Varkala

Stayed at this cliffside beach resort for 6 nights. As you can see from the pictures, splashed in the sea, surfed on the waves, sunbathed on the sand, ate fantastic fish and prepared for the next busy few days.

Kanyakumari

After sitting at the train station for four hours due to transport strikes, managed to get a train out of Varkala (5 hours) to the southern most point of India - Kanyakumari. There wasn't much to see but was interesting to stand with two oceans lapping over our feet. Stayed the night in an 'ashram' which set us back a whopping 1 pound 80p!

Madurai

Emphasis on Mad. Arrived here (after a 6 hour bus journey) to an onslaught of noise, pollution and even more chaos than usual. Were hoping to see the Sri Meenakshi temple which should have been a highlight of Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately found that every twelve years it gets painted and this is the 12th year. Temples were covered with scaffolding from top to bottom and rather than seeing beautifully coloured towers, we just saw grey. The insides were atmospheric and interesting but we were a bit dissapointed on the whole.

Trichy

Got here after a three hour bus journey to pouring rain, perhaps an omen to what was to come. Saw two temples, one at the top of 437 steps and then a contender for the biggest temple in India. This was really impressive and slightly made up for not seeing the one in Madurai properly. Unfortunately, Simon had his first dose of Delhi Belly and we were trapped in our horrible, drab, dirty hotel room which - to make matters worse - had a toilet that wouldn't flush! 24 hours which we'll both be happy to forget!

Pondicherry

After debating whether Simon could make the journey or not, 6 hours later, weak and tired, we had escaped Trichy and arrived in lovely Puducherry. A really relaxing, ex-French town. Good food (Simon has kept 2 meals down so far - French Onion soup for Simon, Fish and chips and a large glass of beer for Claire) and impressive architecture. Leaving here tomorrow for Chennai to enjoy Divali.