Well, i had promised I would be back with my second post as soon as possible and I am just doing that. This Incredible journey was also done way south in Tamil Nadu. My Dad and my mom were accompanying me on this journey. We didn't plan much for this journey, Only knew we wanted to visit Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi, the rest of the places would be just what we can visit on our journey onwards.
Day1: Mysore --> Chamrajanagar --> Erode --> Madurai --> Rameswaram
Total Distance Covered: 577 kms
Mist Covered Sathy Ghat Road
This would be one long journey, a journey where we may encounter very good roads, marginally good roads, worse roads or absolutely no roads. Thankfully the stretch which we would be covering were almost on NH, so not a lot to worry i hoped. We started of at 6 am early morning sprinting our vehicle towards chamarajanagar. Stopped for breakfast on the highway restaurant. Started off towards Satyamangalam Ghats. These ghats are famous for their hair-pin bends, and these are not very normal hair pin bends but very sharp and steep bends. It was the time of Northwest monsoon, I guess!! because all along the route it was almost Cloudy and raining and the ghats were covered by a thick fog, and I could understand the frustration of our driver, driving these sharp hair pin bends on a foggy day and you cannot see the vehicle coming in front of you. We sprinted towards Madurai via Erode and Dindigul cruising at speeds above 90km/hr. Had Lunch at a wayside restaurant in Dindigul. (P.S: We were traveling on a Sunday and I don't know the Strange things happening over here in TN, almost all restaurants are closed on a Sunday). We reached Madurai at 4pm, just passed by the outer edges of the temple as we had already visited Madurai long back, and we proceeded towards Rameswaram. The drive towards Rameswaram on NH49 through the country side is an exhilarating experience. The paddy fields on both banks of the road stretch upto your eyes can view.
Fields across the green belt of Cauvery Delta near Erode
Once we started reaching the coastlines of TN, we could smell the fragrance of the Sea, though at night we couldn't actually see the sea altogether. Rameswaram is located on an island off the coast of TN, and the only connecting point to this island is the Pamban Bridge which is the Rail bridge, and the Indira Gandhi Setu which is about 2 kms long. We passed by this bridge during the night, reached rameswaram around 8pm in the night, booked our lodges and set out on a town roaming spree. Rameswaram is a very small town and there aren't any good food joints and almost all the food joints you visit will be infested with house flys(Infact the town being next to the sea attracts lots of these visitors, so you will find them everywhere, in hotels, in lodges almost everywhere, they even dont spare your car if it is kept uncleaned)
Day2: Rameswaram --> Dhanushkodi --> Rameswaram --> Trichy --> Srirangam
Total Distance Covered: 282 kms
Early morning we started off to the temple, spent lot of time around the huge corridors of the Rameswaram Temple. There are 3 huge corridors which span a length of around 200m. Had lots of photosessions over here. It almost took us 3 hours to entirely navigate the length and breadth of the temple complex, admiring the beauty of the architecture and the skills of the artisans involved in it. If u do visit this place, do not forget your camera. Photography is not allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum, but is allowed outside the sanctum sanctorum. Our next stop would be Dhanushkodi, the tip of Rameswaram island. Dhanushkodi is around 18kms from the town of Rameswaram. Only 9 kms upto the IndianNavy checkpost over here is motorable, after which u need to hitch a ride on the Matadors which carry upto 20 passengers.The Indian Navy Checkpost has been setup to check illegal immigrants from across Srilanka and to check any human trafficking across the border. The final 9kms ride upto Dhanushkodi was a very rough one, pushing our adrenaline upto a max.
Dhanushkodi: This is a small fishing hamlet at the tip of Rameswaram Island. Can be called a ghost town as most of the people have left the place after it was devastated during the 1964 cyclone. what remains here are the remnants of an old church and abandoned railway station. I find it difficult and sad to say in this forum that some people whose main livelihood is fishing have stayed back in this village braving everything. This fishing hamlet does not have any access to proper medical healthcare. People have to either walk across the sand beaches to Rameswaram town or wait for the matadors. And during monsoons or high tides, I believe the entire village would be cut off from the outside world. I salute the spirit of the people staying over here.
Had only half an hour to spend on Dhanushkodi Beach, I was standing at the tip of Rameswaram Island or better known as Adam's Bridge( Ram Sethu Bridge). The weather was perfect and I was in a mood to have a dip but was forced back by my mom! Ok Can I go till my waist deep! "Yes" is what I heard thou I wasn't sure and just jumped into the water. I dont know how much I was enjoying and engrossed in photographing the beach, I heard a voice calling us for the trip back! Oh they dint even let me enjoy the place in peace. Without much enthu I trail back to our matadors ready to ferry us back to our origin, The Indian Navy Checkpost.
