Day 30: Madurai

Madurai is a very old city that has been in existence since 3 or 4 BC. We took a cycle-rickshaw tour in the morning. We went through areas resembling small towns where people were busy cleaning their homes and drawing the chalk welcome flowery patterns on the floor of their doorway.

On the cycle rickshaw across the dry river

We had a local guide, Prabu, for the Sri Meenakshi temple and Thirumalai Nayak palace. Our guide was a classical dancer and was happy to dance at the drop of a song. He said his nickname was Hippie Prabu because he was very good with the hip movements in his dancing. The temple was a huge complex with 5 towers and many monolithic statues. It was very popular for weddings and we saw quite a few brides and grooms dressed up in their ornate finery and looking mostly pretty, happy and hopeful.

Sri Meenakshi temple

1000 Pillars Hall at Sri Meenakshi temple

Beautiful, happy bride at Sri Meenakshi Temple

Statue of the goddess Saraswati, the goddess of learning. One of many monolithic (carved from a single piece of stone) statues in the Sri Meenakshi temple compound.

The palace was not as impressive with birds being the main current residents. It was being used as an occassional performance space.

Thirumalai Nayak palace

On the way back we stopped at a banana market and went pass other market stalls. The stalls were abundant with fresh fruit and vegetables. Our rickshaw driver pointed out a Hanuman, monkey god, temple, which was not as prevalent as those of the big 2 - Vishnu, Shiva.

Bananas wholesale market

Onions street

Christine, Lex, Stine and I had veggie thali meal at the most local place and definitely cheapest I've tried so far, Rajeswari round the corner from our hotel. It was good and straightforward service, nothing fancy.

Local thali meal at Rajeswari

Afternoon excursion was to the Gandhi museum, mentioned in next entry. Dinner was at the hotel downstairs restaurant. Tandoori platter was massive. I fell asleep to Chennai Super Kings vs. Mumbai something-or-other in the IPL's quarterfinal with Christine helpfully explaining certain cricketing rules to me. IPL is Indian Premier League for cricket played in April and May every year. It's new, glamorous and has provided another outlet for the country's passion for cricket.

I quite liked Madurai, and preferred seeing the streets and shops for a flavour of local life to the big monuments.