Kerala, Day Three: December 15th -- A Tour Of Trivandrum (othewise known as Thiruvananthapuram)

As nice as the previous day was, the following day transpired to be the polar opposite. The experience of venturing into the city was chaotic, crazy, and exhausting. Trivandrum is, like ANY major city in India, noisy, crowded, smelly...and filled with way too many vehicles and traffic.

The one REALLY good part was having company, for a change! I met two lovely German women in my hotel, and one of them--Johanna-- was enthusiastic about joining me on a city tour. So... we hired a rickshaw driver to take us there from Lighthouse Beach, covering about 6 stops at different locations.

Most disappointingly, no one bothered to tell us that, if you intend to see temples, you MUST go before noon. All of them close at this time, and your only option is to photograph the exteriors, if it is even possible to get close enough. (Often, it was not!) Also, the driver misunderstood what we were hiring him to do: I thought we had him for a certain period of time--6 hours--while HE understood we only got the predetermined 5 stops. SO... there ensued a huge argument about it, resulting in us having to pay him extra to stay with us longer. Still, the whole ordeal was taxing... and we wound up feeling pressured and harried toward the end. Most distressing to me was to miss out on a visit to the interior of a famous palace... supposedly glorious inside! The whole day was an exercise in letting go of expectations. We DID at least get some nice visits in-- great photos follow-- and we both agreed the highlight was a spectacular meal. (Well, also for Johanna, petting an elephant!)

Someday, perhaps, I will make it back there to fill in what I missed.

The Napier museum, part of a park complex that included the zoo and other areas we did not get to. We were both taken by the beauty of this old architecture, as well as the extraordinary gardens surrounding it. (we did not go into the museum itself--it was pricey, and we figured it would take too much of our limited time.)

Johanna poses in front of a lovely fountain and pool outside of the Napier Museum.

Extraordinarily gorgeous landscaping... lovely little gazebo in the middle.

Dating back to 1880, it is wonderfully restored and maintained

Some of the lovely flowers around the museum

Next stop: a lovely church. Loved the contrast of the very white church against the very blue sky!

Now around noonish, we got hungry and asked our driver to take us to a nice vegetarian restaurant. He took us to a NON-touristic place called "Anapurna", where clearly only the locals went, and us two white girls stood out like sore thumbs! However, people were kind to us, asking us the usual questions (where are you from, being the standard, of course) and offering to share treats, helping us figure out the menu, etc. VERY wonderful experience, all the way around!!!

The two gentlemen next to us, feasting on delectables with only giant banana leaves for plates-- how it always USED to be done in this country!

We both got the same thing: a thali, with an assortment of different dishes to try. Unbeknownst to us, it was "all you can eat", Indian style! A waiter arrived at our table every few minutes, ready to ladle refills--out of large, metal cans--into our empty bowls. I had to stop him repeatedly...he was quite the persistent fellow! And I STILL wound up with a second and third meal of leftovers! All this, for a "whopping" 150 rupees, or slightly less than $2.00 U.S.! Quite incredible. It was all as delicious as it was abundant and cheap!!!!

The menu: EVERYTHING on it was a major bargain by our standards!

Feasting and feasting some more!!!

The craziest phenomenon we happened upon: A defunct rikshaw, completely consumed by vegetation! What the whole country--nay, the whole planet-- will look like one day if we don't change our ways and refrain from completely destroy ourselves!!!!

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple--photo hardly does it justice. We could NOT get any closer--it was forbidden--and we certainly couldn't go inside. SInce it was the most famous temple in Trivandum, this was MOST disappointing!!!

looking away from the famous Swamy temple....many stalls and vendors were set up outside to sell relics to the worshippers. Most of them are gone on "break" as the temple is closed in the afternoon...when we got there, of course!!!

In the backside of the palace we visited, we came across this poor elephant. Johanna was thrilled to get to touch it...I was only deeply saddened to see the suffering of this poor creature. It had one front leg chained, one back leg chained, and a chain around its neck. all it could do for movement was bobbing its head up and down, up and down...repeatedly. It was clearly exceedingly distressed and neurotic. Such cruel disregard for the well-being of this sensitive and intelligent animal caused me such pain, there are no words....

This is what I found online about this fabulous "horse palace": "Built in the 1840s, Kuthiramalika is an example of traditional Kerala architecture, with its typical sloping roofs, overhanging eaves, pillared verandahs and enclosed courtyards. Intricate carvings adorn the wooden ceilings, with each room having a distinctive pattern. The construction of the palace was completed by 5000 Vishwakarmas in four years. The palace is made from teakwood, rosewood, marble, and granite."
Sadly, we did not go inside to see the splendors within...not enough time.

The famed one hundred and twenty-two horses under the eaves!

We DID venture into the palace museum, which was somewhat of a disappointment. It had a lot of old photos of nobility, none of whom meant anything to me at all....

This art exibit, however, was fascinating! No clue how it was done...notice how the indiscernable painting on the platform makes a very discernable figure when mirrored onto the cylinder that reflects it! In this case, the image is of Ganesh.