We have had limited opportunities to share any of our experiences due to the long days and limited access to our computer. We will provide details when we return home, but for now we at least wanted to share a few photographs from some of the places that we’ve seen. After a couple of days in Hanoi, Vietnam, we flew to Vientiane, Laos where we spent an afternoon at Buddha Park, which was amazing. Needless to say, the pictures don’t truly do it justice, but here is a brief glimpse into this wonderful site.
Jaws of TeethDifferent Styles of Statues in the ParkA Sense of CalmLooking Over the ParkReclining Buddha
Visiting the Kapaleeshwarar Temple was one of the very first things that we did during our trip to Chennai, India. Seeing all of the details and colors throughout the temple grounds was absolutely fascinating. When you visit the temples, you have to remove your shoes and there was actually a little stand where you left your shoes, kind of like checking your coat. To be honest, since no one spoke English, it was a little bit of a confusing process and we weren’t sure that we would actually get our shoes back, but our concerns were unwarranted.
Kapaleeshwarar Temple entrance in Chennai, IndiaDetails on a Temple RoofVibrant Colors
The grounds of the temple were extremely crowded during the time that we visited, but considering the population of Chennai, that certainly wasn’t surprising. Kapaleeshwarar Temple is a temple to worship Shiva, who is a Hindu Deity. From our understanding, at Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Shiva is worshiped as a peacock and you will even notice a peacock centrally located on the ornate roof of the main temple entrance. There are two entrances to the temple, each with ornately decorated buildings called a gopuram.
Inside of the TempleSo Many Interesting Temple BuildingsWe Kept Looking Up
Visiting the temple was extremely fascinating and was a wonderful initiation into our understanding of the Hindu religion, which is so important to the people of Chennai. There is an annual festival that takes place at the temple in mid-March to mid-April that lasts for nine days and apparently is almost carnival-like, but we were there in February, so we weren’t able to see the festival. Seeing how busy and bustling the temple was during a normal day, we can only imagine what it would be like during a festival.
Unique DetailsTemple EntranceOverwhelming Details
There is so much detail that we couldn’t even absorb any of it during our visit to the temple. Thank goodness that we have several photos to capture the images as that is the only way that we can even begin to understand the images. We would love to learn more about the various gods and deities that are depicted and hopefully we’ll have the chance to visit it once again in the future.
We saw many different temples during our trip to Chennai and each of them was interesting in its own way. One of the styles of temples that we saw were ones that were built on columns, both in the water as well as on land. Obviously, they are not truly floating, but they were very unique. These temple tanks are apparently used by worshipers to bathe in to cure them from diseases. We are not cultural anthropologists, but it is fascinating for us to see and learn about different cultures and religions. For this week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge, Unusual, we have chosen photos of these temples.
Temple in TankGolden Temples in Temple TankTemple Raised on ColumnsFull View of the Temple TankTemple Courtyard
