Travelling

We freshened up at our hotel and walked till the boating ticket counter, bought the tickets and then had to stand in the queue for around an hour before we could get onto a boat. The boats have a capacity of 150 passengers and ferry the visitors to the Vivekananda rock memorial. There's an entry fee to the memorial. They have a small room where they show a documentary about the place, it gives the visitors a background about the importance of the rock and what happened in the history. The place has 3 different halls. One has the statue of Vivekananda, another one the footprint of goddess Parvati and the 3rd one is a meditation hall. All the halls expect you to be silent and photography isn't allowed inside the halls. The view outside is amazing with water all around and when you get to see the sun going down, it looks awesome. There's a statue of Sri Thiruvalluvar near the Vivekananda rock memorial and it looks mesmerizing too. We then came back to the starting point by the...

We checked-in to hotel Temple Citi in Kanyakumari. This was the most fabulous room amongst all of them that we have checked-in during the entire trip. A spacious 2-double bed room with wardrobe, TV, sofa, AC. The room was very neat and clean and so was the attached washroom. This hotel is very near to the boating point. Their restaurant is located on the 3rd floor. The breakfast buffet spread was average, but the restaurant was too warm and humid, making it uncomfortable for the guests to enjoy their breakfast. Finally, we had to get a few breakfast items down to our room and have them there. The old man who carried our luggage during check out was nice enough to thoroughly check the room and make sure we hadn't left any of our belongings there.

This is a ghostly town surrounded by Bay of Bengal on one side and Arabian sea on the other. Due to a cyclone, a beautiful town was ruined and only the remains can be found thThis is a ghostly town surrounded by Bay of Bengal on one side and Arabian sea on the other. Due to a cyclone, a beautiful town was ruined and only the remains can be found there now along with an amazing sea shore and clean water. This is the place where the famous ram Setu was built though it cannot be seen now. There's a huge pillar with the 4 lions that marks our national emblem. The local market of Dhanuskodi generally specialise items made up of shells and/or pearl which ranged from decorative pieces to jewellery to everything. There are ruins now along with an amazing sea shore and clean water. This is the place where the famous ram Setu was built though it cannot be seen now. There's a huge pillar with the 4 lions that marks our national emblem. The local market of Dhanuskodi generally specialise i...

Our booking was done in hotel S.S. Grand in Rameswaram. We reached this quiet place by around noon and were given a nice comfy room within no time. It had an AC, mini fridge, TV, kettle, double bed, and almost everything that you might expect from a hotel room. We freshened up and relaxed while enjoying a hot cup of coffee. The official breakfast buffet timing starts from 7.30 am. As we had to travel too much the next day, we got ready early and reached the hotel's restaurant around 7.15am and were asked to wait saying you won't be allowed before the designated time. At 7.30am, though the reception staff allowed us and the other guests inside the restaurant, but the breakfast want ready. They got only a few items at a time by 7.50am but everything was being served hot and very nicely. The delay in time was made up by the hospitality. A nice stay and a happy breakfast!

This had been the largest bridge before the Mumbai's Worli sea link was built. Pamban bridge connects Rameswaram to mainland India. It's a huge bridge and the surroundings are very beautiful. We reached there during the afternoon and it was flooded with tourists, and hence it becomes a no-stopping zone with policemen strictly patrolling and not allowing public to stop their vehicles on the bridge. There's also a railway track which runs through the sea and is known to be an experience! The shore at one side of the bridge was docked with a lot of boats ⛵ . The entire place was very scenic and airy.

Our purpose of going to Madurai was to visit this holy place. We relaxed for a while and then went to visit the Meenakshi temple. We are from our hotel around 4pm and reached the temple. The road leading to the parking was narrow and crowded. We got down near the temple to walk while our driver drive the car to the parking area. We removed our footwear at a shop near the temple. Mobile phones, bags and other such stuff is not allowed inside the temple and needs to be deposited in the locker room. The guards at the entrance all you to be fully covered (not really sure what it means). I was wearing a cut sleeves top and trousers, so she asked me for a stole/dupatta,etc and wrapped it around me like a shawl. There was too much of rush inside the temple. We got to know there was a free line (queue) and a paid queue. Such things are practiced only in places where Hindus worship. I haven't seen any such discrimination at places where any other religion worships. We paid ₹50 per entry to ...

Hotel Annamalai was chosen for our stay in Madurai. We reached the hotel and asked for our room. The room want available. Though we had booked in advance, the hotel staff at the reception said few of the rooms are being cleaned and would be made available soon. We were asked to wait. After a wait of 15-20 minutes, we were given a room. One of the staff carried the luggage to the room. The room was clean, nice and spacious. We ordered dinner from their in-house restaurant (Anjappar) for room service. Their service wasn't upto the mark and language was a problem there. They couldn't understand either hindi or English properly. But the food was good and on the spicier side. Overall stay was nice with a few glitches here and there.

The route from Thekkady (Kerala) to Madurai (Tamil Nadu) is all adorned with beautiful coconut trees in abundance. While I was lost in that beauty, our car stopped. Our driver cum guide told us about the grapes plantation and we went inside to have a look. Both sides of the path was covered with nets and meshes. The plants had climbed tall and the grapes could be seen hanging. They were all bunches of huge black grapes and looked yummy. While you keep walking, there's some open space inside where you can stand between the bunches of grapes and do some photography.