On to Trichy

After saying our sad goodbyes to all our new friends in Andimadam, we ventured forth on a four hour drive to Trichy, a relatively large city with two famous, ancient temples. We have kept the same driver throughout this part of our journey, Mr. Mani, and today we were glad to have him, and his large Toyota SUV.

It is impossible to describe the state of the roads between Andimadum and Trichy--after the monsoons of November and December, they are shockingly awful. Mr. Mani maneuvers us through the extreme potholes, cows, goats, pigs, monkeys, dogs, motorcycles, rickshaws, oxcarts, manic bus drivers, people bathing, people carrying stones on their heads, people drying their straw in the road, people threshing their grain in the road, people pooping in the road... There is no shortage of things to see out the window and to distract us from the bumpiness of the ride.

Some friends recommended a Trichy hotel to us, and it was a shocker after the village--a rather sterile business style hotel, with a pool, a restaurant called the "Cup-n-Saucer," and actual hot running water, which sort of works. Tom and Claire are down in the pool now, 8:45 a.m.