Thanjavur

“ Hindu Dharma is like a boundless ocean teeming with priceless gems. The deeper you drive the more treasures you find”

-Mahatma Gandhi

Moving further south the first stop was the Chidambaram to visit the Nataraja Temple the temple its famed for having a bronze status of dancing Shiva I think these temples start to look the same but there are often some slight differences. The good thing is you are able to wear temple socks inside so much better than bear feet which is required in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar. After the temple we drove to a local restaurant where we had a thalli it was yummy in particular the crispy lady fingers/okra (at 12 o’clock) who knew they would be so tasty.

We moved to the hotel it is 5 star so we are told vegetarian and no alcohol. Always up for something different I had room with a turret so much antique furniture in the room wasn’t that impressed. Dinner was ok but breakfast was different as I was confused vegetarian meant you could have warm curd, yogurt, paneers cheese and three type of butter but no eggs, pancakes were possible so not sure how they differentiated. I think the lady that owned the hotel collected antiques as every room was overstocked with furniture, it think the hotel would have been better as a museum

The next day we went to Dravidian temple it was an elaborate stucco and frescoes on the walls which they are restoring. This was an impressive temple and very big. It was hot and very dusty

After this we went to look at some traditional craft one was the making of a musical melodious Veena in a single piece of timber from the Jak tree. A slow job all done by hand the craftsman sit under a shade cloth working in the heat and dust it 2 months to make it they sell for over Aud$4,000. We also went and saw the making of bronze statues I took 1 photo not sure why but it would be hot work working with coals in the heat. This was a family business and the government help support the bronze making is dying slowly.