Memorize the city........
Dec 9th > Guest house (broken), Jawahar Nagar, Trivananthapuram (Trivandrum)
For Ali's last day i had a special treat in store - overnight in the guesthouse & guess what? - on arrival neither the power or the toilets were working!. We decided to brave the city streets and jumped in a cab for our day's adventure.
The exciting exploration began in The South Park hotel where we found (typical there being just 1 week left before i leave) a PUB!!! - nice snacks; good beer; TV for footie.
Ho-Hum over the road to Annas Arcade at Spencer Junction (I had seen a billboard for a 'trendy' clothes store) - plus a pair of black levis : minus £17 later and on to a craft shop on the MG roadwhich was about as interesting as going to a craft fair in the UK! (stifled my yawns and found a few pressies though).
The decision to finish at the local 'Puttan Malika' palace had been taken much earlier. I fancied seeing how the other half live here, so we paid our pittance, kicked off our shoes and set forth on the 'Royal Palace Musuem tour'. The tour = interesting......shame they hadnt given the place a bit of a clean and dust.....also a pity that so many of the precious artifacts were cracked and slightly unseemly (looked like they had literally fallen off the back of a few lorries). Despite my tongue-in-cheek overview, I really enjoyed the tour, and architecturally the building was quite fascinating with wood carved ceilings and walls around marble floors. Royalty in Trivandrum basically means being quite poor; living in the same way as the people roundabouts; calling yourself the Maharaja & all whilst living in a bigger house than your neighbours in a prime real estate location.
Sri padmanabhaswamy (apparently) temple is next door to the palace and is an amazing structure. It is a magnet for Hindu's (who are allowed inside), and non-hindu's (who aren't!)....whilst walking around outside i marvelled at the stone carvings and at the sheer number of local lads who had foregone the chance of getting pissed on this sunny day for a spot of religion. It is also the only place in Trivandrum where you are likely to see other westerners.....
Guesthouse - Residency for food - Guesthouse - early night early morning - Dawn flight departure for Ali.
For Ali's last day i had a special treat in store - overnight in the guesthouse & guess what? - on arrival neither the power or the toilets were working!. We decided to brave the city streets and jumped in a cab for our day's adventure.
The exciting exploration began in The South Park hotel where we found (typical there being just 1 week left before i leave) a PUB!!! - nice snacks; good beer; TV for footie.
Ho-Hum over the road to Annas Arcade at Spencer Junction (I had seen a billboard for a 'trendy' clothes store) - plus a pair of black levis : minus £17 later and on to a craft shop on the MG roadwhich was about as interesting as going to a craft fair in the UK! (stifled my yawns and found a few pressies though).
The decision to finish at the local 'Puttan Malika' palace had been taken much earlier. I fancied seeing how the other half live here, so we paid our pittance, kicked off our shoes and set forth on the 'Royal Palace Musuem tour'. The tour = interesting......shame they hadnt given the place a bit of a clean and dust.....also a pity that so many of the precious artifacts were cracked and slightly unseemly (looked like they had literally fallen off the back of a few lorries). Despite my tongue-in-cheek overview, I really enjoyed the tour, and architecturally the building was quite fascinating with wood carved ceilings and walls around marble floors. Royalty in Trivandrum basically means being quite poor; living in the same way as the people roundabouts; calling yourself the Maharaja & all whilst living in a bigger house than your neighbours in a prime real estate location.
Sri padmanabhaswamy (apparently) temple is next door to the palace and is an amazing structure. It is a magnet for Hindu's (who are allowed inside), and non-hindu's (who aren't!)....whilst walking around outside i marvelled at the stone carvings and at the sheer number of local lads who had foregone the chance of getting pissed on this sunny day for a spot of religion. It is also the only place in Trivandrum where you are likely to see other westerners.....
Guesthouse - Residency for food - Guesthouse - early night early morning - Dawn flight departure for Ali.
posted by nidpor at 12:35 PM
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