Kanchipuram - Sarees and Temples

we had to purchase silk sarees and other clothes for Manashivini's marriage. What better way than to invade the Silk Saree capital of Kanchipuram !

I had just purchased my All-new-Honda-city Automatic and Map-My-India GPS and put both to good use in this trip. we set off in the early morning - this time over the newly built flyover from Silk board to Electronic city . It's sheer pleasure to drive over this well built long flyover - i was warned that there were cameras to hunt speeding folks and so i was well within my speed limit . we continue straight onto Hosur.

Some time over we get a A2B - Adyar Anand Bhavan . This is right next to where a road takes a turn , so be careful to look for a petrol bunk and a board on the left . You miss breakfast here and god save you - you will never get anything on the road . You will be forced to go inside the towns , so best to fill the tank in advance :-)

Take the left at Krishnagiri and continue onto the Vellore-Chennai route . It's a well built road and we can drive at good speeds. After Vellore and before chennai , we will see a diversion to the right and this takes us to Kanchi. ~280 Kms and close to 6 hour drive from Bangalore.

we directly went to the Kanchi Kamakshi Temple first - to pay our obeisance to the Goddess . This is an excellent temple - a very old one and quite remarkable . They also let you inside the level-one , provided men take off the shirt and pay extra to the priests/temple . It's worth the effort . The goddess is adorned and decorated and it's a humbling experience.

We had decided the trip late and hence could not get a room in advance. we got one room in the Jaya-Bala - the lodge next to the famous Saravana Bhavan on the Gandhi Road. The costlier one is just next to it : GRT regency and as expected rooms were full .

There are various Saree shops suggested : Prakash silks on Gandhi Road , just opposite to the Saravana Bhavan , which folks ended up not liking . There's also the A.S Babu Sha on Nadu street where people line up even before they open . There were also other numerous small ones but finally upon a suggestion from our relatives, we ended up finally in an excellent place : Sri Kumaran Weavers on Nadu Street. An excellent shop with AC ( a prime requirement since it's hours of effort ) and a selection of vivid colors and patterns.



Nachu and Niharika in the shop :



I squeezed out for 30 minutes along with the kids to the only other temple i could take time out to - the EkambarNath temple in the Siva Kanchi . This is the largest temple in Kanchi and was mainly built in the 16'th and 17'th centuries.



It's got a Pushkarni in the front and a Nandi facing the Shiva.






This leads us to the 1000 pillar hall . The pillars are intricately carved . The afternoon sunlight pierces the pillars to make for a gorgeous sight .




The Huge Lingam is the Prithvi Lingam and is one of the 5 elemental lingas of south india.Surrounding this are 1008 small lingas - it's certainly a "huge" temple complex .





Behind this is the famous Mango tree under which Parvathi meditated and it's believed that a woman seeking a child should worship here for fulfilling her desire .




Came back and found a place in hotel just opposite the Saree shop on Nadu street . Our food joint was always "back to the Saravana Bhavan" !

The next day we hunted for the cotton Sarees and ended up buying them in MVMP on Gandhi Road. In the retrospect, this was not a good thing to do . The shop we should have gone was actually "Raja Manick Mudaliar company" - specifically known for cotton sarees and cotton clothes - this is situated in a small road just off Gandhi Road . Anyone in for this , please take our advice ....

For the Cotton Dhotis and Cotton shirts , we shopped in the V.K.T.K on Gandhi Road. They were actually closed since it was Sunday Noon , so we actually had to go their godown in the bylane parallel to Gandhi Road. The choice of clothes is stupendous and i was thrilled to buy some for myself !

Again , the GPS helped me to get out of the town and onto the highway back home. we stopped en-route again in A2B and made it back in Bangalore before 8 pm .

It was an extremely short weekend trip this time. Hopefully , i will get to go to Kanchi specifically as a pilgrimage trip next time to visit the Kanchi mutt and also the Vishnu-kanchi part of the town for other magnificient temples. I presume the shop tips will be useful to the folks who will encounter similar wants sometime - and make sure you finish all your shopping before Sunday 11 am since all the good guys take a well deserved rest after that !

