Both ends of the candle burnt...

Here lies the recipe for ending up in bed with "the belly" and chronic lactic acid burn on the very day of the big Shiva festival you came here to be part of...

• Overnight in a non AC carriage (first class though) on the Kollam-Madurai Passer
• Check into the Madurai Railway Retiring rooms (0530)
• Scrub off train dirt with new ayurvedic exfoliating pad

• Eat Dosa by South tower of Sri Meenakshi temple
• Visit Temple (Tamil Nadu's temple-architecture highlight)
• Take loads of quite psychadelic photos (displayed throughout this post)

Get very bitten trying to meditate in temple

Flee from mosquitos

Buy and eat a few indian sweets

 

Feel guilty about eating so many Indian sweets

Eat Idly near the bus stand

Shower again

Check out of Railway retiring rooms

Take the 1230 bus to the mountains

Eat thali at the lunch stop just because it looked so good

Arrive Kodaikanal and check into the Methodist Church (great value with tartan blankets)

Walk to youth hostel and and enquire about trekking

Meet with trekking guide and a French chap looking for more trekkers

Agree to trek with them to Munnar starting at 0830 the next morning

Eat locally grown and made chocolate whilst looking at the light fade over the lake

Decide to eat more chocolate in the morning - especially the butterscotch flavour

Eat tomato and onion uttapam for dinner (almost a wheat-free pizza!)

Repack for the trek and onward luggage

Go to bed

Wake up regularly noting that one tartan blanket is insufficient at 2500m!

Trek at lightning speed with two aerobically fit men for two days (see following post)

Grab a shower in French Chap's hotel (thank you Jean Luc)

Jump on the 4pm connection bus

Eat egg dosa at very busy street stall (AMAZINGLY GOOD)

Change to the nightbus at 9pm

Climb off the bus at 0415 godknowswhere (near Vellore apparently)

Get overcharged for a 500m auto ride to the bus depot

Take first bus to Tiruvanamalai at 0430

• Try not to cry when the autodriver takes you to the wrong place and tries to hike his fee
• Find a room before everywhere opens without an auto
• Accidentally drink a cup of tap water because you're so tired