dgunbug - I'm happy to hear that you are both feeling better! It also sounds like you're starting to get back into the groove of the trip -- at least, I hope so. I'm so intrigued by your reactions so far and am noting them for my own (hopeful) brief trip next year.

rje -- so glad to hear that it worked out so well for you with Nikhil and TGS tours. I had a feeling it would be a good fit, so I'm happy to know that you were very pleased with his services.

And, my best advice for all:

<<For those who are prone to motion sickness, I do not recommend any of these places as there are many narrow hairpin roads with frequent switch backs. >>

The scopolamine patch! I have used it for several trips now, and it has saved my life many times over. I'm one of those very prone to motion sickness, and I can't tell you how this has allowed me to travel on those very roads that would've once done me in. Or manage a boat or any other vehicle which would normally make me ill. So, it is possible to travel anywhere, anyplace!

Progol - good advice!

Our plan had been to get out and start exploring Madurai, but my husband is too exhausted to push on. For now, I'm content wandering the grounds of the hotel, taking pictures of the peacocks which are everywhere and the beautiful flowers. "Wild thing...you make my heart sing..." I suspect feeling better and seeing different scenery will be uplifting and will be a nice finish to this trip.

Looking forward to your take on the temples in TN, which would have been the main draw for me to visit southern India.

june, my tip ideas are per car if you will...

rje... no I was making a general statement... btw, I never follow guidelines. I establish my own.

The tip is settled in our mind. We will be more than generous as our driver has a sick baby that needs cleft palate surgery and we can afford to give extra. He was very good and a pleasure to spend time with. Even if his baby weren't ill, we still feel like he was excellent.

So happy to hear that you're enjoying yourself. Last month we took some of the same roads you just took so I had to bite my lip to keep from telling you the good things about to happen.

We also stayed at the Taj in Madurai. While we usually want to stay in the thick of things, in the case of Madurai I think a little distance is nice at the end of the day! And it is still very close. And I agree, those peacocks on the property are stunning. We learned that many years ago the first few peacocks were brought to the property, but unexpectedly they were females in heat, attracting many randy males, so the population soon exploded!

You're so right about all those switchbacks going down from the heights of Munnar to the plains of Tamil Nadu. Our driver stopped at a particular summit before our descent, excitedly counting off how many we were about to encounter!

And big agreement to progol about the scopolamine patch. I used to get so seasick on boats, but it works wonderfully for me over many years of use. The only drawback for me is sometimes it makes me thirsty, so I end up drinking a lot of water!

One recommendation for a good and hygienic place for lunch in Madurai would be Sree Sabarees. Don't be put off that it is #1 in Tripadvisor! It is the real deal, and they have very good Thalis. There are several,locations, I'm sure your driver will know the location.

Today we visited the truly amazing Sri Meenakshi-sundarwswarar Temple of Madurai. This 2000 year old complex is enormous and is flanked by towers with beautiful Hindu carvings on the North, South, East and West sides. At one secluded area is an elephant that will bless you for a small fee. We passed on this as we felt the conditions in which the animal lives was less than appealing. The hall of 1000 columns is stunning as are the pictures on the ceilings. One cannot bring cameras into the temple complex and we saw no facility to store them. Our driver warned us in advance and advised us that one is allowed to use cell phones for photography. It doesn't make sense, but we were glad to knew ahead of time.

Rather than taking the car into central Madurai where parking would be a problem, we hired a tuk tuk from the hotel and asked our driver to accompany us. That way we were able to leave our cameras with him while in the interior temple and we were able to use our cameras for pictures on the outside and in the surrounding market area.

We hired a guide for inside the temple, but would have been just as happy wandering the temple on our own.

After wandering the outlying market area, we took a tuk tuk to the Rhirumalai Nayakar Mahal, an Indi-saracenic palace which was constructed in 1523. This palace, which is mainly an audience hall was not very impressive to us, but a short visit was enjoyable, due to our interaction with the Indian college students that were also visiting there.

While one of the highlighted attractions is the Ghandi museum, we saw no reason to visit as we have seen several already in other locations.

We are now back in the room relaxing and will return later to see the temple area at night.

Julie - meant to mention that the heat has not been an issue. While warm, I'm not finding it terribly oppressive at all. I was concerned when I read your report, but perhaps you had bad luck with the weather. It's been much cooler here than it was in Cochin.

Sounds like things are on an upswing for you and your husband, both health-wise and sightseeing-wise; I'm happy for you.

How does Madurai compare to some of the large temples you visited in the north? I would imagine there is more color in the temples of the south, based upon some of the Hindu temples I've seen in other parts of Asia, but I've never been to India. Just curious.

dgunbug--

And, what is your name, not your sign in? I'm happy you are now back into the sightseeing mode and have had a day that interests you. Either we were unlucky with the weather or you are lucky since I have read that by this time of year Tamil Nadu is oppressive (as is Kerala).

Interesting about the cameras. Must be new, I don't remember anything like that from Dec 2010, and I definitely have photos from the inside taken with my camera.