And after that we started back to our final Intended destination for the day, Srirangam. We had missed the darshan of Lord Ranganatha the earlier time we had visited Srirangam and since we are on the same destination back to mysore, we decided to visit Srirangam.
Final Day: Srirangam
I do not have to explain much about this place as I had already mentioned about Srirangam in my earlier post. Had darshan at Srirangam at early sun break.
Final Journey: Srirangam--> Karur --> Erode --> Sathy --> Chamarajanagar --> Mysore
Total Distance Covered: 349 Kms
Were back at around 5pm, just with the glimpses of the journey we had been.
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Well, It was a time for another New Year and I had to Welcome 2008 in a special way, One thing was it has been one year since I joined the company and the other thing was all my leaves were about to lapse and i needed to use it very badly( Atleast 20 I guess!!). My parents were eagerly looking up to me for this trip.
Soon around, Me and my Dad got around the Drawing Boards chalking out a Plan where would we be spending our New Year and like any other Dad-son Fights we got into an argument. My Dad's plans were to spend the new year on a piligrimage trip and me for a cozy ride to the Hills or Beaches. Later we did reach a compromise, we would be going on a piligrimage trip and also I would be getting my cozy ride to the Hills. Our plans were for 3 days, First day we would be leaving to thiruvannamalai which is the abode of Lord Arunachaleshwara, Next day we would be visiting Brihadeshwara Temple, one of the Great Living Chola Temples in the South and Srirangam. Our Final Day we would be packing off to the Queen of Shevaroy Hills, Yercaud.
We finally packed our bags, I doubly made sure I had everthing with me. My Sony Ericsson K510i, my camera companion. My chargers etc.. We had hired a cab for our entire Journey which would be more than 1000kms.
Day1: Mysore --> Bengaluru --> Hosur --> Krishnagiri --> Uthangarai --> Tiruvannamalai.
The route which would be taking to our destination Thiruvannamalai was Mysore - Bengaluru - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Kathujuganapalli - Uthangarai - Tiruvannamalai. So in order to beat the morning rush in Bengaluru, we had to start of as early as 5 am. We dashed on the Mys-B'luru highway, had a quick breakfast on the way at Kamat Lokaruchi, hit the NICE peripheral Ring Road and we were almost on the Hosur Road by 8 am. Then our ride came to a grinding halt.
Since owning a private cab, we had to pay Road Tax on entering TN and it almost took us one and half hour just to get a ticket for paying the Road Tax.
Finally after all the long wait we were on NH7 towards Krishnagiri, Travelling on Hosur- Krishnagiri stretch of NH7 is a driving pleasure. Neatly lined 4-Lane roads almost greets you to drive here. We reached Krishnagiri, took a deviation towards left and one more deviation towards right to Uthangarai. On the stretch, Uthangarai-Tiruvannamalai is the Satanur Dam, which is a perfect picnic spot, but we missed it unable to know which route to be taken. We reached Tiruvannamalai by around 1pm. Tiruvannamalai is situated on the base of Arunachala Hills. The huge and magnificient gopurams are a visual treat to your eyes. There are four gigantic gopurams on each sides of the temple complex.
After finishing our prayers, we started of to the town of Thanjavur at 3 pm ending our journey for the day. On the way we passed by Gingee Fort, fort originally built by the Cholas. We reached Thanjavur at around 1030pm, searched for a decent place to have food. Found a reliable place in Vasanth Bhavan which is a popular Food joint in TN.
Day2: Thanjavur --> Trichy --> Srirangam --> Salem --> Yercaud
Started of the day by visiting one of the Great Living Chola Temples of Today, Brihadeshwara Temple which is on the UNESCOs World Heritage site List. One round around the site reveals you the work of the artisans and is a brilliant example of the major heights achieved by Cholas in temple architecture. The 'Vimana' or the temple tower is around 216 ft high as written in wikipedia. There is a huge shiva linga inside the sanctum sanctorum. After offering our prayers we started towards Trichy to Srirangam.
In Trichy, we visited Rock Fort. Interseting fact about rock fort is the rock which dates back 3 billion years, the rock is around 86m high and there is a temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha atop the hill. Had a tough time climbing up the steps, I think the steps were numbering around 600. and even more tough was climbing down after such tough climb up.
