Travelling

Day 8 Rameswaram - Kodaikanal  Today, we are travelling from Rameswaram to Kodaikanal with a halt at Meenakshi temple in Madurai. We got ready and checked out from Hotel Fortune in Rameswaram at 5:15am with map set to Meenakshi temple in Madurai. We reached the temple's multilevel car parking by 9am, parked our car, removed our footwear and then proceeded towards the east gate of the temple. Meenakshi temple is dedicated to goddess Parvati (Amman) and lord Shiva (Swamy). Special darshan tickets cost ₹50 per head for each of the temples of Amman and Swamy. We purchased the tickets though there didn't seem to be any difference in the general or special darshan queue. We joined the queue for Amman darshan at 9:20am to get the darshan only by 1:05pm. We went on to join the queue for swamy darshan and came out by 1:30pm. The temple was too over crowded. Drinking water was available at short distances for the pilgrims. We had good darshan at both the sanctums ...

Day 7 Puducherry - Rameswaram  We checked out from Hotel Sun Park in Puducherry at 3:25am towards Rameswaram. Brihadeeswara temple in Thanjavur -  dedicated to lord Shiva was on the way at a distance of 172kms from Puducherry. We reached there by 6:15am , had a wonderful darshan and then proceeded towards Rameswaram at 7:20am. We took a break at Kovai bakes in karaikudal on the way for some breakfast and tea. Then back on the road driving towards Rameswaram.  We stopped at Pamban bridge for some clicks and then went to Dhanushkodi - the last point of India. The sun was shining bright and strong. We had some coconut water, purchased a few customary things and then reached our booked accommodation at Hotel Fortune to check in. We checked with a few people for darshan at Rameswaram temple. After listening to all the views, we went ahead to go on our own. We bought special darshan tickets for ₹100 per head at 4:45pm. When we wer...

Day 6 Puducherry - Part 2 Another relaxed day started with a visit to Eden beach. It is said to be the cleanest beach in Pondicherry. At a distance of around 10kms from our accommodation, it took us half an hour to reach there. We parked our car, changed in the pay use facility and then went to the beach.  The water was indeed clean and the waves quite high. We enjoyed the water and the waves while the kids also made their customary sand castles. We then showered, changed , did some shopping in the nearby shops and then started back towards the hotel.  The luggage was packed. We loaded it into our car and started towards the next accomodation. While booking, owing to some confusion 2 separate bookings were made for Puducherry meaning 2 nights in one accommodation and another night in a different place. So we were basically shifting from one accommodation to another. We checked in at 12:30 pm , settled the luggage in our rooms and then went to wash our c...

Day 5 Puducherry - Part 1 Being a relaxed day with not much to cover on the agenda and places being close to each other, we slept till a little late. Got ready and left from the hotel at 9am to reach the location for mangrove forest boating.  It was around 10 mins drive. We booked our tickets with one of the boating company. The ride started in 10 minutes time.  They took us through the mangroves and then allowed us sometime at one of the archaeological sites - Arikamedu.  We clicked quite some pictures there then got back to our boat. We enjoyed the beauty of the nature around and the boat ride. The ride was for an hour. From there, we drove towards Manakula Vinayagar temple. It's a beautiful dedicated to lord Ganesha. No long queues, no special tickets, simple serene darshan.  From there we went to Aurobindo Ashram. Footwear were to be removed outside the gate and mobile phones switched off. The place was ...

Day 4 Tirupati - Puducherry  The day started early and we left from our hotel by 5:25am.  Our first destination was Sri Lakshmi narayani temple in Vellore. They have a car parking inside gate 2. We had reached by 7:45am when only special darshan are allowed. General darshan are only allowed after 10am. We bought tickets for ₹100 per adult, kept our footwear in the shoe house and proceeded for the queue. The Narayani idol is made of 70kg gold and the ganpati idol with 1700kg silver. This place is also called Sripuram. We had peaceful darshan. It's a huge temple complex with green lish surroundings and loads of boards with quotes written in Hindi, English and Tamil. While we were exiting the campus around 9am, it has already started being crowded.  We started towards Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram at a distance of 85kms. We reached the temple by 10:45am. We parked our car in the parking, keep our electronics and footwear in the car before getting in the queue. ...

Day 3 Tirumala The day was reserved for Tirupati Balaji darshan. We started for Kapila teertham at 7:35am. It was at a short distance from our hotel. Car parking was around the road side. We visited the temple and took a dip in the holy water. The water from the fall was refreshing however the one accumulated was rather dirty.  We exited by 8:50am and moved towards the Tirumala hill. A check post on the way does a thorough checking of all passengers and luggage that has to be passed through a scanner machine.  A person checks the complete vehicle as well. This consumed around 45 mins. The onward journey on to the hill through the ghats was very scenic. The best part was there were separate roads for upward and downward journey. This allowed the vehicles to zap through smoothly.  We had already booked "Special Entry Darshan" (SED) so entered through the ATC gate to park our car.  There are 2 major temples in ...