In search of elusive Kanchendzonga - A trip to Darjeeling and Sikkim

Having had enough of seeing the revered Himalayas only in books or TV , it was already a foregone conclusion where the next travel destination should be. North-east India and Sikkim in particular struck the right chord - the desire to see the 3'rd highest mountain in the world.

I booked this travel through makemytrip.com - a 6 days 5 nights package to the enchanting north-east. The forward journey was Bangalore-Delhi-Bagdogra via Kingfisher Airlines. We hardly had any time for the flight connection at Delhi and had to huff and puff out of the departure and back to the arrival - funnily they didn't allow us to go directly from one aircraft to the other on the tarmac. The flight from Delhi to Bagdogra was very scenic for those having a seat on the left side - One gets to see Himalayas towering above the clouds. We reached Bagdogra at 1:30 pm.

The makemytrip deal required us to share the cabs during the course of the trip. We were fortunate to get to know a sweet family from Chennai - a couple with 2 kids and we set out from Bagdogra in a tolerable Sumo Victa to Darjeeling at around 2:30 pm.

Bagdogra is a small town ~15 kms from Siliguri, known because it has the Airport. Before siliguri , we have to take a left and that is the road that takes us to Darjeeling. Slowly but surely, the flat land starts giving way to a hilly climb - we didn't realise then that it would be another 5 days before we saw a flat road ! The road from Bagdogra to Darjeeling is very scenic. Since our trip was just weeks ahead of the real Monsoon start , everything was misty all around, making the surroundings look surreal.





We stopped en-route for an interesting lunch at an all-ladies-owned place. Small but efficient , this was not for those who are finicky about cleanliness and can't close their eyes to flies around tables. Good Baturas , Hot Momos , Rice, Dal , Channa Subzi and i was more than satisfied .

The road twists and winds precariously at times and we were joined by a narrow guage track next to us - the heritage railway from Siliguri to Darjeeling. This track would be with us till we reached Darjeeling. We were told that due to the Gorkaland issue, the train was not operational. En-route we get numerous small towns showing a glimpse of the mountain life. Just before Darjeeling, we encounter Ghoom - supposed to be the 2'nd highest railway station in the world ( the station here is at higher altitude than the one in Darjeeling)




We reached Darjeeling at around 6:30 pm. Darjeeling is a very crowded place - they allow SUVs inside the narrow hilly roads causing jams everywhere - we were to learn later from Gangtok how this could have been managed much better. The driver however showed amazing driving skills by taking a Tata sumo in the reverse gear on a winding downward road. Chaos hones unique talents !

Our hotel was ITC Fortune Central just behind the Chowrasta - the town square where "four roads" meet . It's also called the mall and is a place where vehicles are banned from entering. The vehicle stopped a good distance from the Hotel and the baggages were herded by Porters in a very unique way - 6 suitcases on the back held by a head-band. The strength of the lean Gurkha is to be seen to be believed.

Here's a view from the hotel room window :


The next day we had to wake up at 3 am to be able to see the Sunrise at 5 am on a place called Tiger Hill, the heighest motorable point close to Ghoom. A 40 minute drive from Darjeeling , we were supposed to see the sunrise over Kanchendzonga range of mountains. What we got in turn was a complete haze covered view and no sun anywhere - The mountain eluded us.




On the way back, we visited a not-too-great-looking Monastery and a place called Batasia Loop. This place has the railway track looping around beatifully and they have built a small garden and a war memorial. This is where the sun made a fleeting appearance between the clouds.






Came back to the Hotel for Breakfast and headed to an eminently forgettable itinerary of places - A tea-garden, Tenzing rock , Tibetian refuge centre . To our bad luck, the Mountaineering institute and Zoo (both being the most notable places to visit) were closed on Thursday. All these were done before 12:30 pm and we had to make something to fill our day !

