Madurai City - Temple Town

Another hot steamy day in Madurai .. I think the temperature is around 34 degrees and humid so we aren't taking advantage of the pool as there isn't any breeze and don't want to burn.  By the time the air temperature cools enough to be enjoyable, the midges/mosquitoes are flying around.   Never mind.

This is the Building our bungalow is in.  We are on the top floor (sounds weird to have two floors in a bungalow but that is how the accommodation is described)

Something about the hole in this tree was fascinating the parakeets this morning ... they were taking it in turns to peer inside.   I thought maybe they'd trapped an owl inside but its going to remain one of life's little mysteries I think

and there are lots more buildings/bungalows like ours spread out amongst the spacious grounds of what was the British Club here in Madurai.   Our room is amazingly large with two double beds and a bathroom large enough to house half a dozen indian families I think.   More like a Suite than a hotel room.   The guy who looks after the rooms in this bungalow can't do enough for us, in fact he's just brought me some 'temple flowers' to put in the room to scent the air as they are very fragrant.   He's even given us a tube of mosquito repellent cream (although we have our own sprays with us).

However the restaurant staff are very inefficient and ill trained.  Sadly our experiences at lunch and dinner yesterday have soured the stay here a bit and we wouldn't recommend this place for that reason.

We're told there are 20,000 temples in Tamil Nadu and we see small shrines on almost every corner.    There are 27 temples in Madurai itself

Anyway, today we visited Madurai City.  First stop was at the Thirumalai Nayak Palace (1636)

The palaces and temples we have visited are on such a grand scale that photos just can't do them justice

These are just sections of ceilings

I leaned back against a hand rail to steady myself whilst photographing ceiling art and nearly squashed this moth.   I think its a sort of hawkmoth but 'bugs' aren't my thing so if anyone knows for certain, I'd love to be enlightened

From the Palace we went to the Meenakshi Temple Complex, a historic Hindu temple dedicated to Parvati (known as Meenakshi) and her consort Shiva (the destroyer).
The temple is the heart of this 2500 years old city.

The temple complex is a city within a city with  labyrinthine corridors and halls.   There are 14 gateway towers called gopurams in the complex with the tallest one being the South Tower which was the gateway we entered through.  It is 170ft high and covered with multicoloured images of gods, goddesses, animals and mythical figures.    The images get repainted once every 11 years (taking 1 year to complete) and we're lucky that the painting was finished late last year so we saw the towers when the colours were fresh.  The site covers around 25 hectares (approx 62 acres) so is huge

We could only photograph from the outside.    Cameras are banned inside although mobile phones are allowed through security.  David has taken a few pics on his phone inside the complex but I haven't seen them yet and doubt the quality will be great.    Security is incredibly tight here.   No cameras, no camera batteries, no binoculars, no large bags, glasses/sunglasses must be worn on the face (not the top of the head where I normally perch my sunglasses when venturing indoors from the sunshine), body searches on the way in and of course no shoes or socks allowed.

The complex is just amazing with corridors filled with little shops selling souvenirs and offerings for the gods.  27 temples and a central 'Sanctum' where non-Hindus aren't allowed to enter.   We spent 2 hours wandering round and only saw part of it.

Pictures of the outside - some taken from the rooftop of a neighbouring Govt Giftware Shop we visited later.  Didn't buy anything there (too expensive) but did trek up 6 flights of stairs in full sun to try to get better pics.

South Gateway tower

David and I had  a quick wander round to the East Tower which was smaller but just as decorative

15,000 worshipers from all over India visit the Temple Complex every day as its believed to be a 'strong temple' being dedicated to two powerful gods.     Local Tamils apparently come here twice a day to pray.   Small wonder the garland and incense sellers are doing such a great trade

Outside the temple complex there are some very colourful folk - worshipers and street vendors etc

note 'silly hat' man in background!!

Several shops were selling these brightly coloured pasta pieces - beautiful to look at

keeping cool

and, as usual, a cow wandering around although it looks as though somebody has fed this one (to get good karma)

One of the little street idols - this is the elephant god Ganesh

then our guide took us to eat at a local 'fast food' restaurant popular with Indians at lunchtime.     We had a selection of vegetable curry dishes and a bowl of rice which was tipped out onto the banana leaf on our trays and eaten with an assortment of breads they kept supplying us with and plates of deepfried battered cauliflower florets which was delicious.

