Kodaikanal clings to the hillside high in the Western Ghats. Once a colonial hill station, it now sprouts an ever growing spread of modern buildings – houses, hotels and shops. But there is still charm and beauty to be found. Kodaikanal marks the start of the second half of our holiday. The first half was the sea, heat and temples, the second will be cooler with hills, plantations and animals. The journey from Madurai takes three hours, with the best road of the holiday so far giving way to narrow winding roads as we make our way up into the hills. Our average speed drops to 30kph. Mr Hussain ignores the many signs exhorting drivers not to overtake on the bend, which is probably just as well since there is no bend free section for 80 ... read more

Our first full day in Madurai, a city nearly as old as human civilisation, and we are almost “templed out”, which is a little unfortunate as we are in one of the great temple cities of India. We had visions of taking the opportunity of strolling around peaceful and historic byways, but the stinking heat and noise of the city has put paid to this. We go off to the Meenakshi Amman temple, “the high point of Dravidian temple architecture”. Mr Hussain gives us a short avuncular lecture before we leave the car. “Madurai number one cheating city in India. Very bad place many thieves steal camera wallet watch everything many beggars you no give money. Pay money to go in only see on notice 50 rupees only OK?” Suitably chastened we set off. David hobbles ... read more

Armed with a list of places to see and some directions from the hotel, we set off to explore Chettinad. The first stop is a temple with rows of terracotta horses guarding the entrance. It sounds large and likely to be full of tourists. We progress ever further off the beaten track, with Mr Hussain stopping for directions every few minutes. Finally we reach the right village, but there is no sign of a temple. We ask again. Further down the road comes the answer. Once out of the village, we reach a deserted clearing in the scrubland with a temple-like gateway. Can this really be the right place? We get out of the car and find that the road leading beyond the gate is indeed lined with terracotta horses. Not the immaculately carved variety found ... read more

When kings set out to impress, they usually do it well. Rajaraja Chola I was no exception. Instead of having the highest cathedral with the best vaulting, he opted for a massive temple in his capital Thanjavur, to celebrate his conquests in south India and the consolidation of his reign. Completed in 1010 it vies with and probably beats most of the great churches in Europe, certainly at that early date. Mr Hussain tells us it will take two hours to visit. We are sceptical, no temple having taken us that long. When we cannot find a guide, we are sure we will be round within the hour. But as ever, he is right. The main Shiva shrine sits under a 200ft high vimana covered in carvings, and is the middle of a huge courtyard surrounded ... read more

Our first stop after leaving Pondicherry is the vast temple at Chidambaram. Another of the important Shiva temples of south India, and considerably less hassling than those we have visited so far. This is clearly a very rich temple. There is an important ceremony of some sort taking place. The temple is full of Brahmins in their distinctive white sarongs, with the Brahmin string diagonally across their chests and with partly shaven heads, and the crowd is massed outside the gold roofed inner sanctum, which on this occasion we are allowed to approach. But given the crush of devotees straining to watch the priests perform the ceremony, we can see very little. Much ringing of bells and clashing of cymbals; somewhere inside there a priceless bejewelled image of Nataraja, but it is not visible. We drift ... read more