We requested our cab driver to take us to something interesting - and he suggested Mirik which has a lake and Pashupati, which is inside Nepal, famous locally for good shopping. The drive takes more than an hour to reach Mirik and we had our lunch there. The Lake turned out to be another great dissapointment with stink,slosh and garbage all around :-) It was just not to be our day . I buried my dissapointment by tasting good Litchi fruit and some decent looking tea gardens on the way back. we also decided to forego Pashupati shopping, which turned out to be a good decision in the retrospective too.

Tenzing rock and army folks training on this can be seen here :



Beautiful trees on the drive to Mirik.



There was also a rally by the woman wing of supporters of Gorkhaland agitation. Water is really a scarce commodity in Darjeeling - we saw numerous carts pushed by people with cans carrying water . I really think that the something must be done to make life better in Darjeeling.In the evening, we went shopping to the area around the mall,bought a few shawls and sweaters for great deals and my kiddo had a good ride on a horse named Tashi.



The next day morning , we were woken up at morning 5 am and were in for a surprise - A beatiful sunrise view from the window.I would surely like to believe it was the mountain and not just clouds.




Darjeeling after the sunrise :



We left Darjeeling early enough to Gangtok and it was a very wise decision - since the leader of the Gorkha league Tamang was hacked to death. Despite whatever happens, the tourists are not harmed in Darjeeling and the locals try their best to have life go on.However such incidents in any case turn out to be bad for tourists, since you get stuck in a place without hotels and with kids. I guess we had to thank our stars to be able to get out at just the right time !

Teesta River accompanies us almost all along - the river was quite muddy and had very strong currents. We got delayed en-route due to a funeral procession - apparently 3 locals had perished trying to save someone from drowning in Teesta river. Almost the entire village was in mourning. Vagaries of nature ?



Sikkim is much better governed and managed and we feel it right as we enter the border checkpost - the roads get wider , we begin to see much more infrastructure constructions , Sikkim-Manipal university alongway . we reached Gangtok at 3 pm. Since cabs from West-Bengal are not allowed to ply in Sikkim , we were transferred to an Omni from the stand to ferry us to the Hotel. They have a rule that only Maruti Omni vans and owned vehicles are allowed inside the city from 8 am till 7 pm - this rule ensured that the city saw hardly any jams that we witnessed in Darjeeling - a great example of how to manage traffic in narrow roads on a hilly city !

Hotel Himalayan heights is a nice little place - certainly old with no lifts and only staircase. Minimalistic and clean - they have very few staff , so don't expect very prompt room service. The rooms overlook the Palzor Soccer stadium and a very good view of the hills. The hotel itself is on the Palzor stadium road which has a very steep incline - fun to walk up and down on.

Took some rest in the afternoon and in the evening we took a small walk over to the MG Marg - the bustling shopping area of the Gangtok where the entire tourist folk will descend as night falls . I wonder what Mahatma Gandhi would have felt seeing the hep shopping paradises that roads named after him have turned into in every single Indian city :-) The best part about this place was small eateries offering some semblance of south indian foods such as Dosa and Sambar !

The next day morning, after a simple breakfast, we were herded into an Omni along with another couple from Bangalore whom we had befriended. The first place that we went to was the Rumtek Monastery which is a good 1 hour drive from Gangtok perched atop a hill. On the way, we get to see the countryside of sikkim.



To our luck , that day some dignitary was visting the place and hence the monks were chanting from the Buddhist texts and playing the sacred instruments in a very distinct Tibetian way - I have a particular liking to the ancient eastern music renditions including Vedic chants and loved every bit of the Buddhist chanting. Unfortunately , photography is not allowed and i made sure i recorded their sounds standing outside .



A flower outside:




From here, we decided to bypass what was part of the standard itinerary and asked our driver to take us to the Ban Jankhri falls. This is a small garden with a natural falls . They have also showcased several statues depicting the witch doctors and Shamanism rituals of Sikkim , as well as several small operable playthings which explain energy generation to kids. Waterfalls in general has a great soothing effect and i had a good time walking with my kid just at the foot of the falls in cold water. In summary , the place has nothing to write about , but it's something that keeps the kids quieter or diverted perhaps. We also had our lunch here - but please avoid it if you can.



