Dipping a Toe into Tamil Nadu

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We didn't spend too long in Tamil Nadu although we'd originally intended spending 3 weeks temple-hopping our way from Madurai and Ramaswaram up to Trichy, Mamallapuram and Tirupati (in Andhra Pradesh). It was just too hot and after seeing th epretty representative Meenakshi Temple in Madurai with it's buzz and hubbub we decided to literally head for the hills - the Nilgiri Hills and the hill station of Kodaikanal which we really loved.

Kodaikanal has a lovely climate and reminded me of what it feels like to be out on an Autumn day in Ireland. The hills are pretty untouched and there are lots of nice walks around Kodai' where you can experience them. We really enjoyed the people we met there also. Nice hanging out and enjoying the fabulous view from Greenlands Hostel. The other attractions were chocolate-related (it's everywhere on the streets) and fauna-related (it has some of the best urban parks in India).

We had some funny experiences trying to leave on our way to Hampi too. We met a whole motion sickness afflicted family. Not that it's exactly funny but was pretty exciting to get a shout that one of them was about to hurl and then to have to lunge for the bus window as the it headed around the winding turns on the way to Coimbatore.

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