South India

South India

Three flights in one day transported us suprisingly easily from Nepal down to the South of India. Madurai was our first taste of India, a hot and dusty city, but with intriguing hints of ancient history and culture evident in daily life.

We booked ourselves into a government hotel, the best available choice amongst slim pickings, but a perfectly good base for exploring the impressive 2 acre sized Sir Meenakshi Hindu Temple, an ancient palace, local bazaars, the flower market and the Ghandi museum.

The hindu temple was the star attraction, a lively meeting point for just about everybody, and all sorts of worship and family gatherings where in progress when we visited.

We returned for a second visit to the hindu temple at night to witness an interesting nightly ceremony where statues of the god Shiva and goddess Meenakshi are whisked in a frernzy around the temple by priests before settling in a romantic bed chamber for the night. It was such an ancient practice, I don't imagine it would have been much different 500 or 1000 

After visiting Madurai we caught a local bus over to the mountains to a town called Munnar for a few days of blissful relaxation. We settled on a basic homestay, and while the ceiling mould and bucket and cup shower might have been a reason to keep looking around, it was amongst the only places set in the middle of a tea plantation, so we where more than happy.

We have now moved on to the south west coast, to a very touristy place (but in all the right ways) called Fort Kochi. It's like a little Portugal, with white wash buildings and an array of churches.

Today was the most amazing day- 7.30am 2 hour yoga class with a beautifully bearded Indian yoga instructor, where Hamish was told (as a beginner) he was a natural. Post yoga, we had the best brunch of our trip at an art cafe, followed by a site seeing tour during which Hamish splurged on a rug which will apparently be posted to our house (if where lucky). Then afternoon tea of chocolate  cake and tea at another awesome cafe...

Finally our day finished off with a cooking class in the evening, in a local lady's tiny kitchen. We cooked 5 Keralan dishes, half of the time under candlelight and Hamish's phone torch, as the power cuts out here too.

Just loving India so far.