Day 11 - on to Madurai and Sri Meenakshi temple

Asia » India » Tamil Nadu » Madurai
September 24th 2008

Published: September 27th 2009

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Jaki

In Shri Meenakshee Temple

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 shown around by a guide. Sarah got dizzy and had to sit down shortly after we went in but was okay after sitting for a few minutes and having some Mountain Dew. Think she was a bit de-hydrated as not been drinking as much water as had been.

The temple was beautiful but could not see all from outside due to maintenance. Inside we saw some families sitting doing some wedding planning and there was also an elephant that would bless you, but didn't pay for that as don't think it's right to have elephants working. We went up to the top of a shop to have a look over the temple and as the shopkeepers tried desperately to get us to buy things

Beautiful wee girl

A man and his lovely daughter

we eneded up in a back corner being shown jewellery. It was very nice stuff but didn't buy anything. The bangle ladies outside were also very pushy but we were amused when one put some purses in John's hands then walked with him for ages trying to get him to buy them. He eventually managed to get her to take them back and bought some anklets, and I got myself a couple of anklets too.

From there we walked through the tailors market where Natalie ended up getting a nice top and trouser set in a lovely blue colour - after much negotiation and walking away. During our free time in the day we took advantage of cheaper internet and then I had a zip put on my intrepid bag and bought a belt to hold up my camo shorts. Later we had dinner at a nice rooftop restaurant near the hotel when Peter almost picked up the bill for everyone.