Temples and chaos

Sri Meenakshi Temple
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I had such a good nights sleep on the train from Chennai, that I didn't even realise we had arrived in Madurai the next morning. When I awoke the train was practically empty. Good job it was the last stop for the train. I got my luggage and headed out to find a hotel. I walked as I knew the train station wasn't far from the main part of the town. I liked the first hotel I went into so decided to take the room. After having a shower and freshing up I went in search of a restaurant for breakfast. I ordered a cheese & tomato toastie, but the bread was really sweet, weird!

Sri Meenakshi Temple
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After breakie I went to see the famous temples. Madurai is one of the South's oldest cities and many pilgrims come here. The temples show Dravidian architecture and are covered from top to bottom in lots of multicoloured images and idols of gods, goddesses, animals and mythical figures. Before entering the temple complex I was taken toone of the shops at the side so I could go to the top of the building and see the view from the top. It was good to do that as I could see the layout and all the temples. I took a few photos and then wandered back through the shop having a nose at their merchandise.

Icons
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I then did enter the temple and took in some fruit and flowers as an offering. I entered the main complex and had a look around at all the pillars and statues. There were statues of various gods around the whole complex. the main part is the Sri Meenakshi temple designed in 1560 by Vishwanatha Nayak and built during the reign of Tirumalai Nayak. There is also a 1000 Pillared Hall and the temple museum, which I had a look around in. I then wandered outside the temples looking at all the icons and idols. They were very decorative and so much detail and colour. I took loads of pictures and must have spent a couple of hours looking around. After the temples I walked through the town and market area. I popped into a couple of bookshops, but didn't buy anything. So I went back to the hotel to chill out for a bit.

Sri Meenakshi Temple complex
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After a while I went for a walk and went to visit the Tirumalai Nayak Palace. It was built in 1636 by Tirumalai Nayak. It is not in use, but has many interesting carvings and architecture style. It's quite a big building with many arches and a big courtyard called Swargavilsa or Celestial pavilion. One of the rooms on the side has been turned into a museum and houses many statues of gods and goddesses. I had a look round, took a few pics and went to fond an internet cafe to do some research on accomm over xmas in Thailand.

statue and icon detail
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Afterwards I made the mistake of walking back through the main market street as it was just chaos. What should have been a 20 minute walk turned out to be an hour. There were just so many people everywhere, shopping and traffic. Everyone was fighting for some space on the pavement and roads. It was just so busy.

The next morning after breakfast I went to see the Gandhi Memorial Museum. I had to take a rickshaw there and back as it was too far to walk. There is a detailed and impressive historical account of india's struggle for independence from 1757 to 1947. It was interesting as there was a lot of commentary and pictures. In a separate room are pictures of Gandhi and his life from birth to death. Outside the museum is a statue of Gandhi wearing his famous loincloth, glasses and walking with a stick.

Icons
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Back at the hotel, I planned ahead for a bit as I had changed some of my flights and was looking at accommodation for Thailand over xmas. I knew it would be very busy so wanted to get this sorted asap. Also I needed to book some more flights between Cambodia & Thailand, so spent most of the evening reading up and researching. I called Reena to discuss our plans as she is meeting me in Thailand. After the phone call I had to leave to catch my train to Kanyakumari. I walked to the station and found that the train was delayed by an hour. Typical! I had no choice but to wait as I had already checked out. I gotten bitten so much by mosquitoes whilst I waited for the train. I was very annoyed about this as the bites became very itchy. Arrrggghhhhh!