Srirangam is the abode of Sri Ranganathaswamy, a piligrimage center for the vaishnavaites. Most of the people over here are followers of Lord Vishnu. Srirangam is an island on River Cauvery. It is also one of three sacred places on the banks of River Cauvery, one being at Srirangapatna and the other at Shivana samudra. The one thing which catch holds to your eyes is the main Rajagopuram which is about 236 ft in height. Srirangam is believed to be the Largest Functioning Temple complex in the world. Srirangam Temple is inside a series of Rectangular shaped prakaras or elevated enclosures, and each prakaras have a Gopuram, the tallest being on the outermost prakaras.The timings for having a darshan inside the temple premises is only at a particular time, By the time we reached srirangam, it was about 11am and the doors to the main sanctum sanctorum were closed for Darshan and we had to be content by praying to the God from outside.
Later at around 1pm started off towards Yercaud, via Salem Stopping off somewhere near Namakkal for a traditional South Indian Cuisine. The road stretch from Namakkal to Salem is under construction for converting it into a 4-Lane highway from the existing two lane highway. Reached Salem at around 430 pm, the winding ghat stretch was welcoming us like anything, there were atleast 21 hair pin bends we needed to negotiate before reaching yercaud. The climb uphill was thrilling. The cool breeze of the air, The lovely aroma of the trees around, The sound of the breeze hitting the leaves, The small waterfalls pouring down the hills. This would have been a perfect new year getaway for us. My parents had never heard of a place called Yercaud, for them it was only Ooty or Kodai. I had been through a lot of blogs suggesting this place and I wanted my perfect New Year calebrations in style in a hill station. Reached yercaud at around 5 in the evening. Scouted for a pretty little cottages around, booked our rooms. The temperature was cutting down around to 20 degrees, our first visit was to Yercaud Lake. We did Boating over there for half an hour, and then headed towards Lady's Seat. Lady's Seat is a viewpoint where we can have excellent views of Shevaroy Hill rangs and the city of Salem. Light intensity was almost diminishing at around 6pm only!! WOW!! By the time we reached Lady's Seat, It had already been a litttle dark, but the view was stunning! A complete postcard finish for the setting sun!! Took only a few photos, and Yes only a few, coz my good little camera doesn't match the power of modern digital cameras, I dont know what algorithms have been implemented but it fails to take good shots during dusk. Anyways after that we settled for some hot Mirchi bhajjis on the Road side stall. Even my health-conscious dad was having a taste of it. I believe the cold did all the trick :) One good thing about yercaud is it enjoys a pleasant climate all round the year. the temperature was dripping like anything, but it was bearable. Next is to find a good restaurant to have food. And the only thing Yercaud lacks is good restaurants. There is one Hotel shevaroys, which I believe is very good! But we settled for our cottage food, Ordered chapatis, chettinad chicken curry, chicken fried rice, chicken 65 and rice and settled down for our dinner. Veggies would have a tough time over here seraching for food, as most of the food over here is Non-vegetarian! After that we had a long walk in the woods, (in such a cold weather!)
Day 3: Time 6 a.m
Got up very early,(I had to welcome New Year in a special way, so woke up a bit early. My parents were a lotta surprised seeing me get up so early!) and the view from our cottage was like breath-taking, the morning mist dropping over was forcing me to have a cup of coffee so early in the morning. At around 7 am we started off to the highest point in Yercaud, situated about 5000 ft above sea level. There is a view point over here where you can have a view of the beautiful valley, later we visited the pagoda viewpoint which is at few kms from Yercaud, which also provides excellent view of the valley. At around 10am we started packing our bags to our home!!
Final Journey: Yercaud --> Salem --> Dharmapuri --> Mettur --> M.M.Hills --> Mysore
The last leg of our jouney has no sightseeing places, but we did visit Mettur Dam on the way. Though it is closed for visitors we just had a sneak peek from outside. Passed by M.M.Hills on the way and reached our home at 5pm.
Wow!! What an incredible drive this has been! I never thought I would be enjoying this much on a ride. The trip to
Thanjavur and the architecture over there makes me speechless! you have to be there to experience it. Yercaud is also a good hill station and very dear to your pockets! commercialisation has not ruined this place unlike ooty or Kodaikanal.
Just dreaming that I will be visiting these places sometime sooner. Till then I have to be content looking at the pictures.
The link to my picture album: http://picasaweb.google.com/call2harsh/SouthIndianRoadTripTamilNadu1
Mist Covered Sathy Ghat Road
Fields across the green belt of Cauvery Delta near Erode
