Hi Everyone
Ummm...this is challenging to say the least, probably just the shock to the system! We arrived in Bangalore on Thursday evening after one hell of a journey from Cape Town...our heads are screwed up with the lack of sleep and confusing timings etc, but still I'll try and explain the trip!
Cape Town to Dubai (10 hours, no sleep), Dubai airport for 6 hours (no sleep). FLight to Bangalore (5 hours, no sleep) then taxi to the train station. My god, this was a test of our character, Licci had a few wobbly moments with the incessant staring at us from everyone, the fumes were awful, the language barrier was making it near impossible to know what the hell we're doing - but somehow we made it onto the train, although we later realised that only one of us had a guaranteed seat and the ticket master was not too friendly - lucky we managed to stay together!!
Arrived in Madurai the next morning to the masses of touts preying on us for our custom! Had nowhere to stay so made our way to a couple of strips known for having accomodation and tried our luck in a few places...so glad we got the Lonely PLanet India book back from the muggers! We'd be lost without it!
Found a hotel (a little more than we needed but we were desperate!) and we crashed for the whole day, too exhausted to do anything else and quite frankly a bit nervous about venturing out!
We were quick to realise that the temples (the only reason we came to Madurai) were covered up and were being renovated. They look like mummified structures, covered in some sort of grey, shabby marterial. Gutted.
So, with the Temples off the agenda and not liking the overcrowded streets, we felt it was time to make a quick exit! We've got a couple of bus tickets booked to take us to Cochin (Kerala) leaving on Sunday night, arriving Monday morning - 10 hours on a bus, in India...gotta start somewhere! This should be a lot nicer - according to all sources!
Will try and take some more pix when there is something half decent to take!
Licci & Jay
x
