Our wanderings and perceptions

This time we planned for a long trip taking advantage of the long weekend combining the puja holiday and Gandhi Jayanthi falling on consecutive days. Instead of making it in one shot we decided to break at Madurai and follow it up on the next day.  Chennai to Madurai We decided to take the Porur toll road this time as out fast tag is enhanced to Fasttag 3000. Starting from here around 5 am, we crossed Chengalpattu and reached Manoj bhavan@ Mamandur for breakfast around 7:30 am. Our next break for tea was at 11:00 am and by 12:30 pm we reached Madurai. Our stay was at Kalyan residence. For Rs.1600 we had a decent room with complimentary breakfast. After a quick check-in we went to the near by Hotel Saravana for lunch. A simple meal, in the food famous Madurai. After that we relaxed for the rest of the day at the hotel.  Meenakshi Amman Temple The next day we decided to start early to avoid crowd at the temple. Starting at around 5am, we reached the temple's multi level parking ...

 Tiruvananthapuram A little late in the afternoon we reached  Tiruvananthapuram. A quite city, this seems to be both traditional and modern. The road journey from Kanyakumari to reach here was challenging and a new experience. The service roads from the National Highway here are not flat, one needs climb up and down steep roads.  Treebo West Fort Divine We booked our accommodation at  Tiruvananthapuram before Chennai at Treebo. With amble parking space and wonderful ambience this was such an instant hit with us that we immediately decided to extend our stay here for one more day. With spik and span room we had a fantastic 2 days stay at this place. This is near the west gopuram of the temple hence the name.  Padmanabaswamy temple The temple opens at 3:30 am in the morning with Vishvaroopa darshan and closed by 8 pm at night. So woke up at 2:30 am and walked bare foot to the temple's west entrance. Men had a separate queue while women went their entrance faster d...

On the next morning at Kanyakumari we witnessed the glorious sun rise at the view point early morning. It was with a large set of audience we saw the sun coming up while the coast guards brought their flag up. Walking past the crowd after this event was a daunting task. After reaching the hotel we got ready and came out for breakfast. At a mess nearby we had appam, 1 set contains 3 appams and priced at Rs.45. The sambar here is not be called so, chutney seems to be much better.  Tirparappu Falls This was our first place of visit today. With the help of google map we took an almost empty state highway to reach the spot in an hour.  The plots near falls are turned to parking spaces by the property owners who charge Rs.50 per vehicle. Steep and curly roads provide less respite to the drive. The path to the falls is adorned by shops selling playing items to eatables. At the entrance they charge Rs.20 per head and Rs.150 for camera. The falls is at its peak as its the monsoon seaso...