Madurai 28 – 29th Jan 2005

The first overnight train ive been on in a long time and it was remarkable painless. I managed to sleep ok. And managed not to miss my stop 4.30am.

The three of us are obviously all a bit shirty at that time in the morning and the thought of facing rickshaw drivers really isn’t appealing. We decide instead to take refuge in the train station for a while. We find a coffee stand and get a caffeine fix before we face the inevitable barrage of hassle outside the station.

We walk a few blocks from the train station and check in to a barely passable guest house. The rooms have attached bathroom, TV, and complimentary cockroaches. Nice! However they are cheap and central. The other problem is that its 6Am and all hotels in the south operate a 24hour check out system, this means wee have to check out a 6am the following day or pay for an additional night.

Madurai is a famous temple town and sees thousands of Hindu pilgrims everyday making their way to the temple. We spend the afternoon looking at the temple which is quite nice but in my opinion ‘Nothing special’ besides, tourists aren’t allowed inside so all we can do is walk around the grounds and view the temple from outside. We then head to a palace which has to be the least looked after attraction I have seen in India. Inside there are piles of rubbish, crumbling walls, raw sewage, and huge pot holes in the floor. They have the audacity to charge us to get in to this place! It really is a dump!

We then get a cycle rickshaw to take us back to the hotel. The rickshaw man, about 90 years old, 4 foot tall and weighing about 7 stone, insist that he can cycle the three of us back. We get about half way and the guilt gets to me. I really cant get used to cycle rickshaws, I always feel guilty and have to get off. We all get off and agree to walk the rest of the way. The poor guy was going to die if he took us much further, his legs were buckling and sweat was washing off him. We pay him well with a big tip and he looks happy, im sure he will probably spend it on street alcohol but who can blame him.

The following day we get a train (3 hours) to another temple town ‘Trishy’.