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| india |
| east - puri triangle, chennai, pondy |
| A good 12 hour train ride east from Kolkata took me to the seaside town of Puri, a Hindu pilgrimage site where marijuana called bhang is legal and sold from government shops. Puri is part of a holy triangle made up of three cities: Puri, Bhubaneswar and Konark. Each is famous for it's temples. |
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| (Left) Carrying grass in Puri and (above) fishermen on Puri beach. |
| Woodcarvers at a Buddhist temple in Puri. |
| Sadhus, Indian holy men who've taken a vow of poverty, carrying puja (offerings). |
| A Hindu temple in Puri and below, a Hindu water-temple. |
| Yes, please don't piss here. |
| The Jagannath (Vishnu's incarnation as Lord of the Universe) Temple in Puri. One of the most sacred Hindu temples on earth. I, not being a Hindu and not allowed inside, had to view the temple from the roof of a library across the street. |
| Camel rides on the beach near Konark. |
| The Sun Temple of Konark. Built in the form of a gigantic stone chariot in the 13th century. It displays some of the finest temple carving and architecture in all of India. |
| One of the 24 stone wheels that surround the temple, each almost 3.5 metres in diameter. |
| Banana sellers outside the temple. |
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| The 1000 year old Lingaraja temple in Bhubaneswar, another Hindu pilgrimage site. |
| The Udaygiri and Kandhigiri caves near Bhubaneswar. These caves represent one of the earliest examples of Jain temple architecture and carvings on earth and were home to Jain monks in the 1st century BC. |
| Me on the hill above the caves overlooking the city of Bhubaneswar, capital of Orissa province. |
| A cave entering through a carved lion's mouth and monkeys guarding the stairs up to the caves. |
| Chennai (Madras) |
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| Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is India's gateway to the south. A coastal, hustling bustling city and the capital of the Tamil Nadu province. Chennai features three seasons: hot, hotter and hottest sometimes hitting 50C in the summer. |
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| Catching a bus in Chennai, and anywhere else in India for that matter, can sometimes be a bit of a squeeze. Bus drivers are instructed to fit as many passengers as possible on during each ride and are fined for every minute they are late to specific destinations. They refuse to stop for anyone or anything and barrel down the streets at mind-boggling speeds honking at everything that moves (or doesn't). It's a bad idea to try and cross the road with one of these gaz-guzzling monsters coming your way. |
| The Valluvar Kottam Temple Chariot, constructed in 1976, as a tribute to the poet/saint Thiruvalluvar and inspired by Tamil Nadu's temple builders of the past. |
| AVM Studios in Chennai is the second-largest movie production studio in India after Mumbai's Bollywood. |
| AVM Studios' Music Director and a musician who took me on a tour of the empty stage lots (left). |
| Handmade papier-mache masks for sale and (right) a Hindu temple. |
| A common sight in the big cities are these stinking, polluted waterways lined by slums where the poor bathe, relieve themselves and wash their clothes and dishes. The stench that wafts through the city on a hot day is ridiculous. |
| The High Court buildings, (right) a dog walks by a Brittania biscuits display and (below) the art museum. |
| (Left) The interior of the Hindu temple (right). |
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| (Left) The oldest Catholic church in India, in the British Fort St. George, (above) sculptures outside the art museum and (bleow) an old buildıng on the grounds near the art museum.. |
| St. George's Cathedral. |
| (Left) Clothes drying by the railway tracks and (above) an elderly Muslim man I met on the train to Pondicherry. |
| Pondicherry |
| Ahhh....good ol' Pondicherry, former French colony and my favourite place on the east coast. You might recognize the name from Yann Martel's Life of Pi. Tourism billboards show a serene beach with the words "Pondicherry. Give time a break." I loved the French colonial architecture, the cleanliness and the laid-back feel of the place. Pondicherry rocks! |
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| Pondicherry Police's funky uniforms. |
| Pondicherry street. |
| An elephant at the Ganesha temple. |
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| Pondicherry beach. |
| Need a bike? |
| No swimming! |
| Jen, from Pondicherry, and Scott, from Canada after our boattrip in the Pondicherry backwaters. They both work for Emirates airlines out of Dubai. |
| The Church of Sacred Heart of Jesus. |
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| (Above) The Pondicherry Conservatory Gardens, (left) keeping Pondicherry clean (notice the french) and (below) rangoli, coloured chalk powder, designs in the central park. |