18TH Thurs. Cochin to Madurai in Tamil Nadu

This morning we decided to skip breakfast and make an early start.  Joshy met us at our hotel at 8am for the drive to Madurai.    He was so pleased to be driving us again - I think we're some of his least troublesome passengers and he's always happy to stop for a cup of chai with us at the roadside or wait for a few minutes if I spot something I want to photograph.

On this part of the trip we'd let Joshy make the hotel arrangements.  He is familiar with all the towns/hotels and gets 'Indian rates'   We pay less (and no doubt he gets commission) so we're all happy.   All we had to do was research the places we wanted to visit and decide where we wanted to stay and he did the rest.     He was a little concerned that we'd ignored many of the temples traditionally visited in these parts but we're all 'templed out' having seen so many in previous visits.   We have compromised and included a few just to keep him happy!

I'd worked out it would take approx 7 hours to complete our drive but Joshy had learned of roadworks on the route he'd planned to take so we went by a different one which was very scenic up windy roads into the hills where the tea/coffee plantations are situation and down the other side.   We've visited these plantations on previous trips so we didn't keep stopping to take photos but I did get a few.    It took us 9 hours although we stopped a few times

During the drive I got to wondering how to describe the main differences between our visits to Rajasthan in the North and Kerala/Tamil Nadu in the South (so far).

First and foremost must be the weather.    We've had cooler/drier heat in the North with the mornings and evenings being positively chilly.  Here the temperatures are a good 10 degrees hotter and its much more humid.  

The South is much, much cleaner.   There are very few wandering cows, dogs, pigs on the roads and in Kerala where we passed through initially there are some very lovely large villas/mansions in beautiful grounds.  Kerala is a very prosperous State although Joshy told us that many residents now live/work overseas but they still build these lovely properties and return frequently to 'their' villages.     In addition the people have different features.   As a generalisation I'd say the Northern folk have more sculpted, fine features and the Southerners have rounder faces.  

The majority of men here wear short sleeved shirts with a  dhoti - a sort of wrap around long skirt which can be hitched up to form knee length shorts (or baggy nappy) or worn ankle length.   The women dress much the same as those in the North but perhaps slightly less 'bling' here.

Anyway,   some pictures taken en route

I'm so pleased I managed to get this one as it was taken out of the side window of the car and I thought I'd 'missed' him/her - off to work

This was a very colourful bird we spotted whilst on our first 'chai stop' in the hills.   It was very elusive but I managed to get a couple of shots of it in the open although they're not as clear as I'd like.   Its a male Scarlet Minivet.   The females have yellow rather than red sections but this was the only one we spotted today.

and a cute cow outside the chai stop place

One of the many tea bush fields ... I posted so many photos of tea pickers on a previous Blog I don't want to repeat myself but felt I had to include just the one ...

Across the road was a rather lovely building - a nearby sign stated 'Fransiscan Brothers - St Francis Boys Villa.  Moritz Sadan Novitiate' so I guess its the place were young Fransiscan monks attend training

We stopped before crossing from Kerala into Tamil Nadu so that David and I could wander around, stretch our legs and make a few purchases.     We bought some most amazing organic peppercorns (having tasted several from various spice shops along the way - Joshy had shown us the 'locals' area and guided us away from the tourist ones).    The organic corns were more expensive but the taste lingered on the tongue for 10 mins or so .. we also bought loose black tea leaves for his lordship and some garam masala. 

We decided to buy a few 'nibbles' rather than having a proper lunch.    Had fun watching this guy slicing bananas into sizzling oil although we didn't buy/taste any

The finished article

We bought some spicy Samosas from a neighbouring shop and yet more lovely chai ... I resisted this guy's endeavours to sell me a necklace but David got caught ... he isn't very good at bartering (don't get me started on the time he bidded 'up' instead of 'down' in Tunisia and I ended up with a hideous burgundy camel shaped ashtray!!   Anyway, I'm sure one of the grand-daughters will appreciate it

Oh, and we bought David a new baseball cap to replace the one he left in the taxi a few days' back (apparently my fault for not doing a final check of the car before leaving it)!

Back on the road I spotted this bullock cart ahead of us and asked Joshy to stop so we could take photos.      He overtook it and parked up .... the lovely driver of the cart actually stopped the bullocks to let me take pics  so David managed to cross the road and get a photo from that side.    I love these carts - and the horns on the bullocks had been newly painted so were vibrant.

and one final stop for Chai where I took a few photos of the Chai Lady in full flow (pardon the pun) ... there's a real art to making proper Chai, its all in the mixing!

We're staying at the GRT Regency Hotel for a couple of nights.  Its a bit more of a 'business hotel' than we'd like but we were a bit restricted on choice ... anyway its only for a short stay and its outside of Madurai Town which I think will be very noisy at night and we'd like a couple of quieter evenings.

Just off to check out the restaurant now so that's it for tonight