We took our first night train to Mettapalaym, at the bottom of the Nilgiri Hills. From here, we caught the best train ever - a miniature steam train which pushed us up through the mountains - the scenery was amazing (especially as we managed to blag some window seats). When the train stopped to fill up with water (yes Sarah...water makes steam), the station was packed with cheeky monkeys stealing anything they could get their hands on! One jumped into our carriag...

On a day trip from Chennai, we visited the UNESCO heritage sites at Mahabalipuram. We got a good deal on a hop on - hop off bus with a 'guide' who just told you when to get off...helpful! The Five Rathas were really impressive. There were five Temples carved out of stone, each of which represented a different God. Each was guarded by the animal they rode on - Elephants, Lions and Rats! We wandered around the Shore Temple and the town, where there were carvings i...

We arrived in Chennai in style....on a bus with reclining seats - 50 rupees extra well spent! We got hunted down by a dodgy rickshaw driver trying to charge 600 rupees for a 5K ride! Luckily we found a cheaper deal, but obviously were still charged double the Indian rate! Got to the hotel to find a squishy bed - at last! And even though the toilet was Indian style - it was the first we had seen where the ceramic surround was actually white! Got up early the next...

Pondicherry was once a French colony and it still has a French quarter which serves up steak, wine and crossiants. It was miles away from what we had seen in Trichy, the cobbled streets were so clean and it actually looked a bit like France, with colonial houses and flowers all around. We drank lots of tea and did the Heritage walk around the little streets and beach front. We found accomodation owned by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram which only cost one pound fifty e...

We had a nice train journey from Madurai to Trichy and met a nice Indian lady who we spoke to for the whole journey and she answered alot of our questions we had about Indian culture - everyone you meet (most people) are very friendly and want to find out about what we're doing and where we're going - but are all very shocked to hear we are two girls on our own backpacking for 6 months! Trichy was a noisey, busy, dirty, honking....let's leave ASAP kinda place! ...