Yesterday, a friend and I hired a car and a driver and went to see some temples and Trivandrum city center. It was another hot and humid day which I am least good at and it was absolutely good idea to hire a car and a driver rather than any of ready-made tour. We spent short time at each place which we wanted to see and quickly came back to the air-conditioned car 😉 Our driver was really knowledgeable and kind and we were very happy about it :)
昨日の午後はちょっとしたアドベンチャー。リトリートで車をアレンジしてもらってトリバンドラムの町に出かけた。昨日も暑くて湿気の高い1日。あまり長い時間外にいるのは無理という天気だったので、いわゆるツアーじゃなくてほんとよかった。見たい場所に連れて行ってもらってちゃちゃっと見てエアコンのきいた車に戻る 😉 ドライバーはとくにガイドというわけではないが、いろんなことをよく知っていたし英語も上手だったのでこの日のアレンジにとても満足。
The first place we visited was the Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple (they have a webpage). I saw the picture in the guidebook and thought it was beautiful. It could have been much better if the sky was blue. It was a bit hazy and the white temple didn't look as gorgeous as I saw in the picture. To enter the temple, you would have to be Hindu and wear sari (women) or dhoti (men). Obviously, we couldn't get in 😉 There were some steps from the street to the premise of the temple. We could go up there and see the temple from outside but were not allowed to take photos beyond the steps. It was ok to take photos from the stairs though. You might not be able to see it in the picture but sculpture on the roof was amazing! Several local people told me that they have a lot of gold, diamonds and pearls underneath the temple. According to my internet research, this Hindu temple seems to be number one attraction in the city.
最初に訪れたのはShri Padmanabhaswamy Temple (クリックするとお寺のWebページへ)。ガイドブックで見てとてもゴージャスなそのお寺。昨日は空が白くかすみがかっていたので、その白いお寺とあまりコントラストが見られずガイドブックの写真ほどゴージャスでなかったのがとても残念。このお寺の地下には金銀、ダイヤモンド、真珠などの財宝がたくさん埋まっているという話をリトリートのスタッフから聞いた。ところでこのお寺の中に入るにはヒンズー教徒であることが必須。そして男性ならドーティ、女性ならサリーを見につけないといけないということで、私たちは中に入ることができなかった。お寺の前の道からお寺の敷地に入るのに数段の階段があるのだが、その階段を超えたら写真もとってはいけないということで写真はすべて道からの撮影。敷地内で見たお寺の屋根の彫刻はまさにゴージャス。この写真ではご覧いただけないと思うが・・・
On the way to the temple, school kids were trying to be in my picture 😉 Most people seem to like to be in someone's picture here though I don't know if they would ask for money for it.
お寺に向かう途中ではこんな子供たちが写真を撮ってくれという感じでポーズを取ってくる。そんな要求は無視して〔っていうかお金取られるかもしれないし）、自然なところを撮影。
After visiting Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, we went to a big park in the city center. It was really a big park with botanical garden, museum, zoo and more. I loved the botanical garden and museum building. Though we didn't go into the museum, color of the building was lovely! (my favorite color, of course ;-)
Shri Padmanabhaswamy寺のあとは市の中心にある大きな公園へ。ここはほんとに大きな公園で、植物園、動物園、美術館、水族館・・・などなどいろんなものがある。私が気に入ったのは美術館のピンク色のビル。中には入らなかったけど。
And entrance to the botanical garden was very nice with "Welcome to Trivandrum Government Botanical Garden" bush.
そして植物園の入り口の"Welcome to Trivandrum Government Botanical Garden" (トリバンドラムの植物園にようこそ！)という文字を模った低木。これがすごくよくできていてびっくり。何枚も写真を撮ってしまった。
The other major place we visited was Attukal temple. According to their webpage, it is "one of the ancient temples of South India and popularly described as Sabarimala of the Women, as women form the major portion of devotees. The Goddess in the temple of Attukal is worshipped as the Supreme Mother, creator of all living beings and the mighty preserver as well as destroyer of them all." Our driver told us it opens at 5pm but a lot of women were queueing before the opening. We didn't go inside but liked the decoration of the temple. Quite photogenic, isn't it ;-)?
もう１つ訪れたメインサイトはAttukal temple。このお寺は女性の神様を祀ってあるので女性からの信仰があついということである。ドライバーからの説明によれば、お寺は午後5時に開門。私たちがお寺に着いたのは5時前だったがすでにたくさんの女性が並んでいた。
We visited some small shops and other places which we just thought interesting when we saw them from the car and enjoyed 4 hours being outside of the retreat. It was worth going out even though weather wasn't comfortable and I so appreciated shower and peace when I got back to my cottage ,-)
このほかにもいくつか車の中から目についたお店や建物の前で車を止めてもらって写真を撮ったりして、暑さにへとへとになりながらも4時間の観光はとても楽しかった。(もちろん、コテージに戻ったら真っ先にシャワーに向かった;-)