple and was meant to be worth a visit. So I figured I would give it one night. I booked into a hotel just across the road from the bus stand, figured it would be a good for a quick getaway the following day. Trouble with that is it left me with a pretty long walk to get to the temple itself. I prob should’ve just gotten a rickshaw but figured I could’ve done with the exercise.
The temple itself according to the guidebook stands ontop of a 90 metre rock that stands clear of the surrounding area so I figured that should be easy to find in a small town like this. Took me ages to find it, the heat was something serious and the streets were pretty tight together. I eventually made it up to the main bazaare area at about 5 o’clock so I had 50 minutes left of daylight to get to the top of the temple and watch the sunset over the city. Trichy is a great little town, really really busy and people don’t hassle you. There are tonnes of shops and everywhere you look it seems to be an open air market. I eventually found the entrance to the rock temple, its guard dog – a massive elephant. I deposited my sandles (As is customary practice in every temple) at the door and made my way up the steps. I had thought that the rule about having to walk barefoot was aimed at keeping the place clean but its actually meant to get your feet dirty with temple dirt which isn’t something you should dwell on for too long. My feet were in bits by the time I got up to the top but it was worth it. I managed to sneak into the hindu only temple at the very pinnacle of the monument to watch the last 20 minutes of the sun set. It was a fabulous sight.
After a while I made my way back to the hotel to plan my trip up the road to Tanjore.
Tags: India, India, Tamil Nadu
Phil Gill
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