Friday night's basketball match didn't happen, they must have been scared off when they saw how powerful our team looked! Instead we went on a trip into Vriddichalum to look at the temple and were treated to an amazing experience. We went right into the inner sanctum which is normally reserved for Hindus only, and witnessed the rituals they performed there this included our bus driver confessing his sins (if you have ever been on an Indian bus you would understand).
We spent Saturday playing with the children in the orphanage, planning lessons and doing washing. Liam had a particularly expensive and unpleasant experience when on returning to the home late on Sunday night after a rather blustery evening his Jack Wills boxers and two t-shirts had been blown off the washing line where he had lovingly placed them, into the next district!
The children in the orphanage loved all the gifts and toys we brought them and the pleasure it gave them really made it worth while bringing them all out here.
On Saturday night some of the group went with Raja to buy a new fridge for Victoria the cook. This was a good opportunity to look round the bazaar and purchase some much needed sugar fixes and taste the delicious cardamon tea. On the way back we stopped to look at one of the largest open cast mines in the world until we were shooed away by men with guns!
Sunday was an early start for a day looking at historic temples. Our first stop was at Chidambaram which celebrates Shiva as a dancer off the universe. The temple has a hall of a thousand pillars but in fact there are only 999 and is dedicated to Shiva as Nataraja which means lord of the dance. We dipped our toes in the temple tank which is full of mud fish and supposed to cure all ailments. Next stop was lunch were we enjoyed some southern Indian cuisine and service and two hours later we resumed our journey. The highlight of the trip was a visit to Tanjore which boasts the Brihadishwara Temple and Fort which was built at around the same time as Norman the Conqueror was attacking England and is a national heritage site and absolutely amazing. We caused quite a stir ourselves as white skin westerners and were photographed almost as much as the beautiful buildings by the Indian tourists. We were on the bus with open doors and windows (most refreshing in the heat) for about 9 hours in total but it was a great day out. - not for Liam though with the discovery on our return of his missing Jack Wills!
Phillip Carlisle and Barbara Orkney
P.S. Run out of time to add pictures, will add some tomorrow!
