A
journey through South-East Asia - visiting the temples of Thailand,
floating down the Mekong in a slow boat, seeing the sunset in Laos,
waiting for the quiet of night in Hanoi, drifting through Halong Bay,
trekking the mountains of SaPa, travelogue, trip, travel, journey,
road, Asia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Indochina, Mekong, Halong Bay,
Hanoi, Vang Vien, Chang Mai, Bangkok, slow boat, Luang Prabang, Pak
Ou
Thursday,
5. December 2002
( excerpt from an email)
We drove
to Madurai which was a let down after being in such beautiful
countryside, but the temples were outstanding, including
the Sri Meeknakshi Temple.
Did you know
they toss pads of butter on statues of gods? I didn't.
And I didn't have the elephant in the temple bless me,
though it was tempting. I was feeling rather shy in the
temple, and didn't want to disturb anyone or anything
around me.
Periyar park included these sock get-ups to protect us
from leeches (ewwww). It was nice to walk around and see
some wildlife, but the large groups of people and the
noise from cars and boats tended to scare away a lot of
the animals.
An interesting sight was a cattle market off to the side
of the road. The poor emaciated creatures were tied head
to head. It was a surreal sight to behold.