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Published: December 26th 2009
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Christmas Day was a travelling day and we left Madurai at 9 am. Not much time to open presents which was OK because Santa didn’t call anyway. Perhaps he was running late, or in a hurry!
On Thursday evening we had our special inclusive hotel buffet along with some local entertainers. They were a motley looking bunch probably rejected by the local circus. There was very loud music from a bugle and a drum, a few balancing tricks, some half hearted dancing, then the highlight - leaping through a fiery hoop. Oh well, they tried. Perhaps with a bit more rehearsal Simon Cowell might take them onboard.
Following that excitement we drove back to the temple to see the ceremony where Shiva is put to bed for the night. His “remains” are carried through the temple in a silver chariot to the bedchamber where his wife is waiting. For 15 minutes it’s absolutely crazy with hundreds and hundreds of people pushing and shoving to get a view as the carriage goes by. Some people follow behind, in procession, others dash across the temple to find the next viewing point. Those in the know get a good view but are
crushed against the barriers by everyone behind. It’s utter madness, noisy, hot, sweaty but great fun. We made it back to the hotel bar in time for a beer then crashed out about 11 o’clock. It’s exhausting, this adventure holiday lark!
The Christmas Day drive took about 4 hours including a couple of stops and was made easier by the lack of traffic because it’s a public holiday. We crossed the state border from Tamil Nadu to Kerala about half way - most impressive, it’s marked by a single rusty gate at the side of the road. Then the road narrows and climbs the mountains in a series of switchbacks. I find it’s best not to look ahead but to concentrate on the view to the side instead. The number of near misses as trucks and buses career down the mountain towards you gets a bit scary. Still, we’ve got a good driver (Vipin) and he got us there unscathed. We’re staying at the Treetop lodge in Kumli, on the edge of the National Park. Rooms are clean but basic - no pool, TV doesn’t work and no aircon. Mind you, we’re at just under 6,000 feet so the
Elephant time!
At the Spice Garden lack of aircon isn’t a problem!
With a bit of encouragement from Tony they had laid on a special Christmas buffet with Roast Turkey. 10 out of 10 for effort but nobody had mentioned carving the turkey. Instead, I can only think that the chef had hacked it to bits with a machete in such a way that every piece had some skin and bone as well! The staff tried to provide a camp fire as well but the wood wouldn’t take hold, so they resorted to chucking on various cans of fuel, cooking oil but thankfully no petrol. So we got a camp fire which was very hot and very bright in short bursts. Like the turkey, you couldn’t fault their good intentions - it just didn’t quite work out.
Boxing Day was set aside for a trip into the National Park but for me at least, that was a disappointment. We saw even less wildlife than Ranthambohre last Easter. Perhaps tigers are now extinct, but they’re trying to keep it quiet!
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John S
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Looks great at Treetops...
..we had a good Christmas Day until the evening when we got stuck into some second rate TV, and just repeated it on Boxing Day round Julies mum's. Julies gone to bed with a headache and Dan's on his X-Box. I'm reduced to watching Road War's.......realy good news is Julie did buy me a shiny graphite black 8Gb I-Pod, it's lovely! Hope U see some wildlife......John S...