The whole meal cost 250 rupees per head (£2.50) 

To drink we had fresh lime sodas.   Couldn't get much fresher than this as the limes were being pressed outside in the street ... there are lots of people pressing sugar canes and limes with this sort of 'mangle' machine.    Sugarcane juice can be added to the lime soda but I really liked the 'tart' taste of the drink and didn't want mine sweetened

This evening our Guide had arranged for us to travel by tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) to the temple complex to witness the Aarti ceremony where Shiva is carried in a palanquin to the temple of his consort Parvati to spend the night accompanied by musicians temple singers and priests.   But we've had a bit of a 'con-flab' and 10 of our group have decided we don't want to visit the temple tonight.   We'd have to go through all the security again, get there for 8.30pm and wait for the ceremony to start - could be any time up to 10pm apparently.   No cameras allowed and the place will be packed.

So 5 members and our Guide will go to the temple.  The rest of us will take a tuk-tuk ride round the town then head back to the hotel bar and have a relaxed evening till the others get back.

So after tonight there won't be many forms of transport we haven't tried here (except public bus and train).  We've had tractor carts, camel carts, manual rickshaws and of course elephants!

tomorrow we set off to visit a tea plantation    ... till then .....

LOCAL PRODUCE MARKET

We paid a visit to a village produce market

These elaborate flower garlands are used as offerings to the Gods. They cost around 50 rupees each (50 pence). More expensive ones will contain roses etc., these were mainly marigolds and other local flowers.

And not much explanation needed for the following pics – just a riot of colours and smells (some nicer than others)!

 

cutting/trimming sugar cane.  She worked so quickly the knife is just a blur   LOL

 dried fish

Nuts

On arrival at our hotel in Madurai I loved this display of local flowers floating in an ornamental bowl in the lobby

 The view from the Balcony outside our room

The balcony

Right that's up to date for now.

We have free wifi here ... except the hotel had a problem with the line all afternoon so I prepared everything offline earlier and posted it tonight.      We have a busy day tomorrow 

Leaving Periyar/Kerala …. Driving to Madurai in the state of Tamil Nadu

We said goodbye to our Hotel (Greenwoods Resort) which we can highly recommend. Lovely surroundings, really efficient service and the most extensive and tasty selection of food so far this tour.

I have a few photos of the place … we stayed in two storey bungalow accommodation like this (our room was upstairs so good for spotting birds at treetop level).

Pool

This was the treehouse/tearoom for the more adventurous souls .. just 50 rupees for tea and cake (50pence).  

and one of the many staff constantly sweeping leaves up in the grounds.   We've seen lots of women in India working outdoors like this - many of them doing road repairs and carrying heavy buckets of bricks etc

One of the free range birds roaming the grounds …. I thought his colouring was very 'Indian'

Actually, there were also guinea fowl wandering around and they were really noisy. They started off low-key then built up to a crescendo of 'I'M BACK, I'M BACK, I'M BACK, I'M BACK which went on for 10 mins at a time (well at least that's what it sounded like). I'm told Guinea Fowl are very tasty and these were in danger of being presented to the kitchen to add to the evening curry buffet!

 Whilst waiting for our coach driver to get the necessary permissions to cross into the State of Tamil Nadu, I photographed some Indian men wearing Dhotis.     Our Guide dresses in Western clothing most of the time but the other night he donned a Dhoti and showed us how it can be worn like an ankle length skirt, then the corners are quickly hitched up and tucked into the waist at the front to form this shorter version which makes walking easier 

The drive to Madurai takes about 4 hours but we made several stops en route. Madurai is one of the oldest cities in South India and one of India's most famous temple towns.

We stopped at a roadside area where bricks were being made. Most of the workforce had stopped for lunch so we could have a bit of a look around

Drying in the sun 

The whole family join in the work

One of the young girls helping – Tamil Nadu girls apparently are reknown for wearing flowers in their hair, according to our guide.

Then a stop at a vineyard where it was possible to buy local produce. I didn't bother as the guide said the wine was sweet. Transpired the wine was red and non-alcoholic, so actually it was grape juice!

David sampled some Chai (Indian Tea) which is very rich and more like a dessert than a cup of tea to my mind but he enjoyed it. Here the mix of milk and spices is boiled and then there's an elaborate pouring from great height for some reason

Whilst David was enjoying his Chai, i was trying to figure out what species of white fluffy bird was in the top branches of the tree I was sheltering under.    Transpired it was an egret grooming itself - Peacocks 'up North' and Egrets 'down South' it seems .. but after spending a good 15 mins trying to identify it, I'm posting the photo anyway as its a nice pic and shows the glorious blue sky we have here today (although its still very steamy even though we're high up in the hills now)

Back on the road again we passed some bullock carts – note the elaborately coloured horns on the first lot - we passed more like this with coloured horns but I didn't managed to photograph them through the window quickly enough. I had the sun on my side of the coach so these photos are a bit hazy