From here, we went back to Gangtok and to the Ropeway . The Ropeway connects people from one place to a place closer to the Legislative assembly. Ropeways in India are very notorious. I double checked the ropes - they seemed stronger and the ropeway wagon itself seemed much more solid. After a wait of 30 minutes, we got in and got a 20 minutes of ride back and forth with a great glimpse of the Gangtok from the top.Kids always have a fascination for a new,unique kind of transport - i know that my kiddo really did enjoy this.



After the Ropeway , we tried our luck to have another view of the Kanchendzonga at the Tashi viewpoint , but dissapointingly it eluded us again with haze covering it all over. From here , our driver took us to a place called Ganesh Tok - a temple and a viewpoint together. Gangtok as seen from Ganesh Tok :


That night, the tour manager came to collect photocopies of our identification and 2 passport photos. The permit to the Tsomgo(pronounced 'changu') lake and Baba Mandir was supposed to be given the next day morning - valid only for that day.

The next day morning, as usual we were herded into another ragged Tata Sumo onto the Changu Lake trip - Omni vans can't make this, since the terrain is harsh. Left early at 7:30 am and we were made to wait on a small strech of ground for another 2 hours before the driver arrived with the permit sheet in hand.

Changu Lake drive is A-W-E-S-O-M-E ! For the first time in the trip, i never asked the driver how far was the destination.Misty mountains,deep gorges,high peaks, Just check out the below snaps.








Changu Lake is very sacred and no other activities are allowed in the lake - Good for the Lake. It has a pristine view surrounded by mountains.



There are a lot of Yaks nearby and everyone had a good ride on the Yaks. I am seen here with a huge grin on a Yak named Chetak.



This road leads to the Nathula Pass and also to the Baba Mandir and is very close to the China Border, a very sensitive zone.Nearly every regiment has it's presence here and one gets to see many Military establishments,bunkers all along and Photography is not allowed close to the Military zones. On the road to the Baba Mandir we start seeing snow capped peaks.







Along the way we also got to see another nice lake called the Elephant lake.we also passed by a road that had a signpost saying "This road is being watched by Chinese posts" reminding us that we are very close to the sensitive Indo-China Border. The road is replete with amazing towering mountains and my eyes couldn't take it all...





Baba Mandir is actually a memorial for a soldier named Harbhajan singh who perished and who later came into the dreams of other fellow soldiers. There are actually 2 Baba mandirs - the first one which the itinerary says and the one which lies much further, called the original Baba mandir near a place called Tukla.

Note that it depends on your persuasive skill and the driver's willingness to take you to the Original Baba mandir - Our driver Baichung Bhutia was a very enterprising guy and made sure he pulled the right strings to go there. I would request anyone to check with the driver before the drive itself whether he can take you to Tukla . Nathula pass is also open , however we need a permit 2 days in advance - with our tour guide not telling us about this, we missed an opportunity to go to Nathula.

Serendipity once again - it being a sunday, an army regiment had sponsored for lunch("Prasad") for everyone visiting the original baba mandir ! I got to shake hands with the soldiers and lieutenants and have the most delicious food in the entire trip at an altitude of 14000 ft - simply unforgettable.I also met an army engineer who hailed from a town close to my native place and we talked in my mother tongue. life never ceases to surprise.



Our driver had promised that he will make sure that we will get to play with the snow and surely there was a small stack of snow on the roadside. we made sure our feets felt the snow and threw snow at each other - good fun.



The ride back was as pleasant as the ride forward - this time around i could get a picture of a mountain which was fully covered with snow.



Just a while after we passed the Changu lake, it started raining - reminding us how lucky we had been that day, given that it was just about the start of Monsoon. It rained heavily after that and the visibility was extremely poor on the drive back. Baichung, our driver drove very well, pacifying the anxious passengers and we reached our hotel safe and sound.



