180 Degrees in Madurai (and I don't mean the temperature)

Paan.

Bike galore.

Mixy - Mixy snack.

Merry Christmas.

Dinner at the "Modern" Restaurant.

Quality electrical work.

Typical back street passage.

Popular jewelry store.

BFFs

Colorful storefronts.

Palace at night.

Evening market.

Street food.

Late night snack.

Steetside Deity.

Soup at the end of the day.

Madurai, Madurai, how I love thee...let me count the ways. I am sorry that I hated on you so. I am still sticking to my description of you being the “Dump of the East”, you are still filthy, but you are so much more than that.

Today we had an awesome day. We started by walking around the temple once again in search of a fruit market which turned out didn't exist. No matter. We wandered around a bit, had some Paan and ate our Christmas Eve dinner at the Modern Restaurant (which was anything but modern) where we caused quite an uproar. Everyone was staring at us, whispering, and jumping at our every need. I guess they never had tourists in their restaurant. The food was delicious by the way.

We walked on in search of yet another market and to visit the palace. We steered far out of the way of all the tourist areas into side streets and residential areas of the city. We walked through an area composed entirely of jewelry stores...gold upon gold everywhere. I think I now know what they mean by “Athens of the East”. This city truly feels as if it is at least a thousand years old. The side streets are narrow and filled with tiny shops no bigger than a hole in the wall. People seem to live right on top of them and employ methods such as ironing clothing with large irons filled with glowing hot iron and measuring weight with large metal, ancient scales. Shrines of all shapes and sizes can be found on every corner. If you take away the cars and modern conveniences, you would truly feel like you were in an ancient time. People in these areas were very friendly...especially the children...they kept running up to us in groups and asking us our names, ages, and where we are from. They seemed very happy and friendly, practicing their English...also super cute and made us smile everywhere we went. We ended our evening by eating a tasty soup off the street.

So Madurai almost broke me down the other day...with its incessant heat, beggars, touts, and grime...but I didn't give up and we discovered a city like no other.