South India Tour - Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) and Thanjavur

7 June - Trichy and Tanjavur

Got up early again! (All these trains are too early in the morning).  Took the 5:45 am Shataabdi to Trichy. Sat next to a nice couple with a daughter – chatted there for a while. Went to my seat when the TT came and tried to sleep a bit. Kept the luggage in the cloak room once there at 9:30 am. Went to the Rock Fort temple (Ganesh temple).  This temple is made on a huge boulder.  Papa did not go all the way up, so it was just Bhaiya and I. the entrance was pretty and then we started going up…and up … and up. It was a long climb up the mountain! In the middle was a Shiva temple. After darshan, we went even more up. There came an open space and then there were more stairs on the rock. Simple – no… the steps were hot and we had no slippers! By the time we reached the temple, my feet were burning. 

It was a small temple and not many people were there – very peaceful. Started our descent after a while. Total number of steps (minus the last hot ones) were about 235. Very pretty temple and it was a nice visit. 

Had lunch and then went to the bus station to catch the 2:55 pm train to Thanjavur. It’s about 1 hr. from Trichy. It was very hot!!

Tanajavur

I felt I was stepping back in time when I got off the train. It was all so simple living. We took the auto to Suchinandram temple (also called Raja Raja temple). The first sight is just striking. What an amazing building. We had seen a documentary on this temple and its construction and knew that the gopurum was one of kind in the world. There were three gopurum to enter the temple. In front of the Shiva temple was a huge Nandi statue. The temple was closed until later so we walked around the compound.

The entire compound has galleries in it. The walls had paintings in color, most were fading, but I could see they must have been beautiful one day. All galleries had shivlings in them in a line. The dedication of the king to Shiva is evident in this temple. There were a total of 108 shivlings in the entire compound. The temple walls were covered with writing – it is not Tamil or Telgu or Sanskrit – it is some other script. Very intricate and a lot of writing. 

  

Went back to Trichy – luckily we got AC train bogey this time! Took a little nap. Got on the train to go Chennai. It was 9 pm and promptly went to sleep!

South India Tour - Rameshwaram

6 June - Rameshwaram and Dhanushkoti

Went to the station at 3:45 am. The train as usual is IST…(late)…it came at 4:45 am. I was sooo sleepy. Since we are going to one of four “dhaam” I decided not to eat until after darshan. The route was usual until we got to Mandapam. From there to Pamban, the route was just magical. The train literally went into the Bay of Bengal to get to Pamban. It is hard to describe – one has to see it to believe it. 

At Pamban, a pundit got into our compartment and started talking about doing puja at the temple. We were not into the ritual part at all. We are more into darshan. But the pundit just sat there and gave us a lecture on how we should be more spiritual etc. etc….all he wanted was to sell his services. We reached Rameshwaram at 10 am and went straight to the temple. The shivling was amazing….we did the puja with the priest there and then walked around the temple. It was a huge temple and we walked barefoot everywhere. It was quite tiring as it was hot and humid too. One can easily get lost in the temple. 

Rameshwaram Temple

Few minutes later we took the bus to Dhanushkoti, which is where the bridge to Sri Lanka is. It was 12:30 pm by the time we got there – the sun was on its peak. The land was a very thin strip, I could see the ocean on both sides of the land. The land itself was just beach, no trees, nothing; just a few vendors and a whole lot of beach.  There were a few huts there – maybe of the people who catered to the tourists, but they would have to go at least 30 mins out before they could reach the city. Its tough living conditions. I did not see any running water either. 

We passed the Vibhishan temple. By the time the bus came to a stop, there was no road, only sand and the huts were built on the sand. So found out that the bus driver was the errand runner for all the residents there. Interesting. We walked around the beach for a while. A small jeep/truck was taking tourists to the edge of Dhanushkoti, where one can see the bridge. We did not go. it was too hot and we were not sure how long we would stay there.  We drank some coconut water…nice and cool.  

As I was walking around I could feel the breeze on my face, but I could also feel the salt. There was so much salt in the air; it’s sticky.  

Got on the bus and went back into the city.  The bus dropped us way before the temple though, so had to take another bus from there.  It was 2 pm and bloody hot. Had lunch near the temple and went to the station. Our train was at 7 pm, so took care of all the reservations right there. The station was empty by 4 pm. School children came back at 4:30 pm and then it was all quiet again. Went out little later to eat something but there were only dirty dhabas around, nothing to eat. So had coffee back at the station only. 

Luckily the train came on time and we left for Madurai and reached about 12 am. Tomorrow we have to get to Trichy, so time for bed!

