http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , India , Tamil Nadu , Madurai en-us Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:10:28 BST Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:10:28 BST Hi all this is just to share a few more photos and also mention that I added a few to the last entry although for some reason they're not all showing up when I click 'View Full Entry.' But if you click on the photos in the blog homepage you'll see them. Me and my new nose bling included Also just to clarify after my classes end this week my group is taking a weeklong tour of a few si http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-331798.html Thatrsquos last nightrsquos tally alone of course but it was my first decisive victory in the ongoing war so I thought Irsquod brag a little. This war would have been practically a suicide mission had I not possessed a magic weapon what we call the Kocu Bat. ldquoKocurdquo kohsoo is Tamil for ldquomosquito.rdquo The Kocu Bat is a rather ingenious piece of equipment which http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-331326.html Nach der ganzen Rumgurkerei war klar dass ich erstmal wieder runterkommen und mich erholen muss. Somit wollte ich unbedingt ein schoenes sauberes Hotel und ich fan eins. Ein niegelnagelneues. Den ersten Tag hab ich nur damit verbracht im sauberen Bett zu liegen zu lesen und Musik zu hoeren. Lecker essen und schlafen nicht vergessen.Der naechste Tag sollte ein geschmeidiges Sightseeing bringen. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-328226.html Hi all trying to upload photos. Sorry if you all got an annoying subscription email and then no photos. I think it's supposed to be really easy but this computer is doing some funky things and there's a bunch of Indian men watching over my shoulder right now so I might quit before they all get uploaded. apologetic head bob http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-318847.html Not too much to say about that it just cracked me up. It's the title of the DVD that I won for most accurately pinning the demon tail on Malinowski the founder of modern anthropology and of course a rather racist Imperialist too. I tried to convince my sisters that we should watch it instead of Mummy 3 the other day but I failed. I guess Lindy Jones just didn't sound exciting enough. Not http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-318538.html Vanakkam everyone I am finally in Madurai After a very grueling three days of travel minus the time change but still a very long time we arrived in Thanjavore where we stayed at a hotel and had a weeklong orientation. It was very nice there. Lots of mildly spicy food and a nice breeze which came off the river a river infested with sinkholes crocodiles and toxic chemicals I might add. I http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-315888.html Got up early in the morning to check out the temple again since Heather Dan and Becca wanted to see the temple in daylight while John and Nikki decided to sleep little longer. After a small incident where I had to call the cops surprisingly cops were very attentive and helpful for the tourists we went into the temple and took tons of picture in the daylight. I would say Tanjore temple is one of http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-314757.html Novel TravellingFollow the journey of books around the world and leave your own location and thoughts. For more information and to see the index of other books on this blog go to Bob Mehew May 20th 2008Where obtained Wivenhoe England a present from my good friend NinaWhere read Madurai Tamil Nadu India Where left Pushka Rajasthan India Thoughts This book was fascinating intriguing http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-278167.html So far my trip has been great hellip. Everything has more or less gone to plan and I havenrsquot really had anything to complain abouthellip. well that was until nowHaving had quite a long day of travelling im very tired and the first thing I attempt to do on arriving at my new destination is to get some food. I find somewhere that looks very clean and hygienic and sit down waiting for the http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-269645.html Our Russ visit began in the very early hours of seventeenth February when we disembarked the night train from Trivandrum. We were met by Berlin a founding member and the current President of Russ Foundation and a number of other staff who were waiting at the various exits of Madurairsquos busy mainline station looking for an English couple had we mentioned the size of Bob's beard in advance the http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-255337.html Sairaana. Kuume kavi eilen jo lahella 40ta astetta. Nyt parempi vaikka heikottaa ja kehkoja pakottaa. Helvetin pelottavaa olla yksin sairaana toisella puolella maapalloa ilman voimassaolevaa vakuutusta. Toivottavasti ei ole mitaan pahempaa koska sairastelin mystisesti useampaan otteeseen jo Vattakanalissa. Ensi viikolla pitaisi olla viimeinen etappi Chennaista Mumbaihin mutta junat on taynna k http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-253915.html Hello again Cochin proved to be a good choice......not the main town but Fort Cochin which is one of the islands of the coast there. I say Island I think Fort Cochin is actually connected to the mainland unlike Wellington and Viper Island which are only reachable by boat.The bus ride there was also pretty hair raising. They have some busses over here which they call 'superfast' which basic http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-251908.html ... at least on every single Rupie Bill. How are you folks today hope the sun is shining wherever you are at least in your hearts. If you don039t here039s some litlle update from our trip through India. We are currently hanging out in Madurai district Tamil Nadu South India. Another busy busy city everybody and everything you can imagine on the streets so that we decided to escape to http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-249598.html MaduraiOn the way to Madurai we stopped for lunch and another great cooking demonstation. A chance for more street shooting for me Then on the massive Meenakshi temple which is the second largest Hindu temple in India and visited by 10 to 30 thousand people everyday. Many seem to come for wedding photos to sit and socialize etc. as well as pray. Multiple towers all brightly painted. And everyon http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-244757.html Miss Havisham the moniker we had affectionately given our rickshaw was now festooned with even more tat than you could shake a stick at it being a badge of pride to collect as much crap as possible throughout the trip. In Pondicherry we eschewed stalls of sarees to find Spencerrsquos Shoppe an emporium of all things naff. Leaving nothing to chance we bought both a Ganesh A Hindu God and