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6-3-2012 - Rock Fort Temple, Trichy.
So far the WiFi in the hotel has been unavailable a lot of the time. It's working now so off we go:-
Up pretty early this morning in an attempt to beat the heat. We caught a local bus the 3 km to the Rock Fort Temple. The bus service here is pretty good actually, although crowded at times of course. It's cheap too at 10 rupees (for both of us) to get there and 8 rupees to return. Why different prices? - well, as we now know, "It cannot be explained Madam".
Before we went to the Temples we had a quick look through the nearby Lourdes (Catholic) Church - a neo-Gothic effort with a replica of the grotto at Lourdes just inside the front doors. It is relatively cool inside and quiet as well - so different from the noise & movement in Hindu temples. Not that one is necessarily better than the other.
On through the streets lined with shops to the gateway to the Rock Fort Temple. There are two main temples perched on top of this 83 metre high rock - the Sri Thayumanaswamy Temple (halfway up) and the Vinayaka Temple at the top, dedicated to our favourite, Ganesh.
The Lonely Planet says there are 437 steps to the top and we're not going to argue with that - bits of me sweated that I'm pretty sure have never done so before!
As usual we met some very nice people whilst we were there - funny how they don't sweat - and did the usual photo swap session. We have to send copies of some to a couple of people once we get home.
There are good views over Trichy from the temple at the summit, including of the Cauvery River which is largely sand at present but must be a sight if & when it ever fills with water.
Not much else achieved during the day so I'll finish up here - the dodgy WiFi plus the frequent power cuts means uploading this stuff has to be done pretty quickly.
We hope you are all well.
Ken & Des.
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