South India Tour - Madurai

5 June - Madurai 

Got up at 6:30 am and did a lot of laundry. Went for breakfast and then went to visit the great Meenakshi temple. It is one amazing temple! Such high towers, all about 3000 years old. We had to leave our shoes outside the towers. It is a huge compound that we had to walk barefoot on. A guard stopped Bhaiya from taking video (pictures were ok – but not video), and that erupted in a big fight between the guard and us. There are no rules or regulations anywhere, these guards and priests make their own rules wherever – that is the most irritating part of all the temple visits.  This should not happen in God’s house – but this is India – anything can happen. We got tickets for the camera and finally went in. a priest came with us, we did aarti, sat for a while and then went to walk around the temple.  

   

Went and saw the thousand pillar room. The pillars are arranged in in several rows and some of them are musical. Amazing. On one end of the room were statues of Natraj and Parvati – so beautiful and so serene.  

There are five towers in the temple entrance and they all look alike, so one has to remember which entrance they came from. After one round, Bhaiya and I again went to walk around and admire the temple art and work. We came to the main entrance on the east side where there were many vendors, including flowers. 

In the center of the compound was a large tank of water with lotus flowers in it. And then we saw an elephant! In the temple – he was giving blessings with his trunk. What a sight! We also went to see the flower market – which was a whole other thing! Flowers were being sold by the weight.  The smell was good in some places but otherwise it was a messy and smelly (bad) place. There was garbage all over the place – and this is near the temple! 

Came back to the hotel, had lunch and rested for a while. The air is not as humid, although it’s still hot. Went out for a walk in the evening to see if there was any shopping place. Stopped by at a Gandhi Handloom store and bought a kathakali mask. Had an evening drink on the roof of a high tower of a restaurant. Beautiful view of the temple gopurams (towers). Went back to the hotel, changed rooms to a less noisy one.  Went to sleep…tomorrow we have to get up early for Rameshwaram.

South India Tour - Kanyakumari

3 June - Trivanthapurum and Kanyakumari  

No rush to get up today. Had idli again for breakfast and then vent for a little shopping. Visited “Kairali”, above the Triveni superstore. Got some really good handicraft stuff. Went back towards Padmanabhaswamy temple. We thought there was a handicraft market there but not really – it was just a general market. And then we went to SMSM Institute – amazing handicraft store. I found some beautiful hand crafted diaries made with handmade paper and painting made of gem stones. Exquisite. The other great buy here was the paper painting hanging. It was paintings inside paintings. Just amazing! Originally it is from Orissa.  

Sunset at Kanyakumari

Came back and left for Kanyakumari. Arrived at 5:30 pm. Got a nice big room in the railway station guest house. I love these guest houses – so convenient and most of them quite well kept. Went to see the sunset by the Gandhi memorial on the beach. Really lovely. The sunset point is obviously very popular – first the bus wala was calling out and then the beach was quite crowded. This sea was the Arabian Sea.  It was a beautiful sight – the beach, the coconut trees and the mountain ranges. 

We had gotten just in the nick of time to see the sunset. Lovely. After it, went shopping on the beach. The market was huge! Bought some shell stuff. Prices were really cheap. Had a different kind of dinner today – saag and naan. Sleep was little tough since there were too many mosquitos and I was sticky all over (one of the disadvantages of staying in railway guest houses, they may not always have AC rooms). 

4 June - Kanyakumari

Sunrise at Kanyakumari

Got up early, as we have to go and see the sunrise. Reached the sunrise point at 5:40 am. People were already there. Sunrise was at 6:02 and lasted just about 4 mins. Most beautiful. I would have needed a really good camera to capture the beautiful moments. 

Triveni Point - Papa and I

Had good breakfast and then went past the Kanyakumari temple to Triveni point where three oceans meet: the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Good point. But despite that being a good point, there was too much garbage around. Then we took the bus to go to Suchindrum temple. It was not far from Kanyakumari. The temple was designed just like a south Indian temple. Surprisingly this time Bhaiya went in! The visit was nice. Pretty temple but cannot take pictures inside – why? Who knows? I just don’t like the priests anywhere. They make their own rules for no good reason. 

Got back to Kanyakumari and then bought tickets to go and see the Vivekanand memorial. We could not take a bag so somehow we had to manage. All these rules in India just drive me crazy! A ferry ride would take us to the memorial. Everywhere was dirty, even the waiting area. The ferry was really crowded and on time. The ferry made a stop at Tiruvelu statue, a great poet.  We stopped there for a few minutes and then we were dropped off at the Vivekanand memorial. 

Tiruvelu Statue - majestic!

