We headed to Trichy, as it is helpfully know, for a bit more temple action as we make our way further south. We took a couple of buses to make our way here and it almost cost us a whole pound, our hotel owner in Pondy thought we were a little razy to be braving the public bus service but it was fine. Although Alison did have to keep an eye on the driver who we were convinced might fall asleep, especially as we were on a motorway so there were only horns going very 30 seconds rather than constantly as we have become used to.

We checked into yet another swanky, for us, hotel with its own gym and pool and were up bright and breezy to have a pilates workout. We decided against a swim as we would have had to basically swim fully clothed so as not to get the locals too excited about our bare flesh. I think something we are both having to adjust to the most is how women are treated, they stand on buses rather than taking an empty seat next to a man, often people will only speak to me and not acknowledge Alison is even there and Alison has to constantly cover up. While we accept that in another culture we should respect their customs it really shows how differently they think over here. Our enthusiasm for the gym slightly backfired when this morning a member of staff helpfully phoned us at 6.15am to tell us the gym was open, I won't repeat what I thought while politely thanking him for the information.

Yesterday we climbed up to yet another Fort Temple which sits on a rock overlooking the city before heading into Sri Ranganathaswamy temple which is a massive complex with yet more stunning and intricate gopurams (towers). This temple was more like a town and Alison was able to buy a toothbrush inside a temple which is a first for either of us! We were unable to visit the inner sanctum of the temple which is reserved for hindus only but we spent an hour or so wandering around reflecting on yet another place we are lucky to have had the chance to visit. we then had dinner for the second night running at our favourite restaurant sofar in India, it's a real locals place and we have been studying the eating technique so that we are getting better at eating our curries with our right hands only.

This afternoon we are taking teh train to Madurai, we left it to late to make a resveration so we're in standard class (gulp). We are planning on heading to Kerala pretty quickly as we feel that while Tamil Nadu has been really interesting there are only so many temples you can visit and the beaches and countryside of Kerala are supposed to be nicer.