http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-239036.html So yeah not too much to add. I found out last night that our future planned train ride to Kovalam had very limited seating in the near future... the only hope would be to catch the train tonight and arrive in the morning or wait about a week until the next available seats were open or go waitlisted which with three people well it keeps you a little too anxious not knowing exactly which tr http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-238952.html John took some Cipro for his stomach last night and all better this morning. Kevin had taken his antibiotic yesterday morning before the train ride and took some more this morning and he's doing good as well. As for myself that weird stomach feeling was nothing... didn't take anything more than a vile of the Chinese medicine my dentist recommend I pick up and I've had no problems to speak http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-238621.html Well it got Kevin but not me not yet. And it of curse had to happen the night before we leave at 730am the next morning on a train for 8 12 hours Of course So to make a long story short Kevin picked up some bug that had him puking all night and feeling like he would be better off dead... but its nothing some hardcore antibiotics couldn't fix But after looking like a ghost all night http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-238426.html Well I got hit by a small dose of the infamous stomach bug of India in last couple of days. I'm in the South Indian city of Madurai where I had only planned on making a short stop of 12 days and I think I'm coming up on four and most has been in my hotel room and one day mainly the bathroom. Fun fun fun. I had been planning on writing a blog about some of the great south indian food I had be http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-235542.html We're in Kodaikanal now this is a hill station about 7500ft high in the Western Ghat mountains of South India. It's 930 pm. Got here last night. I'm at an internet cafe not too many folks in here now. The eternal sound of Indian traffic is happening outside with the horn chatter. It's quite a change being up here vs. down in Chennai or Madurai. Lot cooler here. Quite comfortable.Great fruits li http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-231755.html A group of anxious devotees wait for the word from god. Three men who would soon be god stand before the deity. Their faces powdered with turmeric and the tip of their long knives covered with lemons. Another devotee jumps up and down the steps frantically. Monkeys look on as the hysteria mounts.Annaney koopidu Annaney koopiduhellip a woman screams for an oracle. Others join the chorus. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-225911.html Today is Sept 20 2007These past couple of days have been quite the spiritual experience while visiting the great hindi temples of Mamallapuram. We got around this city by way of cycles that allowed us to experience many near death situations with tuck tucks and donkey carts. The first location we visited was this gigantic balancing rock. It is known as the butter ball of Vishnu. The rock was spec http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-203954.html I am now in my final days of work at People's Watch and as I'll explain things are starting to get pretty exciting just as I'm leaving. From a work perspective I find myself wishing that I had more time in Madurai although I'm also extremely excited to be a tourist again. First I received a comment asking if there are any good jokes regarding the Indian police and their foibles. As it turns http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-185321.html FRENCH Madurai ensuite... clbre pour son temple de folie Sri Meenakshi... Lorsque l'art et la religion hindoue se rencontrent on obtient des bizarreries multicolores.Madurai... C'est aussi l o Jason a commenc se sentir moins en forme. Jusqu'ici il n'y avait que moi me plaindre des effets du Lariam... Comme quoi je n'tais donc pas follehellip mise part le fait que sombrer dans l http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-183440.html Well I haven't really done any extraordinary traveling recently but I felt the itch to write something so here's a grabbag of thoughts 1. Everyday Life I haven't been taking pictures of my daytoday life here so the pictures on this posting will be my Ode to the Ordinary. I know that with all the pictures of Arabian Sea Sunsets you've been wondering where I shower relieve my bowels http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-179067.html I had been biding my time before finally deciding to go to Kerala. I knew that I had to go at some point because the state is renowned for its beautiful coconut tree landscapes and lazy backwater canals. But the problem is that the southwest monsoon is in full swing right now. I looked at the Rough Guide and found that the average rainfall in Kerala throughout July is something like 750 cm or s http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-175725.html Temple de Maduraiprocession ds le templeprocession 2Vue de MaduraiRickshaw style bicycletteKing of ChaiFete religieuse filmer de mon bus Mardi 17 Avril JOUR 37 Madurai et son fameux temple Bon ca fait un bout de temps que je suis passer dans cette ville mais voici quand meme un mini compte rendu. Cest une ville un peu bruyante mais avec des gens sympathiques. Elle est surtout celebre pour http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-175092.html This past weekend five of us went to Periyar National Park just the other side of the state border in Kerala. We were up early on Saturday for our four hour bus ride there which other than the harsh sound of the horn on the bus every couple of seconds was fairly painfree Then once we arrived we got to ride an elephant first time I've ever done that and got lead around some of the natural http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-173308.html Before getting to the legends of Veerappan and Stalin I want to begin by saying that after rereading my last blog I feel that in my efforts to convey funny stories about my travels I made some irresponsible and unfair generalizations about Indian society. After having lived here now for a total of almost one year I fear that I'm taking for granted the things that I love so much about this cou http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-169046.html Traffic Before I start I want to point out that the icon to the left entitled Traffic is a video I took while in a rickshaw. Have a look. So I find myself back in Madurai after a refreshing trip 5 days I think I lost track into the mountains of Northwest Tamil Nadu. The trip was actually more of a work retreat a rare chance to have the full and undivided attention of Henri who is pretty mu http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-167644.html