India, Sri Lanka and The Maldives - Days 41 to 43 - Madurai, Tamil Nadu

Rickshaw ride through the streets of Madurai

We’ve moved back to business hotels from homestays. They both have pluses, but I think that at the last three we were the only ones there made them a little odd.

And there with us is our guide Daisy on another Rickshaw

So a walk through Madurai at 16.00 with J Mary Daisy, what on earth do we call her? Daisy as it turns out, so that’s nice. Interesting enough walk visiting the palace which is being refurbished, so was a bit of a health and safety hazard, but apart from that… On to a cycle rickshaw, which always seems mean, but it’s how they earn a living in the short tourist season. Through the market, down banana alley where I have to say I got a bit freaked. I think it’s that urban myth about tarantulas in bunches of bananas…. Onions, and garlic, how many shops do you need selling onions and garlic? Then to the big Meenakshi Amman temple which we walked around the outside of. The number of carvings on the gates was amazing, but then they do have 33000 gods! The temple is renovated/repainted every 12 years though I’m amazed it gets done in that time and isn’t a continual process. Sunset at a serene temple pool was a good end to the outing.

The rather splendid Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal palace, destroyed by the grandson of the last king who didn't want it to fall into the hands of the British, but later restored by the British. Its undergoing some more renovation now

Back to the hotel for a quick shower before going to dinner. It has been commented on that it is drive, temple, eat, sleep, and I guess pretty much it is. This ‘eat’ however was served by Francis who was just a joy. He was so happy that we were looking through the menu to the local specialities, and that we wanted it as it came not ‘unspicied’. I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner parrotta, a flakey bread, and an almost dry mutton curry (There is no lamb here, it’s all mutton, but mutton is goat, not old sheep!). Apart from the fact that I ate it with my fingers it was almost lamb pie, very good home comfort food.

It is very well looked after, but the restoration was of only about a third of the original size, the rest now gone, but whats left is still very impressive

Back to the room only for the phone to ring “good evening madam, would you like some hot chocolate?” Rude to say no, so we’ll just lower the temperature on the AC and pretend it’s cold! Room service is a very big thing in India which we haven’t done, but having hot chocolate delivered was very special.

Street scenes as pointed out by our Rickshaw rider as he cycled us through the streets

Day 42

A walk in the Samana Hills was the morning programme, collection 09.00. We’d looked at Daisy and both wondered how that was going to work, but it was fine, it was with her husband, Shubash. We had brought it forward to collection at 07.00, the dossier had warned of the hour to hour and a half with no shade… This had slightly oversold it, we walked round the interesting lump of rock to the cave with some very old Jain carvings, that took 10 minutes. “You want to go up the carved steps to the temple? I’ll wait in the car!” We went up the steps to some more carvings where Shubash said we turned round and came down. The rock looked an easy angle and there was a guy up there who sort of said yes, you can go on, but nothing there except walking. Obviously there was no stopping Brian so we walked past, he appeared to think perhaps he’d ‘guide’ us for a tip, but couldn’t keep up. We got to the top, Brian was happy, took some pictures, and couldn’t help but laugh that if Ranjeet knew he’d be having kittens and calling out a helicopter. Back down again to the temple at the bottom, round trip time 35 minutes!

Walking through the banana market

The temple had obviously been recently repainted, the colours were amazingly vibrant, we didn’t go in as the heads and feet of two goats as an offering were slightly unsettling, though slightly less bloody than the bodies outside which were just being carried off to be prepared I guess!

Strange coloured bananas. Daisy bought us one each to try - and guess what? They tasted like bananas!

Back to the hotel then, in plenty of time before breakfast finished, and nice to feel you’ve earned it! I know it’s a posh hotel, and we’ve got no outside space, but AC is very good for drying clothes, so we both washed before going out to the pool for a quick dip in a warm bath. The flaw in this plan is that the AC is only on when we are actually in the room, but that’s fine, we can relax all afternoon now there is no shade by the pool! We talked to Francis as we had our chocolate milkshake lunch, just as the coach load of Germans turned up. Hmm we need a quick dinner this evening as we are out at 20.15, can we sneak in just before 19.00? He looked a bit dubious as they were all expected for a buffet at 19.00.

Through the veg market

We did go down a little early, the buffet wasn’t quite all ready, but we didn’t want that anyway. It might take a little bit of time he apologised, “can I bring you soup? Or salad?” We declined, but still ended up with some cumin potatoes and some corn fritters. Dinner was perfectly quick enough, the buffet was all ready at 19.00, but the Germans had obviously all been told 19.30, so they were hungry, the food past its best and Francis and all the staff stressed. “Can I bring you a chocolate brownie?” Don’t know why we bothered say no, they came anyway, “icecream?” Might as well go the whole hog, it’s all coming as freebies from the buffet after all… We say travel is all about the experiences, and talking to Francis was way up there.

