Day 5: Tue 14 Nov 17: Pondicherry to Chidambaram, 90 km

Day 5: Tue 14 Nov 17: Pondicherry to Chidambaram, 90 km - Total so far: 215 km

November 13, 2017

24 to 33 deg, fine and mainly sunny most of the day with rain for the last 30 minutes

Phil, Bob and I were up early for a ride / walk around the city as we were a bit late to see anything in the light yesterday. What a city, which has so much unrealized potential, however they look like they’ve made a start. While some of the great French architecture is sadly in decay a number have been magnificently restored to their former glory. The French East India Company established Pondicherry (in the State of Tamil Nadu) as their headquarters in 1674. The French actually established five trading posts along this south Indian coast between 1668 and 1674. Parts of Pondicherry was separated by a canal into the French Quarter and the Indian Quarter. That canal is no more than an open drain now. You can see the French influence in the architecture everywhere, our Hotel (Dumas) being a fine example. Our brekky was not curry but a fine croissant, toast and omelette washed down with fairly respectable coffee.

After a cruise around town with the group we headed south through some interesting morning peak-hour traffic. Today was a great ride, far less main roads, much more in the back-blocks. The people are amazing, so friendly, smiling all the time and very interested in where we’ve come from and where we are going. Many want selfies with us or they want us to take photos of them. Well the men anyway; the women are very shy and reserved.

We’d had a great day weather wise until about 10km out the sky opened up and gave us all a good drenching. We arrived at the hotel like drowned rats, but it was warm so not a problem at all.

Chidambaram city has a temple complex which is spread over an area of 40 acres in the heart of the city. The main complex is dedicated to Shiva Nataraja but it also contains shrines to deities such as Shivakami Amman, Ganesh, Murugan and Vishnu in the form Govindaraja Perumal. The temple's earliest structures were designed and erected by ancient craftsmen called Perumtaccan. There is a golden tiled roof and a whole array of amazing structures. The main “industry” in the city is tourism but despite the hordes of tourists and pilgrims sadly there is still over 10 percent of the population who live below the poverty line. Someone is raking it in!

A nice cool shower (rarely any hot water) and a clothes washing session quickly followed our arrival. That’s better, good to change into dry gear.

Our Hotel was situated a couple of hundred metres from the Temple entrance so about 5:30pm we met in the foyer and walked down together. We all removed our footwear and entered the Temple. It was enormous, both the outer circle and the inner sanctum. No photos were allowed in the shrine or worship areas and it’s really difficult to describe. There was a great deal of ritual, from the priests and the worshippers. I don’t know how one got to go into the area where the priests were doing their thing with fire, bells and powder/paint, but there were only a chosen few. There was a great deal of movement by the priests, walking between the different rooms with stuff in their hands. It felt like a scene out of the dark ages; ancient, both the temple and the rituals.

By the time we were finished there I was ready for dinner, but a beer was calling first. Dinner was at an Indian Restaurant (there’s a heck of a lot of them in this country) next door and it hit the spot. I’ve been having withdrawals due to the lack of veggies in the meals so I had curried veg. Very nice.

A great day in a fascinating part of the world.