Madurai, India

TEMPLE TOWN
Another long day began at 5am when the family in the neighbouring room woke me up with their early morning rituals of spitting, chanting and yelling. When I checked into the guesthouse yesterday afternoon I was the only one there. After I went to bed at 9pm a group of 38 Indian pilgrims joined the guest list. It was impossible to sleep with them around so I watched the ceiling fan and listened to some music.

Later at the bus depot I saw another unique deformity. An older man had a pair of legs with knees that bent the other way, like a flamingo, and he hobbled around using a pole to balance himself. It was disturbing to watch and I guess that was the point but before long the Chennai bound bus turned up and I grabbed the front seat. I had to move my bag around a few times before the ticket collector was happy with it but apart from that the journey was smooth and the bus only half full most of the time. I got off after six hours when we pulled into Madurai - Tamil Nadu's self proclaimed temple town.

Madurai is one of those annoying towns with the bus depot six kilometres from the town centre. At the depot instead of taking a rickshaw I jumped on what looked like a city bound bus and hoped for the best. It's times like this that I wonder why I don't just pay the extra and get taken straight to a guesthouse. The bus was crowded, I was sweating still wearing my 20kg backpack and everyone was amused by the fact that I was obviously lost. After taking a gamble and jumping off I discovered that I was right where I needed to be - on one of the Veli streets. In the 1840s the British East India Company destroyed the city fort and filled in the moat. Four broad streets - the Veli streets north, south, east and west - were constructed on top of the fill and today define the limits of the old city. I passed a few interesting looking guesthouses including one called Hotel Excellent, which reminded me of my sister-in-law Julie. I could hear her saying 'excellent' over in my head followed by a little chuckle. I settled for the New College House, room 540, a massive hotel which I think should be renamed Hotel Ordinary. The counter staff promised me a television in my room but the excitement wore off when the floor attendant told me that it didn't work. No matter - nothing to watch anyway.

The Sri Meenakshi Temple in Madurai

Madurai is a popular pilgrimage place for Hindu's. Really you could say that about every second town in India given the volume of Indian tourists that do the circuit, but the Sri Meenakshi Temple is a classic Hindu temple decorated with images of gods, goddesses, animals and mythical figures and seething with pilgrims, tourists and the mandatory touts. I spent an hour or so wandering around the grounds, trying to avoid the crowds before the sun went down, then retreated to the main street for a cup of chai.

Blessed

Tomorrow I'll try and get as far as Pondicherry but the connections from here aren't very good. It would be much easier to go all the way to Chennai. Sometimes a challenge is good though.

Colombo to Kanyakumari

TAMIL NADU
I'm lying face down on my bed under the ceiling fan at four in the afternoon. The fan slows and finally stops. The lights don't turn on when I flick the switch. The power has just gone out. It's 33c outside and about the same in my room. I put my shirt on and walk outside, turning right at the end of the street onto Main Road. 200 metres later Main Road ends and I'm standing in the bathing ghats of Cape Comorin - the southern most point in India. In front of me the Arabian Sea meets the Bay of Bengal. A few hundred metres off-shore to my left is a massive statue of Swami Vivekananda, a religious crusader, looking towards the mainland. The sea breeze helps to cool a little but it's still hot and muggy with no clouds in sight. Standing here I can't help but think of the overland trip from Calcutta, up into Nepal and then all the way here via bus and train, except for a brief foray into Sri Lanka from Trivandrum. I don't want to congratulate myself too much just yet as I still have to negotiate my way back up the east coast to Calcutta again, but it's a good feeling standing where I am. It’s easy to find on the map too.

Statue of Swami Vivekananda, Kanyakumari

It's been a long day, starting from Negombo at 4am with a bus to near the airport. I say near the airport because although the destination on the front of the bus said 'airport' I still had to walk for about 30 minutes to get inside the complex. After a long check-in and a brief flight I had to wait two hours at the Trivandrum bus depot for the next bus heading south so I didn't make Kanyakumari until late in the afternoon. Although I had planned on catching another bus north to Madurai to finish the day I felt exhausted and thought it would be best to call it a day. I've only been back in India for half a day but it's taking its toll already. Tomorrow night I'll be in Madurai, the following night in Pondicherry then Chennai.