Thursday 28th Feb - Day 25

The many temples I've visited always ask you to take off your shoes; at the Shishindrum temple, south of Trivindrum, I have to take off my t-shirt too. Not surprisingly, this rule does not apply to ladies. If I looked like Arnold Swazer... what's his face I might have been more enthusiastic about the idea, but I had little choice. Not having done any exercise for a few weeks means my six pack has gone - I jest. The 'Security guard' also took my camera off me as we are not allowed to take pictures inside. Later he would charge me 20 rupees to get it back.

I found myself being escorted by someone who I imagined was a priest, but who turned out to be some kind of unofficial guide. I don't speak very much Hindi, but from what I could follow he seemed to be making some outlandish claims. He showed me three small pillars that went up to the roof, that were, apparently, solid but made different sounds when you tapped them. I was allowed to tap them ... wow! How amazing ??? I could also make sure that nothing bad happened to me or my family if I donated 750 rupees to someone who who pray for me to the god Hunumaan (monkey god). The temple has many figures of Hindu gods in rooms and what seem like caves, of all different sizes, dimly lit with hundreds of followers passing by and showing reverence. At one of these my guide took some coloured powder and made like a dot in the middle of my forehead and a little mark on the top of my arms. It was all getting quite spiritual until the end of our little tour around the temple when he asked me for money. I asked how much. Maybe five or six hundred, whatever I felt I could give. I offered him twenty at which point he lost interest.

It was an interesting day, not for the first or last time. The travel agent who I had booked this excursion with last night assured me that the taxi driver / guide would be able to speak very good English. I asked him a couple of times to be sure. In the event he couldn't, and he couldn't speak Hindi either - marvelous !

I got to Kanniykumari, after having visited another palace, this is the landsend of India, and given how big India is this is a significant place. This was the first time I had seen the sea since arriving in India. A boat trip takes you to 2 small islands. One of then has a tall statue of a poet and the other a shrine.

(ok, I know it's on it's on it's side. I'll know for next time).

It seemed a long day today, because of the heat probably, but it's almost time to leave India.