http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , India , Tamil Nadu , Madurai en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:15:41 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:15:41 +0000 My first week here has been somewhat tough. My initial reservation against accepting a placement in India came back to haunt me as I have been having a tough time adjusting. The biggest obstacle for me has been the language barrier between myself and the office staff as well as with most of the people I am surrounded by on a daily basis. Since most of the office staff speaks Tamil exclusively it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-443693.html So we arrived at Maduraim a city of about 1.2 million people with much more of a ldquobig cityrdquo feel than Trichy and more popular on the tourist trail inasmuch as anything in Tamil Nadu is on the tourist trail. This city is famous for its massive temple the Sri Meenakshi temple. By now you might have guessed that Tamil Nadu is famous for its impressive stone temples sometimes in t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-442967.html So I have finally decided to sit down and update everyone on where I am and what I am up to. I am in the International Development Program at the University of Toronto and as part of my coop component I will be spending the next 8 months in Madurai India. I am working for the Madurai NonFormal Education Centre MNEC which is supported by Presbyterian World Services and Development PWSD. M http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-442391.html Very long bus journey indeed to Madurai. Well four hours but it seemed longer as more and more people piled in and it got hotter and hotter. Luckily I was by a window so got a good breeze poor Natalie was at the aisle and had people leaning and bumping into her the whole time. After arriving at our grubby hotel we cleaned up had lunch then visited the Sri Meenakshi temple where we were sho http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-440143.html We set off for Madurai early in the morning maybe even before ten o'clock. We drove through unremarkable country at first and I started to occasionally nod off. There was level ground on either side largely bare with a few trees. As we drove on I started to see odd eructations of rock like giant pimples dotting the landscape. They were on our left side as we drove and formed a chain graduall http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-437555.html We wanted to do a proper posting before we leave Madurai with all the photos.Hi Michigan folks so this is our last night in Madurai. total bummer. The conference was super encouraging So far the most convicting thing I've heard was a lesson about going the extra mile for people. I really want to give more and then give more on top of that. The disciples here are sooo family oriented and are http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-413273.html So here are the pictures from madurai. Travelblog had some server problems over the last few days so these didn't get posted. We had a great time and finally got to go to a temple. It may seem like sight seeing but I think it's important for the mission team members to get a firsthand look at real Indian Hinduism. The sights sounds and smells of temple worship in Madurai are just not what yo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-413099.html HI patgrand everybody else waiting to hear from PhilWe Have a great team here and we are really well receivedThis morning we had a great 1st yr anniversary celebration at Madurai. Yesterday I preached on The Journey of a Missionary. That was a very encouraging experience. Pat I guess you're down in Nashville visiting the kids with Wendy Kylie and Beth. Hi to charlie Carolyn and the kid http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-413042.html Here are a few more pictures from Coimbatore that we couldn't upload till now. I'll caption the ones that need it. The others we'll explain when we get back. we got some great shots from the conference today but we'll just wait to post all the Madurai photos at once. we just had dinner with Felix and Smiley and it was great since we didn't get as much time with them in Chennai. I wanted to le http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-412877.html So...it's been a crazy couple of days. Yesterday was our last day in Coimbatore and we got to hang out with Saji Sheeba and the boys at their place until it was time to go to the single's meeting. Debbie and I preached about fear and it went very well. It was a long day that was supposed to end with an overnight train ride. We left the meeting hall and scooped up some dinner on the way to th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-412829.html We delayed our departure from Mumbai by a day for the Bollywood film shoot. But on the day we were due to film they had a technical failure and the shoot was postponed. Regardless we had to leave the following day. We were going to be in a musical scene with Shah Rukh Khan. It was so disappointing. From Mumbai we took a twelve hour train to Panjim in Goa. After a few days in Panjim we took an ove http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-407757.html Sun is punishing the parched countryside along MaduraiTheni highway. Large tracts of land are left fallow. ldquoVanam Patha Bhumirdquo says Raja the taxi driver. This land gazes at the sky like a hornbill yearning for rain. Farmers rely on rain to irrigate their fields despite the Vaigai dam near Andipatti.We turn left from the highway at Usilampetti. Rajarsquos grandfather Mukaiah Theva http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-400260.html The din of the Sunday market is drowned by loud recorded songs. The Tamil songs resemble old numbers from MGR the movie messiahturnedchief minister who continues to be a defining force posthumously. The tune and tone are the same but these songs are in praise of current chief minister M Karunanidhi who wrote the famous lines for MGR and many other matinee idols and scripted his own success sa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-400256.html Passant des montagnes de Kumilly 1 500 mtres de hauteur jusqu'aux plaines du Tamil Nadu au niveau de la mer la premire chose qui saute aux yeux aprs les kilomtres de bananiers c'est la temprature. Le mercure oscille entre 42 et 45 degrs celcius et le soleil affirme clairement sa puissance titanesque. La bourrasque provoque par cet autobus qui descend a toute allure vers Madurai nous br http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-397445.html We couch surfed in Madurai for 2 days with a guy who let us stay at his guesthouse even though he wasn't there to meet us. I've come across surfers like this before in my travels but this was a little bit different because not only did we have a place to stay without the host we also got full use of his personal driver It was the real royal Indian experience.At first David and I felt quite uncom http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-396053.html jkhkn http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-395204.html Dear AllFor the last ten days I have been travelling from place to place quite a bit and am finding it hard to get time on the internet as I am squashing every last thing possible into these last two weeks of India I can't beleive itWe left off in Varkala and since then we took the bus south to the city of Trivandrum which is slightly inland from the coast. We were told it was a horrible spraw http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-390530.html It would be no exaggeration to state that Madurai is a true representation of the cultural ethos of India and of the grandeur of Indian art. Central to this standing is the sprawling Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple. The plurality of faiths centered around the Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple the splendour of its festival traditions the invocation of events from the 1st millennium CE in its festiva http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-387534.html We had decided to stay on in Gokarna for the festival of Shivaratri on Feb.26th.when thousands of pilgrims converge on the town to celebrate Shiva night. We remained in our little hut on the beach with its bamboo and palm cafe looking across the beach 50 metres from the sea and the days passed languidly with swimming and r 'n' r. Dolphins could be seen not far from the shore and on Pen's birthda http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-383653.html blableblibloblu.jespere que ca marche bien.je comprend rien aux blogs. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-379216.html