Exploring India: Roadtrip to Thrissur, temples and famous elephant sanctuary

Hi dear Hive community,

We are still enjoying our time in Palakkad with our friends. An interesting man that we met on the bus called Chandran eagrly wanted that we come visit him. So we called him and after initial confusion all was set. In the afternoon we sat in the car and drove 2 hours away to a historical and architecture rich city of Thrissur. During the drive we passed many festivals that were taking place next to the main road in the Hindu temple and one even in church. Everywhere there were colorful lights and lasers on the giant monuments.

When we reached the center of the city, we met our friend and his lovely family, which waited for us there and really wanted to show us the most famous temple Guruvayur temple, dedicated to lord Vishnu. Once again, our timing was not right on holly day, which meant a lot of visitors. At least we were able to see the outside of the temple and a dancing show of Katakali from different Indian states. Like language, each state is a bit different and with unique style. One thing remained similar, their dresses were all very coulourful and massive!

After a nice evening we all spent together enjoying tasty food and interesting conversation, we headed to sleep to gain energy for the next day. Since Guruvayur temple was not accessible for us, we decided to visit another one, Mammiyur Shiva temple. Tamara and small baby Shivathnika waited us outside, due to strict rules who can visit this holly place. In the end, also Steffen could not enter due to inappropriate clothing. It's a shame, but still we didn't let this things affect our mood.

We were all looking forward t our next destination Punnathurkotta, more commonly known as Annakotta. In the past it was a palace, but nowadays it has been a place for elephant sanctuary, where the elephants belonging to Guruvayur temple are kept. In total they have between 30 to 80 elephants, but since they are borrowing them, not all are there. We were very lucky to see one huge elephant being put on the gigantic lorry and later transported to a different location.

The sanctuary honestly could be made a bit more animal friendly. They could put more greens and water ponds next to them. They are wearing chains, but still have a bit of free space to walk around. Mostly they are under the big palm trees, so they have shadow in this big Indian heat. They were looking happy and well fed.

Elephants were funny, eating and crushing fat bamboo sticks, dancing or playing around with their trunk. They are such amazing animals and should be preserved and saved, however always in the correct way with good living circumstances.

Thank you for reading! Wish you a lovely rest of the day.