Take a Fun Rickshaw Ride in Madurai
Our wonderful driver Babish suggested we take a rickshaw ride from Thirumalai Nayak Palace to Meenakshi Temple for close-up market and street sights. A brilliant suggestion and so much fun! TIP: Take...
View ArticleVisit the Lively Madurai Flower Market
The Madurai Flower Market is located a slight distance from the center of Madurai in Mattuthavani. This flower market is one of the biggest in Tamil Nadu and transacts as much as 10 tons of flowers...
View ArticleKaraikudi in the Chettinad Region of South India
It is an approximately two hour ride (100 kilometers/66 miles) from Madurai to Karaikudi. This region in Tamil Nadu is known as Chettinad. It is newly popular with western tourists for its old houses...
View ArticleExcellent and Luxurious Visalam Heritage Hotel, Kanadukathan
Two wonderful nights in excellent and luxurious Visalam Heritage Hotel is not enough. There are 15 rooms in Visalam, a 75-year-old house built in art-deco style, as a marriage present to his daughter...
View ArticleVisalam Heritage Hotel Activities: A Cooking Class
A Visalam cooking class will initiate guests into the intricacies of Chettinad cuisine, one of the spiciest and the most aromatic in India. A variety of spices are used to prepare the dishes. I took...
View ArticleVisalam Activities and Sightseeing: A Floor Tile Factory
One of the more unusual sights in the Chettinad region is an excursion to a floor tile “factory.” Factory is a pretty loose definition for a space where a few men hunker down and work their fingers off...
View ArticleVisalam Heritage Hotel Activities: Kalam/Kolam and Mehndi
Two creative activities are offered by Visalam Heritage Hotel; Kalam/Kolam and Mehndi/Mehendi (video). Visalam guests are encouraged to join the morning Kalam ritual when staff women sprinkle ground...
View ArticleMagnificent Chettinad Mansions in Kanadukathan
Kanadulkathan in the Chettinad region is where we stayed and is filled with old Chettiar mansions, and I do mean mansions. It is not uncommon for each mansion to sprawl and cover one city block with no...
View ArticleDriving Over the Western Ghats to Dindigul
Anticipating an easy 2:10 hour ride from Karaikudi to Dindigul, road work made it a four hour ride, up and over the mountains (or hill) of the Western Ghats. Although we thought the final destination...
View ArticleRemote and Peaceful Rajakkad Estate Hotel, Perumparai
Rajakkad Estate Hotel is located in the hill country of Southern India among lush forests and coffee estates. It is an old Eighteenth Century wooden structure named Pallam Palace House that was moved...
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