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Published: January 31st 2010
Madurai Temple
The view from my hotel...Good Day All,
Greetings from Pondicherry; I have been moving around quite a bit in the last week so brace yourselves for a lot of action in a short space of time.
As you may or may not know India is full of bloody temples and to be honest i'm sick of the things. Once I had seen the Golden Temple in Amritsar I thought I wouldn't bother going out of my way to see a temple in India again. However after some advice off fellow travelers and a consultation with the bible (lonely planet) I thought I should go and see the temples at Madurai.
After an arduous bus journey from Kanyakumari I arrived in the largish city of Madurai which was actually my first big city in over a month and a half. The bus station at Madurai for some bizarre reason isn't in the city centre so after a bloody long journey I had to find another bus to the city centre. Normally Indians in bus stations are very helpful at pointing you to the right bus and all of the times so far I have managed to find teh right bus. This wasn't teh
Pondicherry
France or India? case here tough I was directed to about 4 or 5 different buses before I lost all patience and just jumped onto any old bus. As it turned out thisn wasn't my wisest move and the driver told me to get off soemwhere near the centre pointing me in the firection of teh temples and told me to walk... bugger. By this time I was a sweaty wreck, a little bit pissed off and in need of finding a hotel fast. Luckily i stumbled across a bit of a gem. The room itself was a bit of a joke but the rooftop view of the temple was the best in the whole city.
The temple itself was actually more of a sight from the outside than the inside. as in most Hindu temples a large part is restricted to non-hindus; usually meaning you don't get to see the best parts. Anyway see the photos for yourself the temples really did look quite a spectacle and not completely Indian... more sort of oriental/egyptian (in my opinion). I didn't spend long in Madurai because there is bugger all to do other than see the temples but I did meet up with
a couple that i met in Varkala (Roger and Jo) so at least I had someone to share a few beers with in the evening.
So onto Pondicherry!
Pondicherry is like the French version of Gibralter in India and I looked forward to the promise of croissants and good coffee. So after another horrible train and bus journey I arrived. Throughout my whole trip have never had a problem finding accomodation... the table turned. It maybe was because I arrived late or maybe because they all secretly hated my Englishness but there were no hotels available. In the end I had to settle for an absolute dive at an inflated price.
Suitably (as I was in Pondicherry) I met up with Clem and Sabrina again (French couple - see last blog). So it was good to see some friendly faces after my long trip and we promptly headed for a bar. The good news was the guesthouse they were staying in would have a room for me the following morning so only had to spend one nigt in the dive.
On my first full day in Pondicherry (after criossants and coffee) I decided to do a
typically french thing and horean old bicycle for the day. Pondicherry is both physically and culturally split in two by a central canal with the east side looking like a French seaside town and the westside being typically Indian. I therefore spent the day ambling round on my bike cycling very bizarrely between 'France' and 'India'.
In the evening I met up with Clem and Sabrina; following dinner Clem enthusiastically persuaded me to try paan for the first time. Paan is actually a drug that is illegal in Europe but legal in India. It contains beetlenut which sort of gives you a very buzzy high. I was presented with a leaf wrapped packet of various ingredients and told to chew on it. So at the same time Clem and I obliged. I can honestly say it was the worst tasting thing I have ever put in my mouth. The taste is undescriable but the closest thing I would compare it to is chewing on a cigarette but whilst moldy sweat trickles down your throat. So, after almost throwing up both my self and Clem went a little 'buzzy' much to the amusement of the surrounding Indians.
Anywho that's all I have to say at the moment. I head to Mamallapuram tomorrow for some more beach and relaxing fun. I have exactly four weeks left in India now before Thailand and I must admit I am looking forward to moving on.
Bye now!
Jack x
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