MADURAI

We've arrived in Madurai. We got ourselves a room for 500Rupees/night. That's about $12.50!!! We're getting pretty good at navigating the city and we got to the 'i-net' place today without getting lost once!! Today we toured the Meenakashi temple, the largest in India, and we had the most knowledgeable tour guide.... Nadarajan... he was amazing and taught us a lot! I don't know how much I remember, but I was fascinated at the time! Michelle and I got sized for our very own Indian clothing and it'll be ready for pick up at 5pm. We are going back to the temple tonight to watch the 'Bedroom Procession'... something they do every evening @ 9:30 with the fertility Gods. Should be interesting!

It is sheer MADNESS here on the streets. Traffic is everywhere. Horns honking, people crossing at any chance they get. We saw a cyclist get knocked over by a rickshaw on our ride in from the airport!





Last night it finally quieted down around 3am. By 4:30am I woke to the chanting and singing of the Brahman priests at the temple.... they were waking up the Gods.... obviously! :)

So far, people seem very friendly and helpful. Aside from the traffic, I feel pretty safe, but don't worry mom, we're keeping our wits about us! Often we are approached by people selling things or people asking for money, but they don't hound us for too long. They ask, accept the 'no' and easily move on with out much of a fuss.

People LOVE having their pictures taken!
This guy gave us our shoes back after we visited the temple...



This guy made us some chai tea this morning.... it was delish!



This fellow cooked our yummy dinner last night!



This little girl's parents thought she was so cute, they asked me to photograph her!



Tomorrow we leave Madurai and head to the ashram! Michelle and I are very excited to see what that place it all about. Our course starts Sunday!

The BEST part about the temple today was when we were blessed by the elephant. Our tour guide said it is a blessing of happiness and basically it means nothing but makes the tourists happy!! haha




A few of my favourites so far....