Day 1 ---Coimbatore to Madurai-- 30th May 2014

Up early before the sun.. on the road at 0500 from Coimbatore.

Good easy ride from Avinashi Rd .. Puliyakulam Rd to Ramanathapuram Jn and onto Trichy Rd. Past the Sulur I.A.F base, Palladam, Dharapuram and then Dindigul. No major eating places enroute till Dindigul. Instead of going into Dindigul, we chose to continue onto NH7 towards Madurai. Stopped for breakfast at 0800 at a "Hotel Saravana Bhavan" pure veg restaurant on NH7  (not part of The Saravana Bhavan chain) for very good Pongal, Vadai, Dosas and Coffee. Good clean place and fast efficient service. reasonably clean washrooms as well. Crossed the first toll plaza (Kodai Road Toll Plaza) and then reached Madurai at 0900 hrs.

Checked into a hotel SIMAP Residency ( maintained by South Indian Mint & Aromatic Products Ltd), which is located right close to the East gate of the Meenakshi Amman temple. Good clean airconditioned rooms and a very helpful Rajesh at the reception.

Visited the Meenakshi Amman temple (entered via the East gate) , bought the special Rs 100 tickets and avoided the long queues. Prayed at the Amman temple first and then at the Shiva temple. Saw the temple elephant and had prasad ( very tasty vadas, laddus and sweet appams) near the temple pond. Also visited the very well maintained Temple Musuem with displays of stome / metal idols, old coins, and temple artefacts.

Hot and sunny day and we rushed to buy cold bottled water to quench our thirst. Saw a quaint streetside shop on South Avani Moola Street selling Perfumery compounds( (Bawa Trading Company) and picked up some perfumes in floral and musk aromas.