After completing, the second gallery from all sides, we climbed up to the second-last section of the temple which was the area of Central towers. This gallery was totally different from the earlier galleries as it was split into two parts:
First part of gallery was the inner court, where we took the above picture and it was the wide open space which had different other small galleries and fine architecture. Second part was the central towers, which was the toughest section amongst all the galleries. The aerial view of the inner court as taken from the top of the central tower, covers the vastness of the interior area of the temple which is difficult to assess from outside the temple.
But to reach to the central towers, there are few major issues:
- The stairs to reach to the Central towers are slanting as compared to stairs of other galleries.
- There are more than 50 stairs to climb and reach the central towers, which makes task difficult for the senior citizens and that too in an almost slanting position. I found the stairs to be very risky for old aged people as it was not a concrete steps but made up of wooden pieces and steel bars.
- There is a limitation on number of tourists climbing up at a time which means that there was a que to visit the towers and since climbing to the towers depends upon the ascending speed of the visitors, hence lot of time was consumed in the waiting que.
- Finally, it has a dress code, shorts not allowed for males and females, Sarong is also not allowed, sleeveless not allowed, which means that the dress has to be proper and full trousers along with t-shirts with sleeves are the least requirements. Above all, it should not be transparent and should not be a temporary clothing.
So, this rule is applicable only for central towers and this should be taken care before going to central towers.
My parents refused to climb the slanting stairs and they preferred to take rest below central towers, so, me and my wife stood in the que to climb the stairs.
We stood in the que for almost half an hour and checked all the requirements to visit Central tower, which was displayed before the stairs along the que area in the form of “Information Board”. Finally, we reached to the first step and the security guard at the entrance asked us to start climbing.
I asked my wife to lead and I was behind her, but as soon as she went two stairs up, the security guard asked her to step back….