Blogs from Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia - page 14

Madurai On 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 everyone seems to be happy and love having their pictures taken except the brides who all seemed so glum faced. The best view was from the roof of an adjacent emporium where we ended up buying a child labour free Kashmiri wool carpet which may get home before us. Then on for a nerve racking rickshaw ride through the back roads and alleys of Madurai with stops ... read more

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 Spencer’s Shoppe, an emporium of all things naff. Leaving nothing to chance we bought both a Ganesh (A Hindu God and ‘remover of obstacles’) and Jesus to protect us on our travels. We had also acquired throughout the rally group: Three bunches of red fake roses (one with dewdrops), in keeping with the England theme Prayer beads - which were covered in yellow sandalwood incense which covered everything it touched in then yellow powder Paper garlands An old flip flop Bunting and flags Pink curtains (Thunderbirds) Custom ... read more

Well, it got Kevin, but not me, not yet. And it of curse had to happen the night before we leave at 7:30am the next morning on a train for 8 1/2 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, he finally got some color back in the morning and was holding down granola bars through a bit of the day... then he got hit again on the train, but this time more likely from dehydration and a mix of the antibiotics, malaria pill, etc, as he's fine now. Of course, as I write this I feel my ... read more

We're in Kodaikanal now, this is a hill station about 7500ft high in the Western Ghat mountains of South India. It's 9:30 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 like oranges, jack fruit, star fruits, green mangos with lime and chilli (yum), they even have corn here coated with chilli and lime, but it's not impressive. We're all sticking with the food of deep south India which is far and away some of the best food i've ever eaten. Today is the first time we decided to go non-vegitarian. Had some delicious chicken ... read more

Well, I haven't really done any extraordinary traveling recently, but I felt the itch to write something, so here's a grab-bag of thoughts: 1. Everyday Life I haven't been taking pictures of my day-to-day 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, etc. Well today is your lucky day. 2. Work Work has finally started moving at a slightly quicker pace. Most importantly, Henri finally gave me a decent image of the PRODUCT towards which I'm working...very exciting indeed. Basically, there will be one National Torture Report and 9 State Torture Reports. The National Report will start with a complete overview of the National Legal Standards on torture ... read more