Tamil Nadu is a state and we visited several places; Madurai, Trichy, Pondicherry and Chennai. First stop Madurai- We got there in the afternoon and usually Me and Danny book a few train tickets in advance when we know how long we're going to stay in each place. So we went to the reservation office, where I was served y a guy who was a comedian, trying to pull all the jokes with his limited english. Anyway, after reading my name, he asked for my address and send that I am a tourist. His reply to that was "Are you a tourist or a terrorist?" I started laughing because that was quite quick for him but the cheeky fucker!
We stayed at a place called Sri Devi (315 rps for the night), which was next to the Sri Meenakshi Temple, which was a few temples in one massive complex. We didn't really do much in the afternoon because we were tired from our train journey. So in the evening we went to see the Sound ad light show (in english) at the Tirumalai Nayak Palace, which was just basically a story about this king, and how he was the best king ever-How typical! When we walked back from the temple, we were met by a big croud, who were there trying to get a blessing from the elephant in the temple, who was roaming around in the streets thinking he were cool. Danny was desperate for a blessing so i stretched out to a 0.5 rupee coin (we're on a budget) and the elephant sucked the coin out of Danny's hand, leaving it all gooey and tapped him on the head with his trunk (this was the blessing bit, not because we were being tight) and passed the coin back to his trainer. His owner must be proud of the elephant but the blessing left Danny giddy all night.
We stayed at a place called Sri Devi (315 rps for the night), which was next to the Sri Meenakshi Temple, which was a few temples in one massive complex. We didn't really do much in the afternoon because we were tired from our train journey. So in the evening we went to see the Sound ad light show (in english) at the Tirumalai Nayak Palace, which was just basically a story about this king, and how he was the best king ever-How typical! When we walked back from the temple, we were met by a big croud, who were there trying to get a blessing from the elephant in the temple, who was roaming around in the streets thinking he were cool. Danny was desperate for a blessing so i stretched out to a 0.5 rupee coin (we're on a budget) and the elephant sucked the coin out of Danny's hand, leaving it all gooey and tapped him on the head with his trunk (this was the blessing bit, not because we were being tight) and passed the coin back to his trainer. His owner must be proud of the elephant but the blessing left Danny giddy all night.
The next morning, we got the train to Trichy (not much hanging about for us) and getting a place to stay was a bit tricky because everything was full. We managed to find a place, after about an hour (Vijay Hotel) which was in the middle of the city so it was very noisy. We dropped our bags in the room and went for something to eat at Banana Leaf, which was like KFC. Me and Danny have been feasting on curry since we got here so we treated ourselves big. We met a couple of travelers at the train station, who said there wasn't much to see at Trichy but we decided to trust the Lonely Planet and go and see the rock fort temple. This temple was on top of this huge rock (hence the name), which was surrounded by a busy market. We climbed up the steps (450 approx.) to the top, where we saw bats sleeping and chilling on the ceiling. We ended up chilling on this huge rock for a while admiring the view because we were so high up, where we met this guy called Mohammed, who became our new friend for the next hour. He offered to get on the local bus with us to our hotel and even offered to paid. What a nice guy but he said he did all this for our friendship. Free travel can have our friendship any day lol. Getting on the local buses is an experience in itself but it doesn't help when an old man is sat there staring at us, especially me for some reason, with his jaw nearly hitting the floor. We tried to get a pic but the bus drivers are not very smooth over here so we failed.
Our next stop was Pondicherry, which is a town influenced by the french, where there are still many french people living there. We got there early afternoon and it took us a while to find a place (and it was very hot with our bags on = extra effort) but the whole town is set on a grid system (like the ones in America), so it takes a bit loner getting around. We stayed at Mothers Guest House (600 rps for 2 nights). The room was a bit small but we were too tired to walk anymore so we settled for this. The beach, which is why we came here, wasn't to boast about, as there were big rocks on the shore. So we walked around and explored the town. There were huge white buldings and the place was clean, which isn't like India at all but after a 5 min walk deeper into town, it's India again. It's weird because the town seems to be split with the posh near the coast and the locals on the other side. With the beach not being as good as we expected, we hired a motorbike the next day (200 rps for the day) and rode North for another 12km. The locals called it Hollywood beach but this beach was ideal for us because there were no tourists there, only local fishermen on their boats and the women packing them on the shore. We went back to the town for some food but we returned later for a dip, as it was hot, and we ran out of petrol no where near a petrol station. After holding a long conversation with the locals, which was a mission, we found out that the newsagents, yes it sells fags, sweets, top up cards etc, sells petrol in water bottles. Classic!!We put a litre in and we were on our way.
Next morning, we were on our way to Chennai, it took us a bit longer then we had intended on an overcrowded train. We booked a couple of more train tickets when we got there, but they had a special counter for foreign tourists, which was a 'piss take'. It would have been quicker booking them in the normal que with the locals, but this way, we get guaranteed seats. We stayed at a place called Horizon Guest House (450 rupees 1 night) which was a little over our budget but everywhere was fully booked or overpriced. We got on the local bus, which is always a laugh, to the posh end of town to collect a lonely planet China book and ended up eating at Subway in a shopping mall. I was dying for some proper bread and that could have been the best sandwich I've ever had. On our way back to our hotel, we were trying to flag a local bus, but they were all full so we walked for about 30 minutes, harassing the auto rickshaw drivers, who always try to charge us too much. Me and danny were telling them to put the meter on but they refused to and drove off. That's how bad these guys are. We managed to run onto a bus, with it's doors open, felt like one of the locals Ha.
I just want to share a transformation that I am seeing. For those of you who know Danny, know what type of person he is, but on this journey he is starting to transform. Last week he couldn't get his head out of a sudoku book and this week, he wont get his head out of a book. What a Geek!! He's even started using bigger words like 'this' and 'is' in his vocabulary. Im sure his parents would be very proud!!
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