Tanjore

2/08/14

Saturday was a lovely day. Me and the two Finnish girls I am staying with ordered a cab to take us around for the day (a service which would cost a bomb in London!) and we travelled about an hour to Tanjore to see the Brihadeeswara temple. The temple grounds were amazing and grand and had a calmer atmosphere than Trichy's Sri Ranganathaswarmy temple which was packed with merchant stalls. These temple grounds were large and spacious so we took a leisurely walk around to visit all the shrines. I enjoyed visiting each shrine and meeting the priests, each with something different to say and a different coloured powder to rub on my head or liquid for me to drink. A little Indian girl ran up to me, shook my hand and said "happy friendship day", which was a small exchange of kindness that left a lump in my throat. Another woman and her husband asked to take a photo with me, which was strange but they were friendly and we walked for a while together chatting. School children flooded the temple grounds and young girls lined up to whisper their secrets in the ear of a cow statue. It was a place of calm but at the same time life, a place for all ages and walks of life.

After exploring the area a little we took the cab back to Trichy and ended up getting head massages from a beauty parlour in town. Whilst there we found a flower shop so thought it would be nice to buy some flowers for the special party we were attending the next day. From what I gather, flowers are mostly reserved for weddings here but we wanted to buy them to give with chocolates as a European style gift.