It's Saturday, so this must be Thanjavur, yet another hot, dusty, noisy, overpopulated South Indian provincial town. If yesterday's activities were for the railway enthusiasts, today the tour group are visiting the Brihadishvara Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Centre, built in 1010. Clive's had enough of temples for one lifetime, and opts to stay at the hotel to check email and update the daily log.

Clive - The hotel has a computer terminal which is free for guests. Immediately prior to the tour group leaving for the temple, it was working fine, but as soon as I sit down at the terminal it expires completely. A member of staff tries to get it going by tapping the mouse, keyboard, and monitor screen. Needless to say I've already tried this. "Technician required," says the staff member, and that's the end of that. Feeling that I really ought to make an effort I go to an internet cafe round the corner, but they're only running Windows 98 which won't support our remote drive, so all I can do is check emails. Then there's nothing for it but to sit by the pool and read a book. Damn!

Sarah -The temple was very impressive with a large goparam decorated with animals and gods in the style in this area. We wandered around and came across a group watching some dancers who were doing traditional Indian dances. There was a young girl of about twelve and she had an amazingly expressive face - apparently it takes years to learn all the expressions and delicate hand movements. See the photos for more...

In the afternoon our bus takes on on to Madurai where we arrive quite late. The hotel have a buffet organised at Rs400 per head, but everyone ate at lunch time and no-one wants the buffet, which makes the hotel manager grumpy. We all keep out of his way - downstairs in the bar!