Friday, 2/2, Madurai

We awoke from our stupor after the overnight bus trip around noon.  Breakfast long over, we now needed sustenance.  We found a restaurant in the hotel just down the street from us and went into their AC room.  The waiter made the pouring thing between 2 cups to cool off the milk coffee.

We ordered some food.  I got the South Indian Thali, and Bill got Mushroom 65 and a paneer dosa.  

The Thali was fabulous.  There were about 10 little metal cups inside a round “dish” with a banana leaf round in it.  On the leaf was some bread, crispy fried onions, and eventually some rice.  I tasted each of the cups first, some were dal based and varied in texture and thickness, others were chutneys, some were chopped veggies, 2 were bean based, and one was sweet - dessert.  The idea is to put some of the sauce in your dish onto your rice and then pick it up in your right hand only using all 5 fingers.  You kind of mash it around until you get a glob that sticks together, and then with your thumb, you push the glob into your mouth.  Indians can do this very, very fast.  I was amazed at the dexterity they have with just one hand.  They can tear a piece off of the dosa, dunk it into some sauce and get it into their mouth in seconds.  At one restaurant we/I watched a man plow through 2 dosas in less than 5 minutes.   I was mesmerized.  There was no way I can actually do it correctly.  I have tried, but really don’t like eating a meal with gloppy fingers.

After breakfast, we went in search of getting tickets to Kodaikanal.  That was the missing link in our overall plans.  We walked down to the bus station, looking for the SECT ticket office.  No go, we circled around a bit and went over to the Tamil Nadu Tourist Bureau.  The gentlemen there told us that there are Government buses that run every half hour from a neighboring bus stations.

Bill’s back was a bit ginger still from the overnight bus ride, and there was no way that he was going to stand for 4 hours in a lurching bus going up a mountain.  

We saw yet another bus station and wandered around its perimeter looking for reputable ticketing agents.  Nada.  We finally head back to the place where we had breakfast as their was a tourist desk there.  Our hotel did not have a tourist desk, but referred people to a little agency across the street.  Bill did not feel comfortable using them, so we went with this one.

The guy at the desk is pleasant enough, he runs 1 day tours to Kodaikanal and offers pick up and drop off if there is space.  We jumped at the drop off.  We purchased our trips with the assurance that this was a nice bus.  (More on this later).  The picture I have in my head is a busload of tourists are driven up into the mountains, but first we ferry us to our hotel and then they can get on with their sights.  

Adult beverages were calling our name, so we hit Chentoor as it had a rooftop restaurant and bar.  We had a great view of the temple.

We had a couple of beers here and wanted to be in a rooftop place that did not have a roof over head. We saw across the street, the Hotel Supreme.  Bill heard that there was a sci-fi themed bar in that hotel.  Off we go to the Supreme.  We can see it, it is only a few hotels up the street.

At the Supreme, we head to the roof top hoping that the bar was up there as well.  Instead, we find that the bar is in the basement.  We have dinner there.  I ordered the Mysore Masala Dosa and Bill got a mushroom curry.  We are getting ready to leave, when Audrey and Stephanie from the cooking class in Pondy walk into the place.  They joined us and we had a great time.

After we all finished our meals, we headed down the elevator to the Apollo bar.  This place is below street level, in the parking garage entrance.  The entrance looks a bit like a Star Trek doorway.  Inside, it was dark and all male.  There was Bollywood vids playing on a big five above the bar area and in the various tables and booths, we were able to find one to accommodate the 4 of us.

 Here we are at the Supreme

 Now at the Apollo.

 This was the red wine that they had to drink.  Both Stephanie and I ordered it, and it was actually port

This was taken outside the Supreme as Audrey, left and Stephanie, right were getting ready to get into a tuk tuk to thei hotel in the north of town.

It was great fun running into them again.  We truly enjoyed their company.