After our temple visit, we stepped on the train in Madurai. While waiting in the smelly station, we made friends again, this time with a young boy who was not content to just have a frisbee. His mother sent him after us to practice his English!

After boarding, we had lunch, which was chicken sandwiches (not sandwitches) purchased from our hotel. Rev. David, Steve, Dana and I raided a local grocery to get some snacks to hold us over for the rest of the day. Vendors constantly walk through the train slinging food and drinks, but most of it is of a quality we cannot tolerate. You don't want to be sick in India, but you really don't want to be sick on a train in India.

There are plenty of toilets on trains in India, two at each end of each car. They never fill up because they dump right from through an open chute onto the tracks. There are signs in the bathroom requesting that passengers avoid the restroom when the train is at the station, but it was clear standing on the platform in Madurai that is is routinely ignored. When you gotta go, you gotta go. We are particularly thrilled that our berth has a western style toilet nearby, a luxury we did not enjoy on the southbound train. It's the little things that make a difference.

Reverend David has his laptop with a cellular data card. I busied myself trying to update the blog, but the connection was too spotty for uploading pictures, so the team passed it around and checked email. Some of us napped, and Chuck spent several hours tossing Frisbees out of the train door to children along the tracks.

We talked and laughed and screamed when the roaches showed up. A certificate told us our car was "de-infested" early last month, but it's clearly due to be "de-infested" again.

When we arrived in Chennai at 8:30, Rev. David paid a porter to carry some of our bags. He carried a half dozen bags - two on his head - and tore through that station faster than the rest of us. Awesome.

From Train to Chennai Click for more

We arrived back at the Raj Park and checked into our rooms. Many of us sent messages to family to catch up and let them know we were safe. After some of our crazy travels and sketchy hotel rooms, it was great to be back in the comfort and familiarity of the Raj Park. We settled in for some great sleep, ready to return to the CMC in the morning.