Yesterday was a long day: I got up in Colombo at 5AM, 1.5-hour taxi to airport, flight to Trivandrum, where, luckily, my bike was found, exactly where I had left it!

Then a long 8-hour drive through very hot weather, over mountains and plains to arrive at sunset in Madurai, a two thousand year old city in Tamil Nadu. I was completely exhausted, and did myself the favour of checking into a "fancy" ($10 per night!!) hotel... after all, today is my birthday!

Hardly back and I am already often confronted by India. A "conversation" this morning went like this: "Rickshaw?" , "No thanks. You see, I have this motorcycle that I am sitting on." "So, you want rickshaw?" ...Ahhh!! "What did I just say?!..."
It can be hard to keep a smile...but so very important, to deal with life and the weirdness here.

Madurai is famous for it's huge complex of Hindu temples; which are pretty extraordinary. Here are some photos:

There are no less than twelve Gopuras or towers, one or two of which are typical for Tamil Nadu temples.View image, View image,
If you are going to have a tower, you may as well make the doorway high enough to appreciate it! View image,
The interior achitecture is grand, to say the least, with wonderful palys with light and space: View image, View image, View image,
one of the temple brahmin priests View image,
The temple gets 15,000 visitors a day, who come to from across the country: View image,
You can buy your own gods, or Ghandi, or Sai Baba, at the souvenir shop: View image

As always, there was a temple elephant who provides blessings: when you place a coin in his trunk, he deftly swings it over into his Mahut's hand, and then swings back to touch you lightly on the head. I did it, and found ti to be quite a moving experience to be treated so gently by such an enormous beast. View image , View image.

In the temple courtyard, I found these lovely girls, who had come on a pilgrimage with their families. The bald heads are a right of passage for the young girls, and the forehead markings are part of their worship. View image, This next one was taken just after I showed them their photos, and is perhaps one of the best shots I have taken in India!!! (View image).

Outside on the street, life goes on, and this cow has found something to eat: View image.