Along the way our bus was stopped at a checkpoint and the local police came on board. As we were warned beforehand, they are checking for cheap booze. 
Because of the cheap liquor price in Pondicherry there is constant smuggling of cases of liquor to sell out of state for much higher prices. The officials did a thorough search of the luggage racks and even documented everything on their video camera. Bill took a bit of chance and did a dueling camera session with the police photographer. Luckily he was good natured and our camera wasn't confiscated. Nor did they find our well-hidden stash of contraband booze :)

About half way on the trip, Sanjay asked if we would like to watch a Bollywood movie. Most appropriate while driving down the road in India! It was fun to sit back in the bus and watch while the kilometers melt away.

The bus stopped at a pure vegetarian restaurant for lunch. Sue-On had given up on ordering  American Chop Suey in India but she had hopes for stir-fried vegies, especially when she specified NO SAUCE. It came out with sauce, few vegetables, and hard noodles. She was not pleased.

Our first stop upon reaching Madurai was at the Gandhi Museum which we described in Gallery s27.  Our hotel, the Star Residency was a 10 minute drive from the museum. We were greeted with cold wet towels to freshen up and a glass of cold sweet milk... yup everything is sweet. Our room was nice and cool, but the WiFi didn't work in the room.

Night had fallen by the time we cleaned up and gathered on the rooftop for supper. It had cooled off a tad by then with a nice breeze. The open clear sky was filled with stars -- very appropriate as we were on the roof of the Star Residency. We were a bit road and heat weary but were rejuvenated with a Tandoori Platter, Vegetable Biriyani, and a salad (tomato, cucumber, carrot and onion). 

Sitting down in the lobby to use the WiFi we were given tomorrow's agenda:.  a late start - 9 am to a palace and a famous temple. Madurai is called City of Temples as there are hundreds of them, some just a few meters apart. Then later, would explore the city via a rickshaw tour.