Skip to main content

Thiruchirapalli 1 - Butterfly Park and Mukkombu Dam

 Our Thiruchirapalli trip started on a Thursday morning. We began our journey by car at 6 AM. Our breakfast stop over was at Maduranthagam at around 8 AM. Being a week day it was difficult to cross the city in the morning hours. But for that the road was quiet free. We were able to reach our destination at 10:30 AM.

We had booked in our accommodation at Hotel Grand Arcadia for 3 days. As its booked online the check-in was slated at 12 only as 24 hours check-in is available through directly booking with the hotel person only. So we had to cancel our online booking and made new booking in person. 

The hotel is on a the service lane as the city of Thiruchirapalli has give way to many fly overs. Situated just 2 mins from the Thiruvanaikovil this was a idle place of junction located in Srirangam. The parking has to be done in the underground and the space is blocked by pillars making it a tricky business to park your vehicle. But the security person there was quiet helpful. The hotel room was spacious and road facing - so we had to hear constant sounds of the road, ambulances flying by at night. It was a moderate 3-start accommodation.

We got freshened up and ordered for coffee to our room. Went for some much needed rest and had lunch at Kannapas - the adjoining restaurant and seem to be a popular one with Trichy folks. Its a non-veg restaurants and has very less options for vegetarians. Non - vegetarian food is good and quiet pricey, we expected cost to be les then Chennai.

We started sight seeing with Butterfly park. Having read about and heard from vlogs we headed to this spot. It is some 10 kms from our stay. We had to go through some narrow roads to find this place, tucked in a corner of Trichy, The park was sparsely populated. Major works yet to be completed in the park. We expected to see butterflies but it was like any other park and we instead got to see peacocks as sweet surprise. With 20 mins we left the park as it was of not much interest to us. Entry fee is Rs. 15 per head and 4-wheeler parking fee is Rs.30.

From here we followed the google map to Mukkombu dam. To go to this place again to reach back to the Trichy central bus stand. Places of sight seeing in Trichy are not in the same path, we had to retrace our path back to central and then set out to the next location. This is around 20 kms from the center. 

On the way to Mukkombu dam we can see the Kaveri. It is here the the river branches into 3 (moonu). We could see lot of visitors here, especially a group of students from a polytechnic college. This spot includes a park were children can play and eatables are sold. Beyond this we can see the water gushing out in the dam. Due to off season the water level are low and we could see many visitors swimming the water. The bridge is open for 2 wheelers alone, the rest of the vehicles have to be parked in the space provided. There is an entrance fee for visitors and parking fee for the vehicle. Video cameras also come under a fee to be used inside the premises.

In a quiet evening Mukkombu dam was a place to be at. On the return drive from Mukkombu we had a scenic view.

After reaching back to the Centre of the city we took a coffee break at Shree Sangeethas. This was said to be a famous joint in Trichy. We ordered - tea bajji, paniyaram but none lived up to the standard. Crashed back into our room and wen to sleep skipping our dinner tonight.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Anjaneyar Temple - Gerugambakkam, Porur

 Very recently we came to know about the Anjaneyar temple built by actor Arjun is at Gerugambakkam. On a Sunday evening we drove towards this place. We need to detour from the Kundrathur main road to reach this temple and from then on we need to face a rough and patchy road. In just 5 minutes one can reach the temple. A small residential street leads to the temple. Very near it one could see few small stalls mushroomed up to sell pooja items. The vehicles have to be parked in the street near the temple gates. First is the corridor were few trees are seen.  On taking left is the entrance to the temple and you can see the Lord Anjaneyar much ahead. Here too are few trees uniformly spaced out. There is a coconut farm adjacent to this temple. There is a shelter above Lord Anjaneyar, but for that it is a open air temple. Facing Lord Anjaneyar and to the left and right corner are two shrines - one for Lord Ganesh and the other for Lord Anjaneyar's - Lord Rama, Lord Lakshmana and Goddess

Beach - Marakkanam

Born in the coastal area one realises the beauty of the beach only in instances where you have to stay away from your place for a long time or a person from non-coastal area appreciates the beach and call you lucky for coastal nativity. When Tsunami occurred, we are sure no one wanted to live in a coastal region. Having said that, over the weekend we went on a drive while resulted in experiencing the beach, back waters and the canal in Marakanam, roughly 120 kms from Chennai and 20 kms from Puducherry. Suddenly on a Saturday morning we decided to make a short trip to Marakanam where our friend has a farm house and called us in for a visit. After completing the weekend chores and a quick lunch, we started the drive towards Marakanam. We took the Chennai by-pass route to Vandaloor and then to ECR, crossing Mahabalipuram to reach the small town of Marakanam within 2 hrs. Numerous prawn Hatcheries in this place occupy the seashore. There seems to be around 53  Hatcheries in this stretch of

Dhandayuthapani Temple - Nadupalani

 Nadu Palani Murugan Temple - Achirupakkam  On a Saturday we decided to go out on a short trip and zeroed-in on Nadu Palani Murugan Temple. Less than 100 kms from Chennai, this was a long time item in the bucket list.  Achirupakkam town is where this temple is located. Achirupakkam is near Melmaruvathur. We took the Chengalpet route via Tambaram. Driving through Chromepet, Tambaram and Perungalathur was a mayhem on the Saturday afternoon traffic. We took a break at Manoj Bhavan at Mamandur. Hotel has lost the earlier charm and so was the food. As guided by a person near the hotel, just in 15 kms you can see an arch at the left side on the highway itself for Nadu Palani Murugan temple. From the arch, one has to drive into the village for 6-7 kms to reach the temple, at Perukkarani village. We had to take a ticket of Rs.50 to drive in the car to the small hillock. Around 100 steps, its a easy climb too. At the foot hill are Lord Anjaneyar and Lord Idumban on either sides followed by Lord