We left Paradise Resort after breakfast
and headed for Chidambaram which is en route to Pondicherry. Our
main aim was to take a Mangrove Boat tour but Joshy wanted us to
visit another temple before that.
and a resting place for 'fallen idols' tucked away behind the scenes. I guess these will be restored/replaced at some stage
Cattle Egrets and little herons were the only birds we saw
Our 'driver' rowed across the wide stretches of waterway then punted or pulled us along by using the aerial roots of the trees when in the narrow bits
Tarzan and Jane!!
We went straight to our hotel (which was dreadful, but enough of that - full details will be on Trip Advisor). Joshy had wanted us to visit a nearby temple first but we told him we'd look at it later when we explored the town after a little rest.
In the event we didn't go out till 7pm ... the town was bustling and very, very noisy - a real assault on all the senses. It was interesting but we we looking for somewhere to eat so didn't linger ... I didn't take the camera with me.
We settled on a restaurant which looked very clean and bright. The locals were all opting for the 'menu of the day' which involved a couple of trays of assorted dishes and breads. Not really knowing what they were we played safe and ordered a vegetable Dopiaza and a paneer (cheese) and potato dish with jeera (cumin) rice and a naan bread. The food was fantastic but, try as we might, we can't eat with our fingers (right hand only) like the locals. We're OK when there is bread that we can kind of pinch together around a bit of curry but when it comes to picking up rice/curry without dropping it all down our fronts we fail dismally. We asked for cutlery which caused consternation but the lovely manager came out with a couple of spoons to help us out of our predicament and spare our blushes.
The meal was fab and, including bottled water, was around £4.70 for the both of us. !!
The temple was nice enough –
beautifully maintained and, in fact the grass was being mowed in the
gardens when we got there. We didn't go into the inner sanctum as
there was obviously some sort of ceremony taking place but we
wandered around the outside for half an hour and took a few pictures.
Another statue of the ever-faithful/vigilant Nandi
I'm not sure what this statue represents (one of the drawbacks of not travelling with a guide .... but I think the advantages outweigh the drawbacks for us as we have freedom to wander)
David, dwarfed by one of the smaller sections of the temple building
Line-up of stone statues
and a resting place for 'fallen idols' tucked away behind the scenes. I guess these will be restored/replaced at some stage
Couldn't resist the parakeets …. they always seem to be in pairs and these wonderful stone temples offer them lots of nooks and crannies to nest in
Then on to the Mangrove Swamp.
We'd expected to see more birds on the swamp/backwaters but soon reliased this wasn't to be. The trees are all 'rubber plant' types which aren't really attractive to birds. However we had a lovely peaceful 2 hours being rowed around.
We'd expected to see more birds on the swamp/backwaters but soon reliased this wasn't to be. The trees are all 'rubber plant' types which aren't really attractive to birds. However we had a lovely peaceful 2 hours being rowed around.
We
had read online that the trip could be boring unless you slip the
'driver' a cash incentive so he takes you into the really narrow
waterways where the motorised boats can't go (nor the row boats with customers who
don't pay the extra fee). As the temperatures were in the 30s and
we had to wear bulky orange lifejackets we were happy to head into
the cool shade of the mangroves
David looking very fetching in his designer orange life jacket
Our 'driver' rowed across the wide stretches of waterway then punted or pulled us along by using the aerial roots of the trees when in the narrow bits
Tarzan and Jane!!
We went straight to our hotel (which was dreadful, but enough of that - full details will be on Trip Advisor). Joshy had wanted us to visit a nearby temple first but we told him we'd look at it later when we explored the town after a little rest.
In the event we didn't go out till 7pm ... the town was bustling and very, very noisy - a real assault on all the senses. It was interesting but we we looking for somewhere to eat so didn't linger ... I didn't take the camera with me.
We settled on a restaurant which looked very clean and bright. The locals were all opting for the 'menu of the day' which involved a couple of trays of assorted dishes and breads. Not really knowing what they were we played safe and ordered a vegetable Dopiaza and a paneer (cheese) and potato dish with jeera (cumin) rice and a naan bread. The food was fantastic but, try as we might, we can't eat with our fingers (right hand only) like the locals. We're OK when there is bread that we can kind of pinch together around a bit of curry but when it comes to picking up rice/curry without dropping it all down our fronts we fail dismally. We asked for cutlery which caused consternation but the lovely manager came out with a couple of spoons to help us out of our predicament and spare our blushes.
The meal was fab and, including bottled water, was around £4.70 for the both of us. !!
Too bad you didn't see more birds but the Mangrove Boat Tour looks very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe food sounds good too - I would fail at eating without utensils though!
I can see why you're templed out but the statue of Nandi is lovely, he has such a kindly face unlike the scary one which looks like it could be a lion and not a very friendly one at that! We had a similar thing when we did our lake safari in Costa Rica, had hoped to see many different birds but really only saw egrets etc. Wow, the cost of that meal is crazy, sounds good though. Any chance you could get some piccies next time?
ReplyDelete