.... on her bike... or rental bike that is. I spent my last day in Tiruvanamalai biking around Mt. Arunachala. My original plan when coming here was to walk around it, but ha ha ha, that was not going to happen, not in this weather anyways. But I am almost too happy that I decided to rent the bike and pedal around... it was the perfect way to go. Its roughly 14km around the mountain and taking a leisurely stroll and making a few stops took me just over 2 hours.
Since the journey around this mountain is representative of a journey around the world, it is dotted with smaller temples on the circumference and one huge temple at the finish, giving many reason for pause on the journey (just like you would if you were going around the world I suppose). I stopped to take a photo of these giant feet and was lead into a tiny temple where I was shown photos and offered a blessing by the sadhu here.
I started biking a little before 4pm and was pretty parched about an hour into it. For 10 rupees you can get a coconut freshly machete cut with a straw and.... viola! no more thirst. FYI, most Indian men in the south, especially if they're not "I.T." guys wear lungi's (like a sarong) in their home and often for work. 
Rounding my way through the last part of the circle as the sun was setting behind the mountain.This is when my leisurely path became full-on Indian street traffic. I competed for one and half lanes of street space with buses, cars, scooters, other bikes, freight trucks and pedestrains. Lets just say I did a victory lap on my little street when I made it out unscathed.
A group of women working to build a house, one brick at a time. When I was in Chennai I saw a women carrying/balancing about 16 of these bricks on her head for another building job. Hard work in bright sarees on a hot summer day.Another journey to India completed. As always this place asks nothing from me, but to live.
"You are an organic dream, constantly evolving"- from a hotel sign in Varkala Beach, India.
Would have been worth the price of admission just to see the infamous downtown bike ride.
ReplyDeleteI think we need some new Globe Trekker episodes- you would make a perfect host.
Thanks John. I would take that job in a heartbeat.
ReplyDeleteThis would be a good time to make your audition video. I was just reading about one of the trekkers; she taught English in Japan among other things.
ReplyDelete