Day 14 – Sunrise at the Southern Tip of India where three seas meet and Madurai with the Meenakshi Amman Temple
It started with a 4 AM Wake-up in our train car, now parked in Kerala, then loading up for a trip down to the beach. But this wasn’t just any beach, this was at the Kanyakumari, the meeting place of three seas: The Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian Sea. I thought I might be the only one there at 5 AM, but boy, was I wrong! See more on the video!
And another amazing set of temples at Madurai, one of the oldest cities in the world. These temples at Meenakshi Amman are INSANE. I was not allowed to bring my regular cameras or Osmo (see Osmo Review), so I only had my Android Nexus 6P for photos and videos, which is mega-fine. I loved these temples so much… I’ve never seen anything quite like them. There are 14 colorful goporums (gateway towers), all brightly colored with Dravidian-style Hindu gods.
Then you can join me on a little train tour before ending up at a confusing night-show at Tamil Nadu. I was sitting by a woman who is an oral surgeon in Detroit. Halfway through the show, I asked her if she had any nitrous oxide.
The Sea Smashing Before the Game of Thornes scene.
A Pilgramage of Red.
An Eerie Light Show that still confuses me.
Our Train Pulls into the Station.
Assembling at the Temple.
Painted Ladies Walking.
Second Class.
Sunrise on the southern tip of India where the three seas meet.
Every week, they make me a new playlist to discover called, intrepidly, “Discover Weekly.” They put songs in there I’ve never heard of but usually enjoy. I have strange tastes in music… so how-do-it-know?
Daily Photo – The Volcanoes in Bali from Above
Here's a cool photo I got with the Inspire on a surprise flight. I didn't expect to fly at this exact spot… we kind of randomly pulled over in the middle of the island and decided to take a flight. This was one of the only volcano views I got while there… I didn't get too close to them at all, and there weren't a lot of views I got from the roadside. So it was really cool to get up above the trees and get to see them like this.
The day started at Auroville, the experimental City of Dawn, deep off-track in South India. This place reminds me of a sci-fi combo of Burning Man and a cult! Well cult is probably the wrong word… but I’m really into meditation and stuff, so a lot of it appeals to me. This city was started in 1968 by “The Mother” (cult-signals ringing in head) and it’s open to the whole world, but only by appointment and if you give up all other religions. There are actually people from over 50 countries living here… they plan to grow it to 50,000 people. There’s a huge golden sphere inside of which you can “concentrate” in front of a crystal ball which has golden sunlight mechanically reflected into it, unless it is cloudy or there is unconcetrated rain. I’m joking, but I actually would like to go inside of there and meditate. Anyway, I found the whole place fascinating… it’s kind of when you are sitting around with your friends saying, “You know what, if I built my own city, it would look like THIS.”
We spent some time in Puducherry as well, shopping, eating and exploring. There’s a huge beach there that fronts on the Bay of Bengal and the kids had fun running around there.
We also went to visit Brihadeshwarea Temple in Thanjavur, another UNESCO World Heritage site. What an amazing temple! I took a ton of photos but have not had time to process any of them yet. Stay tuned on the site for some of those!
Then in Trichy, we visited Sri Rangam Temple, which is India’s largest temple complex dedicated to Lord Vishnu. I got in a sweet quad flight there and took a ton more photos. Once again, the girls were mobbed by Indians who had never seen white people before… this place was so remote, we didn’t even see any white people except for ourselves. Many people that come here travel from remote villages in India for a pilgrimage to this incredible temple, so they’ve only seen white people in movies and such. The girls had about 1,000 photos taken of them!
The Center of Consciousness.
Sisters grooming.
Isabella has been in about 1000 photos now — many of these people have never seen white people before in person.
Scarlett gets the third eye blessing from Shiva and says shell never rub it off.
Here’s a special little slideshow I made with Animoto of the Ritz-Carlton in Bali!
Daily Photo – The Glass Church in Daylight
Believe it or not, I was too busy to get back in here with my wide-angle lens to get a full shot, so I had to settle for this one, which isn't so bad. Maybe next time when I go back we can make that happen! It's such a cool place inside, and the only way to get its true glory is with a wide-angle lens.
The day started with us getting off the train at 10 AM to begin our adventure in Channai, which used to be called Madras. I know Madras well from all my days playing Civilization! Anyway, we began at the Cathedral of St. Thomas were we saw his remains then drove on to a place called Mahabalipuram. Who has ever heard of Mahabalipuram? Who can even say it? Well apparently everyone here can and they had great trouble whenever I tried to say this out loud. I’d just get a lot of confused looks.
Tomorrow, we head on to Puducherry to visit more sights…
Making a pilgrimage to Shore Shiva Temple in Mahabalipuram.
Indian ladies love taking photos with Isabella and Scarlett because they look so different.
We started out our “Train Boarding Day” with an insane breakfast where we all made some “bad” food decisions and ate too much! Then we were off to the local markets to get our girls some traditional Indian dresses which they absolutely loved. They were quite inexpensive too, under $15! Then we saw a rather unusual set of cultural dances that freaked out Ethan and me. Finally, we made it to the train station in Bangalore for a rather dramatic train boarding! Now we’re off for 8 days across the southern part of India… we’re all really excited and having a great time. Hope you enjoy the video!
Isabella and Scarlett bought some new Indian dresses and love them!
I’m still on the hunt for the perfect pair of photography gloves! My favorite so far are the fingerless ones with the mitten-covering that you can flap over the front. I have a few pairs of those, but none of them are quite perfect yet!
Daily Photo – The Smoothness of Antarctica
I realize now that most of the photos I've shared from Antarctica have been a bit severe in terms of the rockiness or ice-sharpness and things like this. Really, a lot of it is smooth… a lot of smooth, snowy, rolling hills of ice and things like this. It's a little scary because it feels like you can walk anywhere, but then you never know when you might slip through the ice or fall into a crevasse!
Bangalore has been a real treat! We’re only here for one day before getting on the train, and we’re mostly resting and recharging. We did get a chance to go visit the palace and then Ethan got into a piano duel with a guy from Congo! I did a little bit of rooftop photography as well… The people here in Bangalore have been very warm and inviting. And the weather has been perfect! It’s been about 72 degrees all day long!
A Bangalore sunset.
A Family in the park.
Heading to dinner at Lantern in the Ritz-Carlton in Bangalore — an amazing 3-story restaurant!
I was thinking maybe Europe or Asia for the next set of photo walks… I’m not sure because we still missed a lot of cities in the USA I wanted to visit, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Decisions, decisions… Well, in the meantime, check out our USA Tour Highlights Page!
Daily Photo – A hot night in Dallas!
It was another crazy photo walk where unexpected things happened. At the end of the photo walk, we all gathered here when suddenly all these fire dancers appeared by surprise… with hundreds of photographers, we decided to have a huge field day with it!
