Saturday – May 8th

Today, we started out at 8:30am since we have another lengthy drive to our next stop. In India the primary mode of transportation is bicycles and motor scooters. We never stopped being in awe of what these people could strap to a bike to transport it.

By 10am, we reached our first top – the Gungai Kundan Cholabrum Temple completed in 1010 and built by King Chola’s grandson. So, the last three temples were built simultaneously by father, son, and grandson and completed around the same time. This is a small temple with its own special charm.

During our journey’s we have seen many people living is small homes made of various materials and almost always with roofs made from coconut leaves. Today, we saw many more and then, Ram stopped by a man’s home where he makes pottery. We even stepped inside the home and I was amazed to see how they had everything they needed inside this small space! The man was kind enough to make a clay pot for us from scratch – showing us the stops he takes to complete it.

Ram told us that the coconut leaf roofs are some of the best and that when the rains come – no water gets inside the house. Again, this man lives in his home and works from there.

At noon we arrived at the site for the Chidambaram Nataraja Temple – which we were supposed to visit today. But, again – it was mid-day and so very hot. This temple is a very BIG one and the cost for the guide was not included so we declined to stop there. We both agreed that our bare feet couldn’t handle demand.

About 1-1/2 hours later, we arrived in Pondicherry where we would stop for the night and checked into our hotel. At 4pm – Ram picked us up and took us to a paper factory but no pictures allowed (wah!). Still – we stumbled on a Dutch gentleman that runs the factory and he gave us a private tour. It was so interesting. All the paper made here is made of cotton (not trees). They use the scrap white cotton from t-shirt manufacturing which has been shredded. They have to remove the fibers that have been added to the cotton, so they run the shreds thru a water machine that beats it for 8 hours (Hollander Beater). Then, it is run through another process before it is piped over to make the paper. They have forms that are used to take the remaining material – soaked in water – and spread it over the forms to make the sheet. Then, it’s dried out. The paper has a different texture than tree paper – more durable. The Dutchman told us it’s very similar to the process for making US currency which is 70% cotton and 30% linen (I didn’t know that).

We got back to our hotel around 5:30pm to call it a night. So, I have some time this evening to update the blog and sort my pictures (we’re going to have a ton of them!!!).