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 Day 4

First, a few more thoughts and images from Day 3. This mask is to keep away evil spirits which I saw on many houses. As a dogaholic, it is frustrating to see so many dogs that  I wouldn’t dare pet. And they all look related. None have been fixed.


Instead of more sightseeing yesterday, I got in this pool. Then, the resort presented a dance performance  




Day 4 was supposed to be a boring long ride but —Another thing I like about O.A.T is if the guide sees something interesting, we’ll stop. This is a stone carver who makes made to order dieties. Leo showed us a photo of what the man is supposed to carve. Despite a somewhat puritanical dress code and behavior code many people order the sculpture of male and female reproductive parts!






Egrets in rice paddy. 

We stopped by a truck that was selling these masks to keep out bad spirits. The seller rents the truck and pays for gas. The seller also takes care of his orphaned cousin who completed 3rd grade. The cousin is 17.





This man is washing someone else’s clothes in the river  He will dry them and return them to the owner  to the owner  

For 2 days our guide Leo had been telling us about this great vegetarian restaurant we would stop at on our road trip. But it’s the last day of the holiday and there was no way we could wait for tables and make in time for our evening activity. So Leo bought us many kinds of Indian snacks for our lunch.


We headed out to the temple complex. We stopped to talk to this woman. She’s up at 3 to buy flowers, then strings them into garlands in time to be at her table by 7 when the Temple worshippers start arriving and will buy her garlands.



The scene outside the temple is intense and noisy—constant honking horns.


Cars, motorcycles, and people weren’t the only obstacles on our path  



We are now in Tiruchirapalli. Don’t worry, you don’t have to say that five times or even once because the locals even call it Trichy. We walked through crowds to get to Sri Rangam temple complex— the second biggest in the world.





See the monkey climbing up the wall?




There are 21 towers. Only Angkor Wat is bigger. 

The actual shrine is a gold dome

Saw this guy on the way out, Then a loud colorful truck drove past slowly and Leo shouted stand back, they have crackers. Didn’t know what he meant until a firecracker exploded. And that vehicle, believe it or not, is a hearse  


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