Well we checked out of the hostel in Puducherry and they looked after our bags in reception til early evening. Spent the day wandering around the city and the esplanade ..all very enticing and after woodfired pizza headed back to the hostel for bags, Auto rickshaw to bus station and waited for our 9;30 bus. It was described as a semi-deluxe liner but it was like the old school buses from my school trips! Once again we were the only palangis ion board and sleeping wasnt going to come easy. 8-10 hours and we were rising in altitude so it actually got quite cold but theres no way I could get a sweater out. The bus was full and the suspension was lacking and from my position in a wwindow seat I could see the whole bus flexing. The road was very busy with all manner of vehicles and the road although major was narrow and with no centreline. I think I got sort of 10 minute snippets of sleep here and there. At one stage I thought it was daylight but it was just the headlights of another bus or truck shining in the front in the same lane with horns blaring and then just missing each other by the narrowest of margins. This became a regular occurrence throughout the night. At one stage we passed a truck on the inside which meant going off road not that that felt much different because the whole trip felt like it was off raod. arrived in one piece at 6am but with thumping headaches. Other than the trip itself the other memory I have is that eveytime I opened my eyes which was often there was something going on outside like peeps chatting or out on there scooter or delivering on thgeir bikes or rickshaws..never a dull moment.

Managed to get cheap rooms for 2 nights (190R) so had a quick sleep before heading off to the markets where Paul and I got measured up for shirtss and Julia shorts. Made a quick visit to the 1636 Tirumalai Nayak Palace of which only parts were still standing including the original 75mx50m dance pavilion courtyard.

Then on to the first of two visits to the Sri Meenakashi Temple, in Dravidian style designed in 1560 it occupies 6 hectares with 12 decorative gopurams the highest of which is 50m tall and has over 1100 carvings of celestial and animal figures. truly mind blowing and all beautifully proprtioned and sculpted out of granite. It also included the 1000 pillared hall(now museun) The place was buzzing with people and animals and quite a spectacle. Madurai and the temple became the focus of the Tamil people and the development of their language.

Later picked up our shirts , mine 450R. Our 2nd visit to the temple was even busier but still worthwhile. went wandering around the rest of some of the city before dinner packing and ready for a 6am start the next morning. Other than the temple and the Palace Madurai 1.2M hasnt got a lot to offer. But our next port of call will I'm sure.

Another thing just came to mind. When we were at the temple's open courtyards we often attracted attention ...in particular in this instance a group of 25plus guys visiting the temple as part of their pilgrimmage and holiday from the other side of India. They were very chatty and as is customaary they generally hold hands or have arms round each other. One of them took a shine to me and put his arm around me and we all just kept chatting for qite a distance before we parted ways. It was just a very affectionate and natural thing for them all. The query generally now is 'what is your name' whereas futher north it was where do you come from!

Check out here is 24hrs so we had to vacate by 6:30 so Julia requested we be called at 6 by one of the porters. wel by chance i woke at 6:25 and no call so ran two flights down to P&J's room where the porter in question was fast asleep on the floor outside their room. Got packed and out by 6:30 '''amazing. took the autorickshaw to the bus station in time for our bus south.