Weekend to Trichy and Tanjore

We left MCC this past Thursday for the Tiruchchrappalli (Trichy) district, which is right next door to the Salem district. We visited a temple at a place called rock fort. After a long climb to the top, we reached a small shrine to Ganesha with an excellent view of the surrounding area. This is the view from below and then the very top.

On Friday we went to the temple with the tallest entrance gate, called a gorporam, in India. That structure can actually be seen across the river in the previous photo. Here's some of the art we found inside.

Next we visited a dam used to collect and then divert water through artificial canals and natural routes for human use elsewhere. People used the large pools below it for swimming and bathing.

We also saw the temple with the highest vimana, which is basically the roof of the central shrine area. It soared to a height of 61 meters.

We finished the day by checking into the Ideal River Resort at Tanjore. It was a great location, and we spent a good portion of each afternoon in the swimming pool.

On Saturday we went to a limestone quarry and were given free range to explore and collect fragments of seashell and fossilized sand dollar type creatures from the Cretaceous period. The cement plant was visible in the background.

Next we visited what may be the smallest national park on earth. It was a fence around a tree that also fell in the cretaceous, and was staffed by a single guard in a one-room hut.

On Sunday we visited a local museum with books and sculptures. The collection was very impressive, especially the entire room devoted to Shiva’s Nataraja pose, which indicates the start of the destruction process so that new creation may follow. The bronze sculptures we saw dated back to the Chola rulers, where the concept first originated.

That afternoon, we biked down from the resort to a large dam and small village. We waded into the water, and talked with some of the local kids, one of whom claimed to be a karate and dance master. He didn’t bother showing us any of these skills though. After a few marriage proposals for the girls, we walked through a rice harvest, and a few of us slowed down too see several snakes, parakeets, and lots of butterflies on the way to our hotel. I didn’t take my camera, so no pictures from that afternoon.

Now we’re back at MCC, and it might be time for the first actual schoolwork since arriving in the country. . .