We listened a little bit to the story of Kanyakumari and then started touring the memorial. It is a beautiful building of white and black stone (or marble?). There was an 8 ft. statue of Vivekanand and a smaller one of his guru, Paramhansa. Enjoyed the scenery and the breeze. Time to go back. Had lunch and then went to the reservations office to make reservation for future travels.  

Vivekanand Memorial

India has no sense of personal space. By the time Bhaiya reached the counter to buy tickets he was surrounded by people like bees! I cannot imagine a woman in that position. We got everything set and packed up. Took the train to Madurai. Reached Madurai by 10:30 pm. Checked into New College House.  I don’t care for all these places Bhaiya is selecting to stay in. Some of them are not all that clean. Went off for dinner and came back to sleep. It was noisy….but we were tired.

South India Tour - Tiruvanthapuram

2 June – Thiruvanthapuram (Trivendrum) 

Got up early and took a bath and did a lot of laundry. Had a good breakfast of idli and vada. The first destination was Padmanabhaswamy Temple.  Before that temple a Ganesh temple came, it was very popular. We also stopped there and visited inside. It was a beautiful temple. Bhaiya and Papa did not go in. Then on to Padmanabhaswamy temple. It is a very pretty building from far away. I went in, as usual Papa and Bhaiya did not go in. A good reason for it was that they would have to change into dhoti. Even I had to put on a dhoti even though I was wearing a salwar. It’s just a scam to make money. It is after all one of richest temples in Kerala. The ambience inside the temple was very peaceful. The temple is of Vishnu lying down. To see the actual idol, one has to pay to get in (another scam). And then the pundit would not take my offering until I paid him! 

The sad part was there were different kinds of scams everywhere to make money. I also realized at this temple that I am always a little lost in temples – I don’t know what to do, what are the procedures etc…the temple was very peaceful though. 

Took the bus to Kovalam beach, about 30 mins ride.  The coconut groves on the way to the beach were beautiful. And so was the beach! So beautiful. There were no people in bikinis or even playing. Most people were just playing around, fully clothed, including us! The beach was quite clean. The walk back to the bus was tough – too hot and humid. 

Typical Lunch

Got back and ate saapad at Amma’s Restaurant – really good food! There was not much else to do so we planned some more for the rest of the trip. Finally I was a little relaxed from all the traveling and the heat. Went back to Amma’s place for dinner. I just had dahi bara …light on the tummy.

South India Tour - Kerala

31 May - Ernakulum (Cochin)

Had to get to the station by 5 am for an early train. The train ride was lovely; there were farms everywhere, very green and lush. The soil was red so it was making everything even more pretty. The red tile roof houses were very neatly kept. Reached Ernakulum around 11 am. Stored majority of the luggage in the luggage room and went to the Cochin Guest House near the railway station. It was a nice simple place to stay. 

Race Boats

Walked around a bit, had lunch (not too good) and then took a tour of the city and dance program through the touring company in the Guest House. At 2:30 pm we took the city tour. It was nice in theory but practically mismanaged. First they boarded us on the wrong boat so we lost our front row seats. Then they had more people than seats, so we were left standing. At least it was breezy during the boat ride. First we saw the Wellington Island, an artificial island. Then a major port – there were a lot of ships there. Saw a number of race boats. They were very different looking, very ethnic to Kerala. The scenery was all quite nice.

Chinese Nets

The first stop was the Jewish Synagogue. Walked less than 1 km through a lot of shops to get there. It was very small but very beautiful. Really a historical keepsake. There were Chinese tiles on the floor, no two were alike, and there were Bulgarian and Italian lamps and chandeliers. The synagogue was made in 1585. Only I went to visit – Papa and Bhaiya stayed on the boat. Back on the boat, we stopped next to see the Chinese nets – one of the most photographed of all things in Cochin. Saw the Bogota palace from far. Came back from the tour around 5:30 pm and went straight to the Cochin Cultural Center to see Kathakali. The tour was highly mismanaged.

We got in time at the cultural center to see the dancers get ready. There were two dancers – both male. They were gracious enough to let the audience see them get ready. The makeup was elaborate and they were applying it themselves – flawless! The whole thing was quite different for me as I expected the classical dancers would be more respected and someone would apply their makeup….maybe its part of the dance to know how to get ready yourself. 

Kathakali Dancers and Us

The dance theater was very small – maybe 50-60 seats. We sat in the front row. The dances were narrated by a man otherwise they would be just motions. It was very expressive dance – the facial expressions were unbelievable. It was a great cultural experience. The dancers showed all the different movements involved in Kathakali. Dances were all based on stories. We got to take some nice pictures with the dancers. There was only one thing that bothered me after a while of watching the dance – the music. It was too loud and there was no real melody, so it was just wood against wood. Could get really hard to listen to.

