5-3-2012

Madurai to Trichy (pronounced as in 'itchy') - full name being Tiruchirappalli.

We left Madurai at 11.30 this morning for our journey to Trichy, still in Tamil Nadu. We travelled on the Gurujavi-Chennai Express train - a three hour trip in air-conditioned 3 tier sleeper class which cost a total of 436 rupees ($8.72 AUD). The train had left about 30 minutes late but still arrived in Trichy on time. This is starting to look like a standard arrangement on Indian Railways.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Hotel - Desley went to the 1st Class Waiting Room Ladies at the Railway Station and managed to almost lose her nylon wallet down the (thankfully, by Indian standards, very clean) squat toilet - it fell out of her pocket, went into the bowl and was only saved as it is ever so slightly wider than the drain. Off to buy a new wallet shortly! (Kept the money but!)

We have booked into the Femina Hotel near the city centre. The Foyer looks magnificent but our room quite a bit less so. Still, a good LCD TV, cold air-con, spacious area with comfy beds so it's fine. We probably got a bit spoilt in Madurai, despite the problems there. The young chap behind the counter told me happily that the temperature here is usually 100 degrees (Fahrenheit) so a bit under 38 degrees Celsius - nice one.

The Hotel has WiFi in the room, albeit a pay-as-you-go scheme for the outrageous price of 110 rupees per hour. Internet Cafes are commonly 20 rupees / hour. They are also commonly tiny, dirty, hot and feature keyboards with most of the letters worn off.

From our balcony we can see the very imposing Rock Fort Temple, which we will probably visit tomorrow. Beauty - it has 437 stone cut steps to the top (Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu only has a lousy 365 or so from memory). Worth looking up on the Net, or wait for our photos to be uploaded if you prefer.

We had a late lunch in the Hotel restaurant. It's rather nice with 4 very large fish tanks along one wall, full of healthy looking fish patrolling up and down - they tend to gather together and look over your shoulder as you have your meal.

That's it for now - type you later.

Ken & Desley