Yes, earlier on this thread I wrote about the no-camera rule at the the Sri Meenakshi Temple in Madurai. ;)

Back when I visited the temple in 2009, I took hundreds of photos, and wanted to take more on my return last month. But I kept reading reports on travel websites about this no-camera rule, which I think started in 2012.

So months ago I began contacting people in India to see if I could get some kind of a camera permit. I wrote to the temple authority, the Maduari police, a local photographer for the AP there, and even a book publisher in India who put one of my photos on a well-regarded book about India. But no dice.

Their stated reason is "security". They Madurai police say someone with a bomb in their camera might try and destroy the temple.

But days before our arrival, someone I know in Madurai unexpectedly got me permission. He lives in Madurai and knew whose hand to grease. So I finally secured permission from an official at the Madurai police department in return for agreeing to a "gift".

But then a tiny bomb went off hundreds of miles away, and the police commissioner was forced to temporarily tighten security for a few weeks - coincidently just before our visit.

My friend advised we might have better luck if we went in person and talk to a superior at the police department. So we all trudged down to the Madurai police station, where the embarrassed police official who had promised me a camera permit apologized.

I sat with an underling to the commissioner (the commissioner was unfortunately away from Madurai that week) and pleaded my case. I politely pointed out even government airlines like Air India allow passengers to bring cameras on board, as do all the other airlines in the world, and that a jet aircraft 30,000 feet in the air is far more vulnerable than a temple made of stone. I volunteered to take my camera apart at the entrance to show there was nothing inside.

But I was told over and over that it would be impossible to bring in my camera because of "security". They smiled and invited me to bring in my camera phone. But I already knew this was possible, as they charge a camera phone entry fee at the temple. Finally I gave up and went to the temple camera-less, although I did take a lot of photos with my iPhone, as did many other visitors that day!

So silly. On top of not being a real security problem, a SLR camera allows people to stay further from other people, meaning that the photo-taker is less likely to disturb worshipers. With a camera phone, one has to get much closer to people. In addition, many people don't know how to turn off their flash on their camera phone, so I saw many bright flashes of light from picture-takers in the temple, which has to be annoying to a worshiper.

Luckily, other great temples in Tamil Nadu have no similar ban, so I was able to take a lot of photos unobtrusively in them.

While it had been our intent had been to return to the the Sri Meenakshi temple, we got side tracked and decided to go to a smaller village temple first. We had so much fun in the village that we stayed for a lengthy visit, taking pictures of the beautiful Hindu temple with a large rock in the background and an interesting "temple street perpendicular to it. People were out in mass and everyone was very friendly.

We were invited into a mediation hall where I met a Bhrama kumari, an unmarried woman who dedicates her life to God. She explained a bit about the purpose of the meditation hall through our driver who served as our interpreter. The woman at the center were all anxious for us to learn about their meditation center.

Outside the hall was a chalk drawing of a flower which we were told is a Rangolli, which represents inspiration of purity. Our driver explained that in the villages, each morning people draw this flower in front of their
homes.

We observed the people cooking, eating, and socializing after a day of work. Children ran around the village and were curious to interact with us. Many people asked for us to take their photo. It was all delightful.

After the sun set, we set out to get dinner and I relented to go to KFC as my husband is tired of Indian food. I think our driver would have preferred a nice Indian meal, but he accepted our offer of dinner gladly and we had an enjoyable time together. He has been explaining many of the Indian traditions and the many cultural differences which are so interesting to learn about.

Today was a delightful day and we hope the rest of our trip will continue the same. More tomorrow...

And for those interested - the name is June - the dgunbug is phonetic for junebug which was already taken. I am in no way a gun bug!

Rje - interesting story about the camera. Too bad you had such lousy timing!

Tripplanner - the famous Madurai temple is one of the largest in India and is stunning, however, the beautiful carvings on the exterior of the temples can be see in some of the Rajastan temples as well. Rajastan is certainly not lacking in its array of temples and palaces!

Sorry about all the grammatical errors and typos. I really should reread before sending.

so pleased to read that you're both feeling better and you're having a nicer time than before. it makes such a difference feeling well, doesn't it?

lovely idea to take your driver to dinner, even if it was KFC! how did indian KFC compare with the US version, BTW?

Thanks June. I'm tempted to put India on my short list, perhaps for 2017 or 2018.

This has been such a pleasurable read. Thank you!

Annhig - kfc had many of the same items (although I haven't been to one I. The states in years) and also some spicier Indian versions. It is always interesting to check out the American chain restaurants like kfc and McDonald's to see what the local people have added to the menu. We usually do this when my husband is tired of the local food.

Tripplanner - while there have been some interesting things to see in southern India, we thought the north was more interesting. Perhaps that is because it was our first introduction to this fascinating country. Depending on how much time you have (and you would need a great deal of time), you could do a combination tour. If I had one area to explore though, I'd recommend the north. There are areas we regret we won't get to, such as Calcutta, but I'm not sure if we'll make a return trip.

And yes - feeling better makes such a difference.