Day 86 (Sun 1 Oct) - Trichy / Madurai

Up early and got our bus to Madurai with no problems. The 2 hour journey itself passed by in a flash.

The bus station in Madurai was located quite a distance from our hotel. A rickshaw ride took us over the Vaigai river and to the hotel Sree Devi.

The outside of the hotel didn't look too great. Whilst Sarb waited at reception, Jo checked the rooms upstairs and came down and announced we should take the more expensive of the two rooms (450 rupees per night) she'd looked at.

When we got upstairs Sarb could see why. Our 'rooms' were on the roof of the hotel and comprise of a small lounge, bedroom and bathroom. It's like a small apartment. However, it also had a large verandah from which we were practically on top of the Meenakshi temple complex. It was such an awe inspiring sight ( [1], [2], [3] ).

The complex is a huge square with large pyramid shaped towers set at the cardinal points. Within the square are set smaller towers. The detailing on all the towers is simply breathtaking.

Relaxed on the rooftop watching the towers.

Felt a little hungry so set off through the busy Town Hall road to Jaryam restaurant. It was very, very hot. Sarb had an egg burger and Jo a pizza. Quite nice.

The train station was nearby so we decided to book our tickets to take us to Kanyakumari. Unfortunately the only train we could get would be for this Tuesday leaving Madurai at 2 am. Bought the tickets anyway.

Got a rickshaw to the Gandhi museum. On the way our rickshaw had a near miss with a cyclist. It had to brake so hard that its hydraulics failed. The rickshaw man flagged down a passing cycle rickshaw and we relocated.

The museum was well laid out detailing the rise of the Independence movement of India from the days of foreign power rule, the partition of India and more modern times. Woven into this tale was the incredible contribution made by Gandhi.

Back to the hotel where we watched the temples from the rooftop as the sun set ( [1], [2] ). As we watched we could see fireworks being let off around the darkening city.

Went for dinner at the Surya restaurant. It touts as having a fine view of the temples. It certainly has a view but it is somewhat distant. But maybe we are a little spoiled since our lodgings are practically on top of the complex!

We both had dhosas. Very, very (chilli) hot. Luckily Jo realised that the heat was due to small black peppercorns embedded in the dhosas. We picked these out and finished our meal without having to fan our open mouths.

Walked back to our hotel, through the still very busy streets.