Dinner was tasty uttampam and then it was sleep time!

1 June – Ernakulum to Trivandrum (Thiruvanthapuram) and Back Water Tour

Today was backwaters tour day. But first breakfast – really good coffee! Waited for the bus (Maruti) and then picked up 3 more people. It took us about 45 mins to get to Allepy. There was a boat with the rower in it. All six of us sat on one boat. The boat ride was just beautiful. The banks of the backwater were lined with coconut trees all going in different directions. We stopped at one location/someone’s house to see some craft the locals make with coconut husk. The lady there showed us how they make rope from it and necklace.  I did end up buying a necklace and serving spoon.

We stopped at another place where the guide showed us the shrimp farming. I don’t care from shrimp, but the local area was just beautiful. We then started our way back to the original spot. The tour was all great, except in some places it was really dirty and smelly. Everything was being disposed of in the water. And then there were several places where people were trying to reclaim the land – not a pleasant sight. There is no oversight for these things in India. 

The driver drove us back to the hotel like a mad man. Crazy driving! Had a good saapad (lunch) and then since we still had some time, we went to the handicraft store. I bought a coconut monkey! Went to the railway station, took our luggage out and waited around since the train was late. Since it was getting late already there was really not much to see outside. Reached Thiruvanthapuram at 10 pm. Checked into Mancaud Tourist Paradise – just an okay hotel.

South India Tour - Ooty

29 May – Ooty

Arrived Coimbatore at 2 am. Stored our luggage the cloak room and went to find a shower. The waiting room showers were a little stinky, but I had to take a shower – there was no choice, I was feeling yucky. These kind of places always make me wonder how Indians can be so pious yet not have good hygienic places for showering and bodily functions. Just shows how contradictory they are.

Took the Chennai express to Mettupalyam to catch the toy train to Ooty.  We got there in good time, but there was still a mad rush to get into the train. There was no designated seating.  Indians are like that – no decency for women or old people…just mad rush to do things. As much as I love India, these things really tick me off. The train did leave on time. Bhaiya got the window seat, as expected.

It was all an uphill ride. I feel for the poor engine that has to drag us all up to the top. The strange thing was that the engine was at the back – pushing the train instead of pulling. We were almost in the front. It was a wonderful ride, great view and just beautiful experience (the ride and the view!).  The hills were all lush with tea gardens, there were many flowers on the way.  The coconut trees and palms, just gorgeous, gave way to pine trees as the altitude increased. The first stop was Conoor where many people got off. At this place the steam engine was switched to a diesel one since the altitude will be increasing a lot more now (Ooty is about 7000 ft. high).

The ride up was again beautiful, the train especially looks gorgeous at curves when you can look back and see the rest of the train behind. We reached Ooty around lunch time. It was raining there. First we had lunch – typical Tamilian meal on a banana leaf – two veggies, sambhar, rice, pickle, and paapad. And of course we ate with our hands! (It was all for about Rs 50 for all three of us – darn cheap!) Initial plan was to stay over in Ooty, but finding a place was a little hard and then Papa was having some back issues, so decided to go back to Coimbatore the same day. 

So for the time being, Bhaiya and I went to the Botanical gardens. It was laid out beautifully in a meticulous way. Only problem was that it was raining. But despite that it was crowded! Ooty Lake was not that great – big pond of dirty water. People were boating and all but I was not in the mood at all.  There were rides and a lot of shopping to do.  Bought some Nilgiri eucalyptus oil.

Took the bus down to Coimbatore from Ooty. The driver was amazing, I commend him for driving on such narrow roads. The drive was beautiful.. Reached Coimbatore at 6:30 pm (4 hrs. later). After looking at a few hotels near the station, we checked into Karinji Lodge. It was okay. After a little rest went for dinner – dosas – yum! Went to bed early – it has been a long day.

30 May - Coimbatore/ISHA

After morning breakfast of idli and coffee we went to ISHA meditation center, headquartered outside Coimbatore. It took about hour and half to get out there. The main part of the ISHA center is a huge dome with a shivling in the center. It is a very quiet and peaceful place. We meditated for a while and then came out. ISHA does not promote religion – only self-realization. Had some orange juice and then walked back to catch the bus again. Had some time, so ended up eating imli (tamarind) from the trees around us. The ride back was different as the city was awake. It is a huge city. Had dosas for lunch and then looked for an internet café. Came back to the hotel for a siesta and went to walk around the market – good stuff to buy! Had dinner and went to sleep early as we have to get up early tomorrow also!