Our driver was good. He took us super fast to the south gate at Angkor Thom complex to see the sunrise above the forest and hit the statutes at the gate. It was an amazing experience. Got a lot of good pictures and got a timelapse of the sun coming up above the forest!
Then there was the short drive to Bayon temple. Every tower had faces of buddha on all four sides and there were 50+ towers. What a temple. What magnificence. There were buddhist monks still praying early in the morning.
Happy with the pictures but you have to be there to see it in all its grandeur. There is also a set of pictures of San that made my day while editing.. it reminded me of the little one from an earlier time..
A video highlights reel of this part of the trip..
Thoroughly enjoyed the sunrise over the forest and the light show in Bayon temple.. It was still early morning and our driver said it was time to go visit one more major temple in the area before the crowds moved in, and then we could go to Angkor Wat temple for the tour.
He said it would be “better” and that piqued our interest.. Better than this?! That in the next post.. There are 500+ photos from that stop.. will work on them tomorrow.
My parents had visited Rameshwaram and I was not a part of that trip. There was this constant reminder for me to go visit with my wife, especially given we had both visited Kashi before.
So a big part of this India trip (previous post here..) was to go to Rameshwaram temple and get.a bath from waters of the 21 wells in the temple. The history and reasoning behind these wells is well documented and will not explain it here.
The logistics of accomplishing this on the other hand, will get a mention. Currently the train that goes from Chennai does not go into the island. It stops at Mandapam station. Supposed to reach at 4:30 AM but is usually late by 30 mins to 45 minutes. That should factor into calculations for a one day trip!
We had a car pick us up and take us straight to the temple gate. Thanks to my chitti's friend, we were connected to one of the. priests at the temple who gave us a contact for a person named Lokesh.
His official title should be Technical Program Manager, Well bathing, Rameshwaram. He asked San, myself and my FIL to walk, after realizing my MIL couldn't walk that far. He took her on his bike to the side gate. Once there, he gave us precise instructions, took us to each well and got us drenched with water from every well within a span of 35 minutes with extreme planning and precision. After that we got to go change at the entrance and visit the main shrines. Within a 2 1/2 hour period we had done what we came to do and one of the main temple visits was checked off. (the other was Gunaseelam... not sure how many days it will take me to get to that post!)
This temple is a marvel !! just look at the pillars as far as the eye can see on every main corridor.
Saw the Sankara mutt on the way out and was reminded of the mutt in Varanasi in Hanuman Ghat! lots of memories..
We said bye to Lokesh and thanked him for pictures from his phone (we were not allowed a phone) and went to get something to eat.
After a quick brunch at a local vegetarian place (Hotel New Saravana Bhavan.. not in anyways related to Hotel Saravana Bhavan!!! but actually better..) we decided to cover the rest of the sights there in this sequence, thanks to our driver (who was from Madurai) who had done this tour many a time. However he said in his experience he had not seen anyone cram this much into a day!
First stop was Ramar paadhukai..(three of us climbed the hill and saw the sights while MIL stayed in the car.. it was a wise move. She was clearly told by our driver where there was flat nice terrain and where things would be difficult)
Then the Panchamukha Hanumaan temple with a demonstration of the floating rocks that were used by the monkeys to build the bridge to Lanka..(sadly my phone died and have no pictures or videos of that) followed by a visit to Lakshmana's temple and pond (there is a story or segment from the Ramayana that is there for each of these locations and you can read up on it if interested)
My FIL had his SLR for pics. I had to stay content with the iPhone.
Then we had finished with this area and were off to see Prof. Kalam's house. It was inspiring in its own way!
After visiting his house, we left for Dhanushkodi area. On the way we got to see the Kodhandaramar temple. Thanks to Modiji, the roads were nice and we also had access to go all the way to the end of the road to see the ocean. We had some ice cream and coconut water at the temple, then stopped by the light house.
The lighthouse has a small elevator that simply cannot handle the tourist volume. So it was difficult to wait there, but after 30 minutes we did make it to the top for some spectacular views. (The restrooms behind the lighthouse are extremely well maintained !! )
After this we got to put our feet in the ocean water where two oceans meet.
There was crazy traffic at the end of the road to make U turns and get back. Our driver had told us to keep walking to find him. The three of us walked close to a mile to catch up with the van and were out of the area.. but we did stop for chai at a roadside stall.. it was pretty good!
A short video compilation of the few clips I took..
There were two more stops to go before we were to reach our hotel in Madurai that night..
Exactly 10 years ago, my MIL and me walked into the old studio of BYSJ to do our very first hot yoga class.. it was not "bright and early".. more like "dark and cold".. but early it was at 5:30AM.
Over the years it has been a journey filled with little joys, frustrations (mostly in the early days of practice) but mostly realization of what this body and eventually mind can do and how things are connected.
Practicing yoga is the one thing I could always count on to bring me a level set every day, no matter the other circumstances that weigh in.
My MIL does yoga at home (whatever yoga works for her) and I have stuck to Bikram Yoga for 10 years now. Have tracked the classes, my weight after coming home (or walking to the bathroom now that coming home after yoga has been reduced to a 30 second thing!) and have been doing yoga very regularly. It has been 2259 classes as of yesterday and hopefully tonight we get to round it to 226 classes a year.
The teachers tell you to practice at least 4-5 times a week and that is about there. 4-5 times a week.
I cannot tell you enough how good this practice has been for me. It is my sincere wish that more people pracice yoga and practice regularly.
My MIL has not been fortunate enough to practice in the latest BYSJ studio. She showed up here on March 13th last year and the studio closed on 16th. We did get a chance to go see the studio, thanks to BYSJ!
Cannot wait for the doors to open again and soak in the heat and humidity!
Today also happens to be Maha Shivarathri, a day for spirituality and a special day that brings back so many memories for me personally. The fact that the 10 year yoga anniversary fell on Maha Shivarathri made my day!
This photo was taken last night by San of me doing yoga..
Incidentally, my first yoga blog post 10 years ago was about being able to do this pose with some semblance to what it was supposed to be. I could not grab my feet for the first 9 days. Finally managed it on the 10th day!
It is a lifelong practice.. just getting started.
Wishing myself and the MIL a very happy Yoga anniversary and a happy Shivarathri to all of you!
A heartfelt thanks to BYSJ and all the teachers for the yoga and everything the yoga has given us!