Hotel view of Gangtok at night :




Had a very good night sleep and the next day morning, we set off from the hotel at 7:30 am itself to be able to catch the Bagdogra-Calcutta flight at 4 pm . It was indeed a wise decision to leave early because we faced numerous traffic jams and reached just 30 minutes before the scheduled departure. The small airplane flight to Calcutta was nice and at least this time we were transferred directly from one flight to other at Calcutta Airport.We reached Bangalore at 12:30 am with a Hyderabad stop-over - All of us extremely exhausted but extremely satisfied.

All in all , a memorable trip . Few points to note - Makemytrip surely seems to operate on wafer thin margins given that i paid only 23K/- per head for the entire trip. So , do not expect a great service from them - the local managers are not very prompt and you are better off not trying to call makemytrip, since you will never get any help from them. You need to be very patient, diplomatic and make sure you study/plan for what you really want to see when you get there. Please don't expect the standard itinerary at the place of interest to include good places - So , first get there and pay a little more to go to good surrounding places.

I also felt Darjeeling can possibly be bypassed and you can directly go to Sikkim, especially if you are in for the Himalayas - So , If you have money and willingness to spend time planning before the trip, then book everything yourself. I would also really recommend visiting Lachung (to the stunning Yumthang or Guadongmar lake) and visiting the North Sikkim OR go to west sikkim (Pelling) and trek. But remember that Lachung requires you to stay 1 or more nights at Lachung itself - So plan well for that .

Camera - make sure you take a good one alongwith , since there are tremendous scenic opportunities which we don't get in our cities. I had just purchased a Canon G11 a week before in anticipation of this trip and i already got more than my money's worth.

Also , i was told the best time is February end to March end, if you want snow and flowers together . September is also good. April beginning is best if you have kids alongwith, since their exams would have been over . May was risky , but i guess i "made most of my trip" - Perhaps because i find even the smallest things amusing ? Well , it's for others to judge....

A zesty trip to Big Beach resort, Pondicherry

I never really thought i could enjoy a resort stay. Not that i haven't stayed in resorts - but i have always gone to places which always had things that make me really get out of the resort. Hence , resort has always been some kind of base camp , until this trip.

Srivatsa took the initiative and booked the 3 families in Zest Big Beach resort , a mahindra resort a good 14 km away from Pondi. The booking was done a month in advance and considering that we had booked right on the christmas time , the rate was on the higher side expectedly.

we started off at early morning 5:30 am on 26'th Dec 2009 from Bangalore. It's the first time that i have gotten up so early for a trip :-) The plan was to reach the destination via krishnagiri - tiruvannamalai - tindivanam - pondicherry. This is the shortest path any given day to Pondi.



we reached Krishnagiri around 7 am . we first get a toll booth and we have to shell out 25/- Rs . The road from Bangalore to Krishnagiri is a super road , so no problemo at all . This road actually continues to Madurai and then on to Kanyakumari. At krishnagiri , after the toll booth , you will see signs to take left for vellore/chennai. Take this left . Just some distance afterwards , we have to take a right to take the road to Tiruvannamalai. Don't miss this right , else you will continue to Vellore !

Now , this is indeed a wretched road and after some distance you will begin seeing fantastic deep potholes . All my video game playing skills came in quite handy here . If you have played Need-for-speed car racing games , the skill will not go a waste here. It's a thrill ride - overtaking slow-coaches while both you and they are negotiating potholes is a lifetime experience . "These stunts are performed by experts ..." - haven't i heard that somewhere ?

The other most important thing - You won't get a single eating joint of repute on this route . we missed having our breakfast at A2B before we hit Krishnagiri and we had to make wait until we just about reached Tiruvanamalai - we ended up having a bad breakfast at a place called Aruna Anantha. The time - 9 :30 am . My advice : Don't have breakfast here.

