Land of the Singing Waves
The boys had last Monday off of school, so we took a train,
and then a taxi (Ambassador we think ours may have been one of the original 1950s cars... just kidding, but it wasn't new.),
went through this 18th century gate...
and found ourselves in Tharangambadi, the "land of singing waves."
We checked in at Bungalow on the Beach, which is a restored mansion, and then went to our room, in a restored 17th century, traditional, Indian house. It looks lovely, but frequent power cuts made the a/c useless, the fan whine, and the mosquitoes very happy when we opened the door (no screen) at 2am for the breeze. Chris is napping in front of our room.
The boys stayed in a separate building next door called "the Tower," and their view was through the tree tops.
The next day, we toured the Danish fort and the 14th century shore temple, slowly being reclaimed by the sea. A new temple is being constructed behind the old one, but it appears we didn't take any pictures of it.
Cow & ice cream truck in front of Danesborg Fort.
If you walk back up the street the other way, there's a small ruined temple behind the white wall.
Inside, we saw Murugan on his peacock with two wives. The idols are dressed in silk saris - this is a regular practice at temples. Some have several changes of clothes. There were other idols as well, and a shrine which still had a roof, which Matthew found had been taken over by bats.
Beyond the temple and the streets the hotel and Danish conservancy are gentrifying, is a fishing village.
Here are some friendly faces, with the shore temple in the background. The new temple is behind the red & white striped walls.
Then we packed sandwiches from the hotel kitchen, took a minivan which ran on compressed natural gas back to the train station, and came home. A quiet weekend at the beach.
The boys had last Monday off of school, so we took a train,
and then a taxi (Ambassador we think ours may have been one of the original 1950s cars... just kidding, but it wasn't new.),
went through this 18th century gate...
and found ourselves in Tharangambadi, the "land of singing waves."
We checked in at Bungalow on the Beach, which is a restored mansion, and then went to our room, in a restored 17th century, traditional, Indian house. It looks lovely, but frequent power cuts made the a/c useless, the fan whine, and the mosquitoes very happy when we opened the door (no screen) at 2am for the breeze. Chris is napping in front of our room.
The boys stayed in a separate building next door called "the Tower," and their view was through the tree tops.
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| Princes in the Tower |
If you walk back up the street the other way, there's a small ruined temple behind the white wall.
Inside, we saw Murugan on his peacock with two wives. The idols are dressed in silk saris - this is a regular practice at temples. Some have several changes of clothes. There were other idols as well, and a shrine which still had a roof, which Matthew found had been taken over by bats.
Beyond the temple and the streets the hotel and Danish conservancy are gentrifying, is a fishing village.
Here are some friendly faces, with the shore temple in the background. The new temple is behind the red & white striped walls.
Then we packed sandwiches from the hotel kitchen, took a minivan which ran on compressed natural gas back to the train station, and came home. A quiet weekend at the beach.
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