Feb 23, 2005 - Day 232 in Kanyakumari, India

The sunrise was spectacular over the Indian Ocean. We saw the main temple here, Kumari Amman Temple, is a seashore structure dedicated to the virgin goddess Kanya Devi. Since we’re not Hindu we could not go into the inner part of the temple. 99% of the tourists here are Indian pilgrims. The tip was a scene with all the Indian pilgrims swimming, bathing and praying. We took a late afternoon train to Madurai, one of the oldest cities in India, arriving after dark. Our taxi driver, Kassi, had reservations about the hotel we wanted to be taken to, but after checking out his recommended hotel, we checked into the Sree Devi we originally chose. This hotel was not clean, had no hot water, no toilet paper and no soap, but it had fantastic views of the temple from the rooftop and a/c! The first picture is the sunset from the day before, the last photo is sunrise.