Tiruvanamalai is a quaint old town - Not a single board has anything but Tamil - No english anywhere ! . The good part is that people are very helpful giving directions. They have made one-ways everywhere , so we really had to keep asking to get out of this town.A piece of advice : It's better to ask directions to rikshawallas , if you can get one close to where you are stuck. we have to go through the busy town streets - can't avoid this. On the way we got the gigantic temple with a gigantic gopuram.

Fortunately , the road from Tiruvanamalai to Tindivanam is having very very few potholes - in fact we can cover this distance in 1:30 hours in good speed . En-route , we passed by the fantastic Gingee fort on a steep hill .

Tindivanam is another dusty town in which we have to keep asking and going through the busy town streets , climb up the fly-over and keep going straight ( In fact on the fly-over we get this funny looking sign showing a cross mark on a right arrow ) . After we keep going , we end up getting this under-construction fast highway which is a straight road till Pondicherry.

The zest Big Beach resort is another 30-45 minutes from pondicherry , on the cuddalore road. You will get the sign after you cross the chunambar bridge.



The rooms in the resort don't overlook the sea - one disadvantage. However , the rest of the resort makes up for this . we checked into a very decent room - by far the best minimalistic room design i have seen. It's got very simple cemented finish , just about perfect. A view of the outside of the room is below :



The resort's got a lot of things to do. It's got a good garden at the centre , a good swimming pool next to it , good activity centres , bicycles and most importantly a walkway that leads you to the beach.

The beach is the best thing at this resort ! They regularly clean their part of the beach ( though it's not really a private beach ) as well as have a security guard. I didn't see any baywatch style guards , but i am not really the kind that ventures too deep anyway ! The resort also houses a good kitchen - their breakfast spread is really good , the lunch/dinner is quite descent too.

I took a good nap that afternoon after the hectic drive and headed out to the beach in the evening.




The kids enjoyed by building idols near the beach , getting wet with the superb waves and then having a dip in the excellent pool .





Niharika turned 6 that day , so in the evening we celebrated the ocassion by candles and pastries. The resort had hosted a MC who conducted a lot of games and Niharika ended up winning a musical chair kind of a game by playing very intelligently - way to go gal ! The events were followed by a Rock-show by the band Molotov Cocktail . They were way too professional and it seemed that they didn't have the right crowd to reciprocate that ! I am really kicked now to go to another Rock concert after watching their performance !

Srivatsa in the backdrop of the lighting in the resort :




Now to the best part - The "spirits" come very cheap at Pondicherry . With my troubled nose and throat , i tried out a good blend of brandy,honey and pepper and it did wonders ! I also tried out Bloody mary and finally a bacardy . I was wondering whether a heady mix of 3 varieties would cause a great churning inside , but surprisingly my body took this quite well. The spirits tend to take me to high spirits - so I don't remember what i ate after that , but i took a good night's rest after that.

The next day morning we woke up early and headed to the beach again . A magnificient sunrise view and a long walk along the clean beach bending once in a while to collect great sea shells - it's indeed a very serene experience.



Followed it up with a good breakfast and everyone had yet another tryst with the waves followed agajn by a dip in the pool . Have good calories and burn good calories , the "resort routine" !



The kids are giving a lazy pose on the pool recliners ...



we decided to have a quick trip to Pondicherry town . we visited the Aurobindo Memorial which had a fast moving , but a big queue to pay homage to Aurobindo and i saw quite a few people deeply bent / meditating over the memorial inside - it's almost as though they were being sucked by some energy - kind of eerie . Absolute silence is required here , tough to manage with kids. After this , we walked by the beach road - it's too crowded for comfort on weekends - and there's nothing else to be really done here. we hurried back to the resort, since that was much more enjoyable.





we returned back to Bangalore the next day morning .

It was good fun - probably being together with more family members made the resort experience more fun than it would have been otherwise. I didn't really see much of Pondicherry , but then i felt there isn't much really anyway for my taste .

I would recommend folks to visit the Gingee fort and the temple on the way back which we couldn't . Well , there's always a next time - isn't it ?