The past several days have continued to amaze us.

Internet access and access to computers has been very limited so I am not able to share many photos at this time. I will post more photos as soon as I can access a reliable computer with a high speed internet connection.

We spent Feb 13 & 14 at a wonderful resort in Periyar and explored the tiger reserve. The day we arrived we took a tourist boat on Periyar Lake and viewed many kinds of birds and wildlife, including wild boar, deer and water buffalo.

The next morning turned out to be one of the top highlights of our trip to India. We went for an early morning hike in the forest reserve with a park guide to do some bird watching and about halfway through our walk we encountered a group of 8 wild elephants. This was very exciting and, at the same time intimidating for all of us – including the guide. We retreated a safe distance away from the path the elephants were following and then quietly observed them from a distance. It will be extremely hard to top that one!

On Feb 15 we arrived in Madurai and toured the Hindu temple complex. This site is very significant to Hindu devotees and is comprised of 4 main towers plus dozens of passageways and shrines. It averages between 20,000 to 60,000 visitors each day – depending upon the time of year. The energy we felt from all of the within the temple was very special.

On Feb 16 we departed Madurai for Pondichery. This portion of our journey featured a 5 hour train ride. We were all very glad that our guide Subash was with us to help us find the platform and assigned seats. The crowds preparing to board with us were substantial and we would not have made it without him. We departed the station at 6:45am and had a very pleasant trip. Vendors selling tea, coffee, cold drinks and an amazing variety of hot foods passed through the car frequently. No danger of going hungry or thirsty on this trip!