Monday, 28th October

Aaargh! C. takes so long in the mornings! He takes ages to get up, then half an hour to get washed. It would be alright if he got up earlier, but he gets up at seven-thirty when breakfast is at eight. This in itself isn't a problem, but he asked for it at eight! They get so worried if we're not there on time and we're still not sure if they like us or not. We're only getting seven hours' sleep at the moment – things end at ten, and it takes me ages to nod off.

We're going to the Shri Meenakshi Temple today!

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21:00 Wow. That's about all I can say until the photos come out. The temple is massive! We saw the temple elephant 'blessing' people for money. In the museum there was a Hindu priest who followed us round insistently. He rang/played some musical pillars and then followed us out and demanded money! I gave him ten Rupees (about 20p) and ran away. There are a lot of monkeys on the towers, playing and fighting – embodiments of some God or other. Before I forget, there are three main gods: Vishnu the Protector, Shiva the Destroyer and Brahma the Creator.

We've got some Indian clothes ordered, trousers and shirt come to 280Rs – about £5! After that we went to the Hotel Supreme for a meal with Nic. It was full of tourists! They all ate with knives and forks. We didn't. but then I suppose we are here for experience, not tourism. How bad does that sound? Very... There was a pretty amazing view from the roof-top restaurant of the city. From six floors up, if you ignore the huge floodlit temple in the middle, it looks just like any other city.

I gave the fax to some woman in the TTS at lunchtime, but still didn't manage to get through. I left it with her so I hope it gets there.