Hotel Femina Tiruchirappalli

... of people inside praying and we were the only tourists around. We were able to get a rooftop view of the many gates but non-Hindus are not allowed into the inner areas with the main statues. However, we were lucky enough to be standing around when the temple elephant came out for his afternoon stroll, and it was funny to see him with the paint markings on his face that are usually used to recognize ...

... and present prayer modes, general behaviour and social values with the temple complex. It’s fascinating and amazing to see these devoted, lovely people all united in this spiritual endeavor and, like Amritsar’s Sikhs, I highly respected their absolute faith and service. After almost 2 hours (heaven help if you needed to spend a penny, as there didn’t seem to be many emergency exits!). We’d almost made it, as we were now queuing with the ...

... br>Puducherry was a pretty place with French architecture and arching trees that covered well-maintained streets and avenues. There’s a seafront promenade and a delightful French area (retained since they took control in the early 18th century), but whether it was too big, too spread out or not much of interest to me here, I don’t know, but I just knew that I was going to be happy moving on to Mamallapuram. I visited the pretty seafront and then moved on to the reason for ...

... i should join the crew at Sadhana Forest before i am more insane with my only friend being a monkey and the Starry -Eyed Sue meditation cushion. I spent some time researching my next few weeks on the internet and tying up some loose ends then ventured out on the local city bus to climb the steps of the rock fort temples Sri Thayumanaswamy and Vinayaka Temple. I managed to score an el cheapo watch with alarm clock from a vendor near the entrance. I stopped to ...

... labourers warmly welcomed us with big smiles. Later that night, Prema informed us that a tiger had seized their calf. She was obviously most distraught.



The next morning, Ramesh called to say that the tiger and dead calf were on a grassy clearing in the small hillock opposite their camp. He said everyone at the camp had seen it and wanted us to see it as well. By this time, we had already set off in a different ...

... We cruised on the backwaters in a houseboat, which is made of wood and bamboo leaves. It comes with a bedroom with full working bathroom, a kitchen and a 'patio', a captain, a servant and a cook. Incredible luxury!! We were served snack, dinner and breakfast, while floating ...

... promote skin lightening!). There were 4 little girls who came over to chat to us and play with my bangles - cute as anything and like most of the young girls in India they were all wearing little meringue bridesmaid type dresses! It hit me as we were wandering around the Big Bazar looking at some fabrics, that there was something missing..... cows! I realised that since arriving in South India, the only cows I had really seen were few in number, quite healthy ...