January 10

Well, yesterday was as predicted – a rainy day, all day long. So we ate in for breakfast at the hotel's Curry Restaurant. We had a free breakfast,and so many people were eating at that time. The buffet: pancakes and/or pan fried toast with butter & jam; idli with sambar & coconut chutney; tapioca-like dish with cashews & raisins;  rice with small grated veggies & curry leaves. Unsweetened tea with milk (sugar in a bowl to add if so inclined).

Finished and still raining, so we caught up on some Youtube videos we like and yeah, just hung out at the hotel. So thankful we did push and do so much yesterday. One time I looked out the window and even the cows were trying to be out of the rain. They were lined up single file against the protection of a building! We had light lunch in our room of nuts and trail mix. In the evening around 630ish, the rain stopped!! We went out for supper, and found Ganesh Mess Restaurant. We each had veggie meal on a banana leaf 'plate': two big scoops of rice and three different veggie curries; a piece of papadum; a small dab of the very pungent lime chutney, we like (our homestay introduced this to us); and the sambar and coconut chutney. We also had a bottle of water and Jeff had a sprite. They kindly offered us utensils! It was great and very filling. I cleaned my plate- I mean banana leaf!!  🙂  Finished supper with the rain still abated, we did one last walk all the way around the temple, to get some steps. Interesting fact this state we are in has 390,000 Hindu temples, all of USA has 350,00 churches!!  Anyway, we returned to hotel for the night.

Today, the rain effects from yesterday were still noticeable, puddles were everywhere! We still had our free breakfast credit at the hotel. Today the buffet was same, same, but different; as in all same, except the rice dish had noodles instead, and another dish added – it looked like a custard/ thick grits consistency with cashews (but it was yellow and actually was sweet lemony, YUM!) And today they had coffee! Yea for me!! finished we went back to our room and repacked. Jeff could not get an Uber. So we went down and checked out at 1050. There was a tuk-tuk, but he wanted more than we paid getting here. So one of the staff arranged us a ride in a car, under the price the tuk-tuk wanted. Anyway, we saw the bridge finally. Also saw the new railway line being built in the ocean to re-link the island with this option, that used to exist. The original Pamban bridge rail line was 108 years old when some issues were discovered. It was closed December of 2022. That used to be the only way to the island. The new line is supposed to open in July this year.

We arrived back in Ramanathapuram by 1230 at our “day stay” hotel, Hotel Garish Park. We catch a 2 hr train tonight to Madurai, but it doesn't leave until ten tonight. We needed a place to hang out for nine hours, so Jeff booked the hotel, but we won't spent the night, hence “day stay”. The hotels/accommodations have been cheap enough that we can do this without being over-budget!  We checked-in and unloaded. Now we set out for a little walkabout. We stopped at Kababeque for lunch. Their slogan: “Not just delicious, it's Kababilicious”. We found this to be the case!! We had chicken biriyani; and mushroom masala. I had a 'baby' coke (8 oz) and we had a large water. We opted to go back to hotel as the roads are very busy and muddy! 

We'll have a light supper and catch our train later. Hope you have a blessed day!