On the 20th Feb we left Ooty for Madurai, we got a bus to Coimbatore which was a four hour (smooth) bus journey down through the hills. It really is a lovely way to see the country, passing everyday life; women in brightly coloured saris building roads, children running along side the buses saying 'one pen! one pen!', bus hawkers jumping on at every stop selling fruits, nuts, toys and an array of snacks. Even though they are uncomfortable it never gets boring.

We arrived in Combatore and had time for a quick meal before getting on a night train to Madurai. We had 3 tier sleepers which is basically three bunkbeds with fan's for air con. Normally they are pretty good for travelling, however this one seemed to have loads of huge cockroaches so i didn't get too much sleep ;0)

We arrived in Maduria at around 4am and the only hotel that would let us in at that time had one room which was a four bed dormitory so we all stayed there for the next two nights. It felt a bit like brownie camp!

We basically came to Madurai to see the Sri Meenakshi Temple which is 12 incredibly decorated temples, really intricate carvings similar to what we saw in Hampi but these are all painted as well. Within the complex are lots of Hindu only temples that we couldn't enter but it was amazing watching all the pilgrims coming with their offerings .

We then spent the evening wandering around the city just taking in the atmosphere, i felt like we were at a fair. Madurai is a really nice city, other than the temples there isn't much to do there but worth the trip nontheless.