Tranquebar--The Old Danish Colony

Tranquebar--The Old Danish Colony

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006--Chidambaram (Cont.)

It's 10 days until the Northeast Monsoons should begin. The Southwest Monsoons are the ones that hit the west coast and come during the summer months. The Northeast Monsoons hit the east coast and come in October and November. When I planned my trip here, I knew I would have to worry about them. There were many articles in the paper last year about flooding in Tamil Nadu during the time I was at the school in Kerala. The newspaper the other day said that the forecasters are expecting the monsoons to begin on Oct. 20 this year. I am hoping I will be ready to move over the mountains into Kerala by that time so that I can completely avoid them. So far, I've had only sunny weather!!

Well, I finally did go to the temple. I went there to take photos from the outside. As I walked to the West Gate (which is not where tourists are asked to enter) to get a photo with direct sunlight on the temple, I saw that anyone could go through the gate. So I took off my shoes and entered behind an Indian woman. No one said anything. It was quiet, since it was about 4:30 p.m. I was able to walk all through the complex without a problem until I got to the entrance of the inner sanctum. I hadn't planned to go to it anyway to avoid the high fee. But there were beggars outside who headed for me--little filthy girl urchens who tagged with me touching (thinking I would give money to keep them from doing it) my arms and my feet. Why do beggars think that continuing to beg will make people give in. It just makes me resist more, but maybe most people are weak. The temple was impressive, but the most impressive part consisted of the towers above the gates. I was able to see those without even entering the complex. Each is multi-storied with colorful Hindu figures in relief. It's hard to describe, but the link above includes a photo.

There are several monkeys living in the trees outside my hotel room. When I opened the door to the balcony and left it open this afternoon, one of the small babies climbed onto the top of the door. I had to shew him away. Although they are cute, they are known for grabbing things like bags. I shut the door so that everything in the room would remain safe.

I had chicken biryani with egg for dinner. It was a huge portion with a very spicy sauce over it. Meals have cost more here, especially since I have been ordering non-vegie meals. But the portions are bigger and the quality higher than what I have been getting. Even with the higher price, I am paying no more than about $2 per meal!

Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006--Chidambaram to Tranquebar

I got a call at 11:30 last night. It was the hotel bookkeeper wanting me to pay on my bill. I was so mad, because I had been sleeping since at least 10 p.m. I told him I would pay when I check out. It took me another hour to get back to sleep. This morning I complained at the front desk about it. They said it shouldn't happen, and I repeated, "But it did. So you should make sure it does not happen again. I'm leaving a day early because of it, so you lost a night of rent at the westerner's rate because of that phone call."

The hotel included breakfast here, so I had that before leaving. There was toast, jam, and butter for a western-style treat. The rest was South Indian breakfast--idly (small rice flour pancakes), onion donuts, soft pancake-like bread made with wheat flour, a mashed potato mixture, and various spicy sauces.

When I got on the bus, a beggar woman was asking for money. She stood there at the door continuing to beg and beg and beg thinking I would give in. Then the ticket seller didn't respond to "Tranquebar" when I told him where I was going. He indicated I was on the wrong bus. I got off, passing the beggar as I went to the a supervisor. He sent me back to the same bus, and the ticket taker seemed to know where I wanted to go now. He sold me a ticket while the beggar was still begging. Finally, the bus pulled away with her sorely disappointed. I worried on the whole trip about whether the problem might be that the bus only goes NEAR Tranquebar and that I would have to get off elsewhere. I watched every highway sign and every city entry sign to see if there was any indication of Tranquebar. Finally, I saw a sign saying it was 13 km ahead. Thank goodness. Later, I realize that the problem was caused by the fact that almost every place in India now has two names, an old name and a new name. Tranquebar is the old name. Apparently, the bus ticket seller knew only the new name.

Tranquebar was a Danish colony established in 1706 as the center for exporting Indian spices and goods to Denmark. It's a very nice town. The old part of town is off the highway so that it is quiet and peaceful (meaning it does not have all the horn blowing that most Indian towns have). The old fort and the Danish church are nicely restored mainly due to the fact that they just celebrated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the colony. The beaches are wonderful--some of the best I have seen in India. This ought to be a backpackers' paradise. The reasons it isn't are: 1) It's off the beaten train, so they just haven't found it yet. 2) Hotel rooms at a reasonable price are limited, and cheap rooms are simply not available.

The nicest hotel is in one of the old colonial buildings that has been restored and turned into a hotel. The rooms there are 4000 rupees (about $85 with taxes) per night. I stayed at their annex a half a block away--a newer building with simple furnishings and only 660 rupees per night (about $14). I had air conditioning and very nice sheets, but there was no TV.

The old fort is just beautiful. Inside is a small museum. There isn't much to see there. But the fort itself is excitingly complete and right beside the water. The old gate to the city with a few feet of the walls still exits. And the roadway from the gate to the fort has quite a few old colonial buildings that are quite impressive. Only 2-3 have been restored. There are some wonderful buildings that could be made into mansions if one wanted a getaway there. I met a young engineer who is working on 3 projects. One is the rebuilding of the parsonage for the Danish church.

Tranquebar was affected by the Tsumani. 400 people died. A Hindu temple that was by the water was toppled, so a dome and other parts are just laying on the beach now. Almost all the boats on the beaches say "Project Hope" on them, indicating that funds from that group bought new boats for those that were lost in the tsunami. Also, there was a sign indicating that Oxfam (a British relief group) was funding recovery projects in the town.

Tourists came and went during the day. One Danish lady is staying at the expensive hotel (on an expense account, I learned, because she is in charge of one of the projects in town). Only one other room was rented out in the annex where I stayed. Most of the tourists were Indians stopping in their cars as they traveled. If someone would build a cheaper guesthouse with an inexpensive restaurant and maybe also a campground somewhere along the beach, I think they would make what would be considered a fortune in India. It's really a special place with a great beach.

I ate from the fry cooker on the sidewalk downtown. I had a ball of fried dough with a boiled egg inside and two thin slices of fried banana (non-sweet) in dough. Then I ate some peanuts in my room. I went back out to the beach just after dinner and the engineer was there. We visited about 20-30 minutes before he had to leave for a wedding celebration.

Thursday, Oct. 12, Tranquebar to Tanjuvar (Tanjore)

I slept well. It is so quiet in Tranquebar compared to most places in India. Also, the air conditioner made the air nice, and the sheets were of a high quality. I was up early, however, and went to check out about 7:30. No one but the guard was there. I had to wait for them to get the manager out of bed and then for him to get dressed.

That delay made me miss the first bus I could have gotten. I had to wait another 45 minutes for the next one. Some young men waiting for the bus were going the same way, so they made sure I got on the right one. I actually had to take 3 buses to get to Tanjore. After the first bus, two of the men walked me through town to another station where I caught the second bus. Then the third bus was leaving from the same station as the one where I arrived. I only traveled about 100 km (60 miles), but it took 3 1/2 hours to do it!

Now I am in Tanjore. It's another temple town. Almost every town in Tamil Nadu is! I will go to the temple in the afternoon like I did in Chidambaram. I've eaten lunch--chicken kebab with a spicy gravy and a big portion of naan. I had a lime juice to go with it. And I am checked into a hotel that is okay but near the borderline between okay and unacceptable. I'll only be there one night, and it is less than $7. The temple is near and can be seen from the hotel. So that is good.