The root vegetable section

Our 20.15 collection was to go back to the temple with Daisy, but this time to go inside, not the very inside, that’s for Hindus only. We were there for the nighttime ceremony of the statue of Shiva to be carried to the statue of Meenakshi (which apparently is one huge emerald) so they can spend the night together. We didn’t actually see either statue, just the Pallanquin Shiva was in, but the ceremony was enough. The inner of the temple is 2500 years old with ‘modern’ additions from the 13th century and Brian was quite taken with a structure that old still being used for its original purpose all this time later.

And finally towards the impressive Meenakshi Amman Temple

Day 43

Another day, another drive, on the way to Chettinad

Past the sacred cow sculpture outside one of the outer four entrances for each point on the compass

That's a real cow. Well, they can do what they want here. We saw one outside a hardware shop which I didn't get a photo of, but I'd loved to have got a photo of one (preferably a bull) outside (or inside) a China shop. Maybe we will before we leave!

We walked right round the outside of the temple and this was the biggest gate, the South gate. Its 160 feet high and beautifully decorated. We came back the following day for the closing ceremony where Shiva is taken to 'sleep' with his 'wife' Meenakshi. No cameras or mobiles were allowed inside which is a real shame as it was fabulous. Parts of this temple are 2500 years old. It was destroyed by Muslim invaders, walled in and forgotten in the 13th century, but a surviving priest (?) told the then current king about its existence, who opened it up and restored it. Apparently inside the flowers on the gods were still fresh to prove it as a holy place. It is huge inside with signposts pointing to places and you can clearly see the 2500 year old columns and floors. We quickly got lost inside so kept close to Daisy. The closing ceremony was really interesting, the carrying of the Pallanquin with Shiva hidden inside was a somber affair accompanied with drums, a high pitched wind instrument and lots of smoke and burning flames that were wafted around in a ceremonial fashion. The men were in traditional dress with foreheads painted in white and they were doing ritual moves It was quite dark, with ancient carved floors, pillars and ceilings, the sounds, the smells and, having seen a sacrificial goat at another temple with its head and legs offered to the gods it reminded me of an Indiana Jones movie. Like a lost civilisation carrying out their ritual in an ancient temple as has been done for thousands of years. Except this is today, we're in a country of 1 billion people where 80% are Hindus. If only 50 % are practicing Hindus that's still 400,000,000 people taking part in ceremonies such as this. In reality its not that much different from the rituals of all religions, Christianity included, but I just found the whole thing fabulous. I was watching amazing history in the present, as its always been in this temple, for me a unique experience    

We were given access through a shop to their roof to get this view of part of the temple with three of the four gates visible. It gives an idea of the size. We had to bear the sales people as we went back down through the floors of various artifacts, but we are getting quite good at pleasant refusals now. They can ship for free anywhere in the world you know, you don't have to carry it. Look at this carpet, no thanks, is it a magic carpet? Yes, he assured me, you can fly home on it. Laughs and thanks for looking.

Sunset view round the Kodal Algar Perumal Koyil pool

Next day with Daisy's husband. We're going on a walk!

Well, at least we're going to this cave a short way up. Very nice carvings into granite

Nice temple with vibrant colours. It must have been recently repainted. There's a path up the granite hill. He told us we can go up part way to another temple if we want, he'll see us back in the car

We didn't need telling twice, off we went

Nice carvings at the temple, which was only part way up. No more steps though, can we  carry on up? It looks possible and a man sitting higher didn't seem to mind, so off we went

We think he wanted to act as our guide for a tip, but there was no way he could keep up with us

We got there. Neither Daisy nor her husband had been up here, they were quite keen to see the photos. It took us 20 minutes from the bottom to the top (a bit better than Ranjeets warning of an hour to hour and a half with no shade)

Nice views

All around

And, of course, a selfie

Fifteen minutes back down again. Nice view of the temple from above

It really is a beautifully decorated temple

But inside things are happening. Yes, that's two goats heads with one of their legs in their mouths having been sacrificed and now in the midst of a ceremony

And there outside are the two headless goat bodies waiting to be prepared. Sorry if you don't like this sort of thing, we don't either, but it's what goes on here. I was told it was OK to take photos by the way

This is Jackie's waiter friend Francis who was a sweetie. Nothing was too much trouble and he always had a smile

Jackie at the self service buffet in the hotel this morning (if you can see her)

This was on the main road into Chettinad this morning. Here it seems OK  to use half the road to spread out your rice for drying. No one seemed to mind a bit 

But of course you need to put out some sort of warning for passing motorists. Those lumps of wood should do the trick

It doesn't stop the cows coming over to sample the produce though. Think about that next time you open a packet of rice! Well, that's all for now, we've just arrived in Chettinad at a heritage hotel, which is a converted palace. And what a place it is, but more on that in the next blog. Tell Jackie to mention the door key to our room!