I have been a terrible blogger, but I will try to catch everyone up.
Mumubai
My friend Chase who recently went to India warned me that it takes some time to get used to India. He wasn't kidding. Loud, chaotic, frenetic, with no sense of personal space. And that was just at the airport!
We found our way to our driver (I never had my name on a sign at the airport before, pretty cool) and into our room around 2 AM. When we awoke, we had a disappointing breakfast (that was included in the room) and headed out to the loud crazy streets of Mumbai ("loud" is a theme I hope to expand upon later). We visited the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal hotel (above, hotel in background)), which were both steps from our hotel. (The latter, sadly, was the epicenter of the deadly terror attack from a few years back. It has been restored, on the outside at least, to its splendor). A walk to the CST train station (at right, in margin) revealed why the station is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a treat, and serves 3 million people every day (and I think most of them were there at 2 pm when we visited). And while it was wet all day, no major showers so we got around OK.
Madurai
From there we were off to the temples of Madurai in the far south, in Tamil Nadu state. It was about 3 hours by air on budget airline SpiceJet. No real problems on the flight, but the boarding was (to my standards) chaotic. No zones, no rows, just "time to get on the plane." Like other budget carriers, nothing is free on the flight, not even water. We arrive at Madurai airport, 15 KMs of so from the city center, and it looked to be a oasis from the hussle and bussle of Mumbai.
I could not have been more wrong.
Madurai is a temple town, but it is a steaming, loud, frenetic, dirty Indian city. We got a little turned around but ended up in an OK but overpriced hotel that was a 15 minute walk to the temple. So we checked in, and off we were.
The temple complex (pictured at right) features 5, exquisitely detailed towers, with hand-painted figures of Hinduism. Each tower is re-painted every 12 years, and the details and scenes are amazing.
Inside the temple (shoes banned), a labyrinth maze of stone passageways are adorned by detailed, painted ceiling and many shrines and statues to cows and gods. There is also a large pool (under reconstruction) within. The smells of burning incense and devoted pilgrims give effect to this place of worship.
Unfortunately, the stones can be very, very hot, and upon dashing back to the place our sandals were stored I managed to both scald the soles of my feet and gash open my right arm on an iron gate (yes, my tetanus booster is up to date).
We enjoyed dinner with a view of the temples, with palak paneer and chicken masala, sopped up by chipati. Another mediocre included breakfast in the AM, then off on a 5 hour bus journey to the mountain city of Munnar, with spectacular scenes and harrowing switchbacks along the way.
Munnar
Finally in the state of Kerala, we found a room in a home/guesthouse a few KMs from the city center, literally surrounded by a tea plantation. Yesterday was damp and drizzly, and we looked about the town a bit, got some fruit from the market, and arranged a tour by
autorickshaw (a/k/a a tuk-tuk in Thailand) for the following day (today) via our guesthouse. A lovely (if slightly cold, and very wet) trip via tea plantations took us to some stunning views of the valleys and mountains here, and we finished the day with a short tour of a tea museum to see how the stuff gets from the tree into your cup.
Tomorrow we are off to see Periyar National Park. I'll try to keep up the blog better.
Notes: food is great, no travelers health issues, glad we packed light. The Mrs. is getting in some shopping and coping fairly well thus far, but the roads, wandering cows, and lack of sidewalks have been a challenge.
India is rarely subtle.
