Madurai: chaos and spirituality combined

Now that we'd got the hang of the buses we were looking forward to getting back on board for our next ~6-hour journey, around and down the mountain to the city of Madurai. 

Our bus from Munnar to Theni

We passed through numerous tea plantations and the journey was really spectacular... although also a little hairier than the last. You'd think that when there's a sheer drop to one side, and a road that is clearly only wide enough for one vehicle at a time, you might want to drive a little cautiously. Not so! We continued careering along and always veering out of the way of oncoming traffic just at the last moment. Still, I guess the driver knew what he was doing...

Beautiful views from the bus window

Close to the state border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, we made a quick stop in a small village for for the driver's lunch break. Becky and I got off to have a wander around and we found a lovely, authentic little tea shop, full of locals getting their lunch-time chai fix. Our own quick chai fix cost set us back just 7 rupees (=9p).

Expert chai-maker

Having changed buses in the bustling town of Theni, we arrived in Madurai in the late afternoon. After five days of complete relaxation, the noise and chaos of the city hit us hard. We checked into our hotel and then headed into the centre but the heat and the crowds was really draining. We found it difficult to get our bearings and worst of all, unable to find any pleasant spots for a refreshing drink! For a moment that strange and distant sensation of "stress" almost returned to me, but then we thankfully found a nice rooftop bar where we could escape from the crowds and tuck into a delicious meal including dosa and paneer tikka (both of which I'd been craving), Kingfishers and a wonderful iced coffee. Still, we were glad to get back to our hotel afterwards and rest.

After an excellent night's sleep we were feeling much better prepared to face the madness. Still we had a lazy morning enjoying the air-con in the hotel, before heading out for another great lunch followed by a trip to the Gandhi museum. Here we were once again subject to a huge amount of attention from the Indian tourists and also a group of local kids who insisted on coming to see us again and again for more and more photos, while we sat waiting for the museum to re-open after lunch. I was starting to think I should start charging! But really I can't complain as people here are generally more than happy to have their photo taken in return... which wasn't always the case in South America.

After a sobering walk around the museum, we took another rickshaw into the city centre. And not an auto-rickshaw this time, but one where an old guy who looked like he hadn't eaten for a week actually pedalled us along for 30 minutes in the 35 degree heat, and all for about £1. We didn't feel we wanted to haggle on that one.

Here in the centre we visited the famous Sri Meenakshi temple, which ranks as one of the finest temples in India. It's absolutely incredible! The temple is surrounded by 12 "gopurams" which are tall towers covered with thousands of stone figures of gods and demons. The temple is dedicated to Shiva (one of the most important gods in Hinduism), and his consort Meenakshi Amman (more commonly known as Parvati), both of whom have a shrine within the temple complex, with a golden roof. Most of the temple is closed to non-Hindus but the bits we could access were already beautiful enough: more shrines, a hall of a thousand intricately carved pillars and beautifully painted corridors and ceilings. Unfortunately following the bombings in Hyderabad the previous week, we couldn't take cameras in this time, but I am planning to return as I'll be staying in this area for the next four weeks (more on this in my next post!).

Sri Meenakshi temple complex

Amazing detail on the towers

We were also blessed by the temple elephant, which was quite a funny experience. We had to hand over a 10-rupee note which he would took with his trunk and dropped into a nearby bucket before whacking us each over the head with his trunk! Again, will try to get a photo of this next time!

When we left the temple the sun was just setting and the sky was the most incredible colour. 

Amazing sky!

We found another rooftop bar for a drink and some snacks and then headed to a great little local restaurant for our last meal together in India! The next morning Becky was to leave for Calcutta to visit more relatives and I was to head to a rural area 45-minutes away... for the next part of my adventure!

Bye Bye Becky!